Telstra turns on 30Mbps cable in Sydney, Melbourne

By Jo Best, ZDNet Australia

12 September 2007 04:41 PM

Tags: telstra, speed, next g, download, cable, broadband, bigpond, bandwidth

Telstra has upgraded its cable speeds in Sydney and Melbourne, offering users a bump to 30Mbps.

The 30Mbps upgrade will reach 1.8 million homes in the two cities, with cable customers outside Sydney and Melbourne seeing speeds increased to 17Mbps.

BigPond users already on 17Mbps will be able to access the 30Mbps service for free, after turning their modem off and on again, while those with the standard 8Mbps will have to pay AU$10 a month extra should they want the increase.

In addition, upload speeds in the 30Mbps areas will be raised to 1Mbps.

BigPond has no plans to increase cable speeds outside of Melbourne and Sydney, currently, according to a spokesperson: "We're going to monitor it and see how take-up goes in Sydney and Melbourne but we have no immediate plans".

Despite faster downlinks, BigPond users won't find themselves with a corresponding enhancement in their data caps, the spokesperson added, with the largest cap remaining at 60GB.

The speed bump comes after Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo told investors at the company's annual results day both its cable and Next G mobile network were set for faster speeds. Telstra expects its 3G network to outpace its cable counterpart by 2009, with a planned downlink of 40Mbps.

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Talkback 33 comments

Add your opinion

What!!!! No ACCC noise Anonymous -- 12/09/07

I am surprised, Telstra has once again done something no one else has & with their own money and the ACCC hasn't threatened to hold them back or declare the service.

That's not like them!

THATS NICE Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086028)

I CAN ONLY DIAL UP AT 38.6 BPS AND THE FUTURE DICTATES IT WILL REMAIN THAT WAY.WI.FI OH DEAR ME 3G DONT WORK IN RURAL AREAS EVEN IF U ARE IN THE ALLOCATED AREAS THAY ARE A MYSTERY TOO ME!!!!. MsCONEHEAD DRIBBLES CRAP AS FAR AS I CONCERNED.WE SHOULD BUY BACK TELSTRA AND GET THE SHOW BACK ON THE ROAD AND FOR STARTERS SACK THAT OVERPAID MEXICAN BANDIT.

Go and get a map Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086047)

when did they reame the USA to Mexico? He is not mexican!!! Shall I call you a pommy bast@rd because your great great grand parents came from england?

AND STOP YELLING

30Mbps=how many browsing minutes? Anonymous -- 13/09/07

Fast is good but the data cap means you could technically only use the broadband less than 15 minutes at that speed before having to pay extra at $0.15/MB.

That's great... Anonymous -- 13/09/07

...If you live in an area that is serviced by it. How about switching on ADSL2+ for the rest of Australia Telstra?

30MPS is a third world rate...100MPS in Japan Anonymous -- 13/09/07

Standard at home transfer rate in Japan is 54MPS and that's the wireless rate. In the office it's 100MPS. This service has been available for over 6 years so I don't know how Telstra can seriously think this is a real upgrade to world standard.

why telstra, why? strangepanda -- 13/09/07

why does telstra insist in such low data capping, i moved from them because there limits were simply appauling compared to other providers.

download limits Anonymous -- 13/09/07

Are we still the only country in the world to have download limits? I had broadband in the USA in 1998 and it was completely unlimited. I think the download limit is a complete scam and the only reason we put up with it is that we don't know any better. Who will be the first internet provider to do away with this?

No Australia is not the only country... Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086059)

In the UK http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=15760

but of course BT do still offer unlimited packages as well

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=15764

Singapore has unlimited plans + unlimited mobile data too Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086059)

Telstra should learn from Starhub and the other Singapore telcos.

I can get 100Mbps on cable for around S$100 per month, uncapped data usage. For my PDA, I can also download unlimited amounts using HSPDA speeds for S$34 per month.

The severely overpriced Australian offerings need to be fixed.

Reason is Anonymous -- 14/09/07 (in reply to #320086070)

That's because the Australian goverment is subsidising singtel via their australian Optus arm.

LOL

You are not an engineer are you? Joe -- 13/09/07

My home wireless is double that at 108Mbps but actual throughput depends on many factors.

I can get a 1Gbps connection in my office if I wanted to, does that make Japan 3rd world?

A handful of high population density countries does not count as the rest of the world. If we had the same population density of Japan, Korea or Singapore we would have a population of almost 1.5 Billion. And that doesn't take into account the 7,000,000 sq km of desert.

At that level anyone could afford to run fibre to every home.

Country rates Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086067)

Average internet speeds Megabits per sec
1. Japan 61.0 MPS
2. Korea 45.5MPS
3. Netherlands 21.7MPS
4. Sweden 18.2 MPS
5. France 17.1 MPS

Country density Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086068)

Lets get things in perspective. Some of the countries you listed are smaller then Tasmania

1. Japan n 340. 05 people per sq KM
2. Korea 499.49
3. Netherlands 489.05
4. Sweden 21.98
5. France 116.77
6. Australia 2.68

source CIA World Factbook

Once again someone wanting to compare apples and oranges.

So where do you work? Droptus, AAPT, iiNet, ACCC, or another one of those cr@p companies?

Slowband Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086077)

This Telstra 30MPS service is only available in Sydney and Melbourne right?. The question is not about providing internet to the whole country. If Telstra and the Australian government can't even provide 'best available technologies' for two relatively small populated cities plus having budget surplus' in the billions of dollars. This 30MPS service their touting is a joke.

To the question of Japan, which is more difficult? Providing 54+ MPS to 20 million Tokyo-ites in crammed, meandering century old streets during a recession? Or, getting 54+MPS to the wide streets of Sydney and Melbourne? They obviously have already laid new cables or introduced some new method to provide this service so why is it still 30MPS? Why isn't it best available technology? They have either done it on the cheap or...???

And BTW your numbers should read like this:

Japan 340.05 people per square meter
Melbourne 479.6 people per square meter
Sydney 345.7 people per square meter
Korea 499.49 people per square meter
Tokyo 5769 people per square meter

And,.. you obviously work for Telstra....

per square meter? Now that's crowded Anonymous -- 14/09/07 (in reply to #320086131)

I am an ex Telstra employee, chased the better money and now work for a competitor to Telstra. Even so I still like the company and believe they are being hard done by.

Telstra is rolling a service out to two major cities because the economics are there, isn't that what everyone else is doing with ADSL2+?

If we compare capital cities only then Tokyo is 15 times denser then Sydney and 12 times more then Melbourne, let alone 30 times Brisbane and almost 100 more then Perth. From your own numbers the same amount of infrastructure would server 12 times as many people in Tokyo then in Melbourne.

Regardless of the width of the road it still needs to be dug up and cable laid and to offer it to 12 - 15 times as many people the consumer take-up and returns would be much higher.

That would mean the same infrastructure needed to deliver a service in Melbourne would return 12 times as many subscribers in Tokyo, if the infrastructure to serve 1 sq km costs $12000 and a take-up of 10% of the people then it would be then that would be $12000 / 48 people = $250 per service to depreciate the cost in Melbourne and only $12000 / 577 = $20.80 for Japan.

Every emotional argument you have raised can easily be dismissed when using cold hard fact.

By the way which telco do you work for?

Where did you get your facts? Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086068)

I just read the ZDNET article about broadband speeds in OZ being 5.5Mbps (http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Test-your-broadband-Oz-now-on-5-5Mbps-average/0,130061791,339282051,00.htm).

Where did you get the above figures? 18th in the world with the top only being "over 15Mbps".

How does this, as stated by many, make Australia third world?

Considering all of the factors this is a very good result and using other measures such as population, global distances, market forces and regulation/deregulation I am sure we would rank higher.

I have to give credit to those who stick to their guns and pay attention to facts that survive repeated scrutiny and not simply who is better at political spin.

Telstra still playing games Anonymous -- 13/09/07

Before Tel$tra started their continuous anti competitivie **** fights with the Government mRegional exchanges which were listed for upgrade to ADSL(http://www.telstrawholesale.com.au/products/access_broadband_reports.htm) have for the last 4-5 months reverted back to under review. Where as before they had dates. I and many others supect that there kiited out and ready for the flcik of a switch but are being held back as blackmail by by Tel$tras megalomaniacal management.

Held for ransom? Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086084)

Why would any company upgrade infrastructure and then not use it? Simple - Because the overall financial impact by using it would not be in the shareholder's interest. Unless there is a reasonable short and / or long term return I wouldn't invest in something so why should Telstra.

If it was a truly free and open environment Telstra would charge what they wanted and if the other companies were not happy they could build their own infrastructure. This is not impossible, many companies have installed ADSL2+ in exchanges BUTâ�¦. have focused on high population areas where there is ample staff and low per service costs.

All it would take for Telstra to switch these on is for the ACCC to promise they will not place unreasonable conditions on the services. What you may consider reasonable as a consumer is not necessarily what a corporation would consider reasonable. Telstra will make their decision based on investment & return and not on the opinion of a very very VERY LOUD minority.

charges for uploads a joke still stillajoke -- 13/09/07

While Tel$tra still sees fit to charge for uploads they still wont compete againt the larger players who dont charge for uploads and also have higher caps.

Ironically, the people who will use the 30Mps increase are the ones who shunned them in the first place.

It's a joke alright grump -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086090)

$40/month for a 200MB cap
or $130 for 60GB & only in Syd/Melbourne.
Sol must be laughing all the way to the bank!
G.

If you don't like it don't buy it Anonymous -- 13/09/07 (in reply to #320086129)

"larger players" that would mean Telstra no longer has a monopoly and the ACCC can now stop bugging them right?

You also conveniently forget to mention they also offer un-metered usage, I use about 20GB every month and over half is completely free as it is 'un-metered content'. How many others offer this 24/7? Some companies offer "free" or "bonus" allowances but only during vampire hours.

And as a shareholder I am also laughing all the way to the bank.

Re: If you don't like it don't buy it Grump -- 14/09/07 (in reply to #320086132)

Not a monopoly? Control of the phone lines amounts to the same thing. For example Telstra refuses to allow my neighbour an ADSL service unless it's with Big Puddle.
Remove the ACCC & Telstra would be the only option.
As for unmetered usage, it's a pity they don't notify google of this as a search of their plans reveals all are capped as well as overpriced.
Yep, I don't like it & will never buy it.

www.accc.gov.au Yuska -- 15/09/07 (in reply to #320086198)

Hey grump.

If you comment is true (i.e. the infrastructure is suitable and there are other ISP''s servicing the area) then this is illegal and you or your neighbour should not use this forum to resolve it but instead go and complain to the ACCC.

You might be lucky enough to have me look at your case. There are some great stories I could tell you about the decision making process in that organisation and how it has changed over the past 5 years.

This is the only way to prove your argument, come back and give an update when you have a substantiated gripe. But you already know this as you seen to know a lot about the industry from all of the other anti Telstra propaganda you have posted.

I will give you credit for being one of the few people that will post any sort of alias.

Telstra playing Games Grump. -- 17/09/07 (in reply to #320086207)

Very difficult to prove. Telstra have regularly contacted my neighbour to offer him a BPond ADSL service "now available in your area.".
He has repeatedly applied for ADSL with my ISP Dodo, only to have Dodo notify him that Telstra has refused the connection on the grounds that he is too far from the local exchange.
We are both on the same multi-pair Telstra supplied & installed cable run on sequential rural properties.
He is half a K closer to the exchange than I, yet I have had an excellent ADSL Dodo service for the past two years despite the greater distance.

I agree with your comments & had advised him to pursue the matter, but as his wife is the sole user & is legally blind, his attitude was "not worth the hassle as she doesnt have much time left before her eyesight fails completely so she can put up with her dial-up.

Why is our data still getting capped? Anonymous -- 14/09/07

I don't care about the speed, what about the caps. At least remove them!!! What a rip off Telstra!!!

Telstra saved my life Anonymous -- 21/09/07 (in reply to #320086205)

If it weren't for my data being capped, I would have been arrested for downloading illegal movies and music. Thankyou Telstra for capping me!

Telstra just want to keep more customer before new broadband update Anonymous -- 21/09/07

New generation of broadband is coming and Telstra's competitors will join to take part of this cake, so Telstra want to keep more customers before next gen coming.

Telstra turns on 30Mbps cable in Sydney, Melbourne Daniel Allen -- 22/09/07

You know that several countries in Eastern Europe, Estonia and Lithuania to name two, have decided that the Internet is a tool for education as well as social reasons and as such, every home is provided with a broadband connection totally free. The local councils cannot do anything without the knowledge of their constituents because all of their paper work is not filed away. It is open to everyone. The Estonian government has stated that providing free Internet access to those who want it, just like free-to-air radio and television has reached the point where it is accepted that people are entitled to it. They have also stated that by keeping the private sector out of the Internet field, costs are minimal and provide an excellent service to the public of their countries. They laugh when we say we are paying for something that is our right to receive as taxpayers.

You will never read this on these anti-Telstra sites Anonymous -- 27/09/07

Telstra Wins at the First Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards

The first ever Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards were presented in London on the evening of September 17 2007.

Telstra won the IT innovation award, specifically recognizing Telstra's IT transformation projects, mostly undertaken in Australia.

You armchair experts might hate Telstra but the real experts seem to think the other way!!!

Telstra Simon Goslett -- 28/09/07 (in reply to #320086825)

Great to see Telstra picking up awards for technology again. The trouble is they don't win them for customer service or customer value. Telstra apologists forget that a business is ultimately judged by how their customers rate them. To protect shareholder value in the long term you need to have satisfied customers. If you are only interested in short term return, customers don't matter. It looks to me that Telstra is looking at the very short term, otherwise they would exhibit a different set of values to the market.

You don't invest $Billions in Networks & CRM for the short term Andrew Jones -- 28/09/07 (in reply to #320086914)

You still don't see the big picture do you? Based on independent testing Telstra's customer satisfaction results have been trending upwards for a long time and recently rated higher the Optus and is at almost it's highest since deregulation. Take off your blinkers and look at reality.

If Telstra is so bad Anonymous -- 01/10/07

Winner - Best Broadband Supplier, 2007 Australian Telecoms Awards

Winner - Best Wireless Broadband, 2007 Australian Personal Computer Internet Technology Awards

Winner - Internet Technology of the Year, 2007 Australian Personal Computer Internet Technology Awards