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Telstra confirm 30Mbit national network plan - but don't mention the NBN

by Daniel Long , Staff Writers on Nov 19, 2009

Tags: telstra | nbn | broadband | t-box

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8 comments in this discussion

""Telstra said that the Melbourne cable upgrade would compliment any future fibre to the node developments developed by the Government and NBN partners...." Well, either Telstra or, more likely, ..."

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Telstra has completed the 100Mbit upgrade to their Melbourne cable network and are next planning to get 30Mbit speeds into the rest of the country; but first they'll need to dispel those endless NBN comparisons

[NOTE: This story has been updated with more detail clarifying Telstra's comments about further plans to upgrade their HFC network]

Fending off endless comparisons to the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Melbourne today, reporters jostled with Telstra management over their announcement of the completion of the HFC cable upgrade in Melbourne to 100Mbits/s. Upload speeds will also now function at 2Mbit/s.

Similarly, the target speed of the National Broadband connection is also 100Mbit/s, a comparison Telstra management were not interested in, preferring to stay away from political debate over the NBN.

"At the end of the day we share the government's vision", said Michael Rocca, Group Managing Director of Networks and Service.

Telstra said that the Melbourne cable upgrade would compliment any future fibre to the node developments developed by the Government and NBN partners, acknowledging that the huge broadband speed increase will help more Australian households access video streaming and download services.

The upgrade has also arrived just in time for Telstra's Melbourne trial of their T-Box set-top home entertainment unit, a strategy which appears to follow the strategy being led by TiVo and Foxtel.

While people in Melbourne are now safely assured by Telstra as having the "fastest broadband in Australia" (we guess they weren't counting the start of the NBN roll-out in Tasmania recently), Telstra also confirmed plans to expand broadband speeds to other areas of Australia.

In addition to upgrading their HFC DOCSIS 3.0 technology in Melbourne, a Telstra spokesperson confirmed plans to implement 30Mbits/s download speeds on the larger national HFC cable network "...where services are currently running at 17Mbit/s".

"The plan is to continue the upgrade...we will continue to upgrade the rest of the network on DOCSIS 1.1.That will be upgraded to 30MBIts in other capital cities over the next 12 months", Rocca told the Melbourne press.

"We're about leading technologies. Telstra have a number of firsts in technology - that's what we're about."

Sydney-Melbourne rivalry is likely to continue following the recent upgrade of the Melbourne cable to 100Mbit/s. Melbourne was chosen because it was deemed to have the greatest engineering expertise in the country and allowed Telstra a chance to evaluate the market in terms of technology and business needs.

Rocca stressed that the HFC upgrade is no different to NBN initiatives such as fibre to the node, likening it to overseas broadband solutions already due for deployment by over 140 international carriers.

"This is really about what we're doing with our cable. This has nothing to do with the NBN - we started this before the NBN was even announced."

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Comments: 8

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Vulscan Nov 20, 2009 4:50 AM	I find it difficult to believe that they can adequately supply 30Mbit connections when they can't even supply enough backhaul for 8Mbit connections. So many people have commented (myself included) that 8Mbit ports are now speed reduced to 3Mbit. "We're about leading technologies. Telstra have a number of firsts in technology - that's what we're about," - Yeah, right. If they were they'd have already done their own FTTN if not FTTP. Comment made about the PC Authority article: Telstra confirm 30Mbit/s national network plan - but don't mention the NBN? Telstra has completed the 100Mbit upgrade to their Melbourne cable network and are next planning to get 30Mbit speeds into the rest of the country; but first they'll need to dispel those endless NBN comparisons What do you think? Join the discussion.
psyched Nov 20, 2009 9:01 AM	Okay im not pro-telstra by any means buts lets some facts straight. the above poster talking about 8mbit connections. well that IS ADSL, not HFC. ADSL is an entirely different technology with its own limitations. as for 30mbit? im on it right now, i regularly hit 3.4mbyte/sec on torrent downloads (linux distro's before anyone says pirating and fast speeds) i welcome 100mbit as it is pushing their slower/less download products into a cheaper price range :) As for the constant mistakes in the article it is hFc no hSc. it stands for Hybrid Fiber Coaxial. quote: "That would be a significant boost from the current 20Mbit/sec found on some ADSL2+ services around Australia currently." - so they are moving their ADSL2+ customer off of adsl onto their HFC?? i didnt see this in their press release. seriously guys do your research or at the very least get someone to write the piece that knows that they are talking about. once again ADSL!=HFC, if you dont know what that means then google '!=' most people in IT would know what it means. I can see what bigpond/telstra will do here, quite smart really. they did it with 3g/Nextg where most people think NextG is different product/protocol from 3G, which it is not. What they will do however is jump the gun and leech off of the NBN's publicity, and then put a spin on it as if they were the only company doing this, believe me, the mums and dads will believe it. quote: ""We're about leading technologies. Telstra have a number of firsts in technology " - im sorry WRONG! if telstra were the 'leaders in technology' then why did the artificially limit ADSL1? why did they not roll out ADSL2/2+ until a competitor did? why was it small (by comparision) isp's had to do it first? Why upgrade to docsis3.0 now, when its been there for about the last 1-2 years?? Because they wanted to capitolise on the older technology, making us suckle on the 2mbit teet as long as possible all while paying top dollar and thinking it was great. The ONLY thing telstra was first in was NextG (aka 3G) but optus will get in front with 4G :P
Pacman Nov 20, 2009 10:30 AM	I thought the story was pretty clear. Psyched, did you have a bad childhood or something? Telstra are upgrading the HFC network, not the ADSL2+ network in the story. And I think it's fair to say you're an Optus apologist. Let's not start on that one.
Dave10 Nov 20, 2009 1:07 PM	Come on guys - a bit of fact checking with the article! "Michael Rocca"... not "Michael Rocker"
Blaktop Nov 20, 2009 7:23 PM	What I would like Telstra do be doing is rather than roll out 30Mbit connections to areas that already have ADSL2+, try supplying a decent connection to the areas that are severely speed limited currently. For those that don't live in one of those areas it's not an issue but I do live there and I get tired of seeing those with a good fast connection getting better options while we get very little. For that reason I have much more faith in the government's NBN incentive. Granted there are places where high speed reliable broadband of some kind is not feasible but there are plenty of towns with populations of 25,000 and bigger that have limited access to broadband. I live in a town of 30,000 people and the best I can get is 8000/384 which in reality delivers 3500/384.....and I'm glad to get that. Some of the town gets ADSL2+ and the rest needs line upgrades by Telstra.......which they are not planning to do in the foreseeable future so forgive me if I don't get excited when Telstra announces that people who already get 24Mbits will soon be able to get 30Mbits.
anonymous Nov 21, 2009 11:01 AM	There might be some new faces at the top of Telstra, but it appears that the incumbent monopolist is still up to its old tricks. These seem to include holding back on tech advancement and denying customers better service, even where an upgrade may not need much more than reprogramming. Then only cut over to the new version in those areas where a competitor has appeared. Any independent review is likely to show we should have more confidence in the NBN proposal than in the track record of the incumbent.
blockcentre Nov 21, 2009 6:23 PM	anonymous wrote: There might be some new faces at the top of Telstra, but it appears that the incumbent monopolist is still up to its old tricks. These seem to include holding back on tech advancement and denying customers better service, even where an upgrade may not need much more than reprogramming. Then only cut over to the new version in those areas where a competitor has appeared. Any independent review is likely to show we should have more confidence in the NBN proposal than in the track record of the incumbent. An NBN proposal? Really? I didn't realise that proposal is the new term for smoke and mirrors? The only steps that have taken thus far is the Govt looking to introduce more WiMax into remote areas. Which, surprisingly, is the broadband policy that they tore up once they took office. Remote areas would already have affordable broadband if that had not happened.
The Cynic Dec 11, 2009 3:03 PM	"Telstra said that the Melbourne cable upgrade would compliment any future fibre to the node developments developed by the Government and NBN partners...." Well, either Telstra or, more likely, the staff writer should learn a little English. I cannot imagine the cable upgrade would be capable of "complimenting" anything or anybody. Did they mean, perhaps, complementing? However being a country dweller with a choice of slow cheap dial-up internet or slow expensive satellite internet I think all this talk about "most" or "95%" of Australia getting even 30Mbits is all pie in the sky! Neither Rudd the Dud nor Telstra are going to deliver on that promise!