Telstra switches on 30Mbit/s BigPond Cable

Dan Warne
12 September 2007, 12:55 AM


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Telstra's 30Mbit/s cable broadband has gone live today -- but people in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and the Gold Coast have been cut out of the service.
Telstra has announced that it has switched on 30Mbit/s broadband over its cable network from today.

However, the service is only available to the 1.8 million households passed by Foxtel cable in Sydney or Melbourne. The other million or so people in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth who can get it will be limited to 17Mbit/s speed.

Telstra said that people with a 'compatible modem' and who were already signed up to a 'Cable Extreme' plan would only need to turn off their modem and switch it back on again to get the 30Mbit/s speed upgrade.

"At 30 Mbps, theoretically you can download a Hollywood blockbuster from BigPond Movies in less than five minutes, or stream it instantly," BigPond MD Justin Milne said.

In addition to the new download speeds, Telstra has increased the upload speed to 1Mbit/s.

However, Telstra admitted that WiFi technology was a bottleneck in getting maximum speed from its new 30Mbit/s plans.

It was forced to put a disclaimer on its system requirements page, reading: "If you use a Wi-Fi modem, then the actual download speed will be slower than our top speeds, but you'll still achieve superfast broadband speeds."

Telstra currently only offers 802.11g-compatible modems which generally provide a maximum WiFi throughput speed of around 20Mbit/s in real life. It does not yet offer an 802.11n model.

The new BigPond Cable plans


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drewhiggins:

Nothing new about Adelaide missing out.

Thanks Telstra. Another reason to hate you.

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Chad:

"Nothing new about Adelaide missing out."

Hah, Adelaide has had the most competition for ADSL2+ for a long time (Internode and Adam Internet mainly). Why would you want to be on Bigpond?

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

drewhiggins:

"Hah, Adelaide has had the most competition for ADSL2+ for a long time (Internode and Adam Internet mainly). Why would you want to be on Bigpond?"

Good point.

Why would you? I completely forgot about Adam and Internode.

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

steve1:

I have a cable out the front of my place but i cant get telstra bigpond, work that out. I have talk to them but theres nothing they can do....as per normal but the funny thing is the guy who lived below me had it. Looks like its still dial up for me for a while anyway

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Fred:

Poor sweet baby

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

200MB FTW!!!:

That's about 65 seconds worth of downloads at full speed.

$39.95 for 65 seconds of Internet anyone???

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

The Elite Geek:

It's about time Upload speed got increased. Though they still could be pricing services better.!

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

JohnR:

All we need now is for BigPond to offer some higher-end plans with either shaping/capping or sensible excess fees rather than the ridiculous $90/GB they are currently charging.

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Jinzo.pk3:

I will never subscribe to one of Telstras dodgey plans. $40 a month fo 200MB, that is around 53 seconds of browsing . . . then how much per megabyte after that? probably over 10 cents, that is pretty close to stealing. When that would then be over $20 per minute after youve passed you initial limit. $1500 per hour? of course I am assuming continuous downloads at maxumum speed but it is still excessively priced

PS: It would be cheaper to buy that (1GB) Hollywood blockbuster than downloading it.

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Craig Middleton @ BigPond:

While the majority of our customers use BigPond Liberty Plans, the limited MB plans offer customers low cost options if they are simply 'trying it out' or only want occassional surfing and mailing.

However, because of the wide range of content we have that is unmetered, they can do a huge amount of downloading from BigPond's movies, games, sport and music sites without using any of their allowance.

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

drewhiggins:

"While the majority of our customers use BigPond Liberty Plans, the limited MB plans offer customers low cost options if they are simply 'trying it out' or only want occassional surfing and mailing.

However, because of the wide range of content we have that is unmetered, they can do a huge amount of downloading from BigPond's movies, games, sport and music sites without using any of their allowance."

And all for the low low price of $199.95 too - face it Craig, Telstra sucks balls and you know it.

Only reason you probably stick up for them is because you get broadband cheaper. And if you're not into music, movies, games or sports then what's your excuse? 200MB ADSL2 30MBit used in around...57secs.

Come back and defend yourself now eh.

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Steve D:

Whith all due respect Craig.....Cobblers, if they Turned off automatic updates on everything and only used bigponds movies games etc. possible if unlikely that they would not exceed their allowance. with those on i would very much doubt that they would see more than 1 moth in a row where they didn't exceed it


29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

The Elite Geek:

Yes Craig, you can do a lot of damage with 200MB.

Don't try and say its to try it out. Bigpond contract for 2 years from the word go, and you know it. It's not to TRY IT OUT. It's to get them LOCKED in, and when they've been scammed, all they can do is work within the unfair contract and take a Liberty plan to save begging the bank for Liberty.

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Jason Lee:

Telstra BigPond Broadband

12 GB plans (unlimited downloads)

fixed phone line with Telstra save $

ADSL a month
$59 customer
$69 customer
$79 non-customer
$89 customer

Cable a month
$59 customer
$69 non-customer
$69 customer
$79 non-customer

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Anonymous :-):

It's a shame that Parts of Metro Newcastle, NSW can't get ADSL or Cable!

Don't get me wrong - Telstra have installed the ADSL hardware into the RIMS in my suburb ... but REFUSE to switch it on until the government give them some money!!!

And yet Telstra are currently complaining that using tax payer funds is not a good thing to increase broadband penetration in this country !




29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

The Elite Geek:

They have the hardware installed and are refusing to supply services without the government giving them some free money?

That's how greedy Telstra are people!

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Robbo:

this is fantastic news. great to see Telstra is again leading the market to ensure Australia is not left at developing country status in regard to Internet speeds.

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Boyd C:

One thing to note, even if Telstra did offer a router capable of 802.11n:

1) 802.11n is still being drafted and is not yet an actual standard. Offering a device manufactured against a draft specification opens the door to potential incompatibility and obsolescence,
2) Users who do not have 802.11n wireless interfaces in their devices won't be able to take advantage of the faster speeds anyway,

I thought this was worth noting.

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tony:

I've been with BigPond cable for a few years and I'm in Perth. If iiNet or Internode come out with Annex M in Perth I'm tempted to ditch my cable account for ADSL2+ (especially if naked DSL is a part of the deal). I work from home and so I need both fast upload and fast download speeds.

I imagine that Telstra only provided the faster 30Mbps/1Mbps service to Sydney and Melbourne because there's a higher immediate return with the denser populations in those two cities. The populations of Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide altogether equate to a Sydney in terms of numbers but spread over a bigger area (there's still a return but I guess Telstra want the return tomorrow...).

I'll bet Telstra will eventually get around to providing faster speeds to Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane but it might be something like beefed up NextG which wouldn't interest me. Also, if all Telstra is going to offer is an upload speed of 1Mbps what's the point anyway?



29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

William Lauritzen:

max we have here is 8mb/ps

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

pogostick:

Mercifully i have ADSL2+ ..ok i only get 12/1 Mbps ... but i get a hell of a lot more data and uploads don't count ..switched to it from cable ...

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Ken England:

What a joke!No increase in speed on the Gold Coast.
More importantly,no increase in quota and uploads still count towards usage.
Time to change back to ADSL and say goodbye to Telstra!(They have told me they dont care if I cancel because their the biggest!).
People!Complain!Threaten!Speed is not the major issue.We need an increase in quota!(from 12GB to 25GB!).

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

jashbf2:

I live in a town of 25000 people and i cant even get broadband, only dial up or go wireless!!! which cost a fortune!!!
Gee they spend there money wisely!!!

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

robbo:

you have helen coonan to thank for that.

29 February 2008, 8:48 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Hmmm:

Tasmania doesn't even get a mention. we only have ADSL2 in one street!!! i wish they would certainly upgrade their services to Tassie. We like speed too, you know.

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Brian:

Ah well I live in Shepparton Victoria and we have Mcmedia Wireless Broadband fast and easy and compared to Telstra dirt cheap with a local answering your query calls great service and Voip phone service 14c untimed calls to Landlines in Australia 10gig a month download for $59.95 a month and$9.95 a month phone line rental and no 2 year lock in contracts Telstra lift your game. You thought you had a monoply and could charge and do what you like well Ive had this service for 3 years now.Meanwhile Telstra sat on its hands and now blames the Government You have towers all over the countryside all potentials for a mcmedia type service

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Ruiorano:

After a quick reset of the Motorola surfboard modem, my normal cable, (8000 kbit/s) has mysteriously upped itself to a whopping 10,000kbit/s. Living in Perth, this surprised me, but hopefully it means good things are coming to the west. (Cross fingers 30Mbit/s)

29 February 2008, 8:32 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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