BigPond gives cable bigger speeds (1 Viewer)

[AsyLum]

BigPond's quarter of a million cable users will have the opportunity to increase their speed to a potential 17Mbit/s for an extra $10/month, starting in March.

The new plans, called "Cable Extreme", feature 256Kbit/s upload speeds and come after a short trial by BigPond. It gives cable subscribers a high speed alternative to ADSL2+ offered by competitors.

BigPond's 10GB bundled plan with the speed boost, for example, will cost $69.95 and won't require a hardware upgrade by the end user. But ADSL still wins on upload speeds, and there's more competition, which means lower prices and higher download limits.

With existing cable speeds at up to 8Mbit/s, paying $10 per month for even more download speed may not be attractive for many users. BigPond believes that content will play a part in convincing users to upgrade.

According to BigPond Managing Director Justin Milne, the speed upgrade, coupled with the telco's foray into movie downloads "will provide a quality Movies on Demand service."

BigPond Movie Downloads is set to be launched on the 1st of March, and will give users the ability to download movies and watch them, as they would a rented title from a video store. The site will use Microsoft's DRM format which allows users to download the file and then watch it within a specific amount of time. Specifics surrounding price details are still unconfirmed.

Source: http://whirlpool.net.au/

 

[sunjet]

I guess l'll get it but the 10GB really sucks, they need to change it.

 

[tempco]

People are still on cable?

 

[melsc]

BigPond's quarter of a million cable users will have the opportunity to increase their speed to a potential 17Mbit/s for an extra $10/month, starting in March.

The new plans, called "Cable Extreme", feature 256Kbit/s upload speeds and come after a short trial by BigPond. It gives cable subscribers a high speed alternative to ADSL2+ offered by competitors.

BigPond's 10GB bundled plan with the speed boost, for example, will cost $69.95 and won't require a hardware upgrade by the end user. But ADSL still wins on upload speeds, and there's more competition, which means lower prices and higher download limits.

With existing cable speeds at up to 8Mbit/s, paying $10 per month for even more download speed may not be attractive for many users. BigPond believes that content will play a part in convincing users to upgrade.

According to BigPond Managing Director Justin Milne, the speed upgrade, coupled with the telco's foray into movie downloads "will provide a quality Movies on Demand service."

BigPond Movie Downloads is set to be launched on the 1st of March, and will give users the ability to download movies and watch them, as they would a rented title from a video store. The site will use Microsoft's DRM format which allows users to download the file and then watch it within a specific amount of time. Specifics surrounding price details are still unconfirmed.

Source: http://whirlpool.net.au/

Oh nice, I was wondering how much it would cost to get the speed up a bit

 

[AntiHyper]

The "Cable Extreme" plans should be like Optus with a peak & offpeak monthly usages. Where by the offpeak usage is double that of the peaked one. That is, a 10 GB plan would become a 30GB plan if used smartly

 

[AsyLum]

People are still on cable?

OGM BECOZ PPL SHOULD ALL GET ADSL2+++++ BECAUSE IT GETS PRON QUICKAH!!?!~

Idiot.

 

[Templar]

It's still affected by the fact that Cable is divided into nodes by streets and so forth. Unlike ADSL, you don't get a direct line to your modem - you share your backbone with your street.

It doesn't matter that much because in the end, the whole concept of internet is shared. You might not share your ADSL line with your street, but sooner or later it will be routed and shared with other traffic.

 

[Minai]

Movie downloads eh...They better be unmetered or else it is totally useless.

I dunno (I'm currently on the 59.95 cable 10gig plan, have been for almost 5 years)...is the speed boost (which may or may not even be noticed due to traffic) worth the $10 more?

 

[AsyLum]

It will be when you find yourself using the 10 gbs up faster

 

[SiZmOs]

the 10GB plan sounds good but it has its downsides - i download a lot of stuff, as everyone does, and on this plan if you exceed 10GB then your speed gets slowed to like 64kbps... its tormenting... especially when it happens 8 days into the new month...

 

[Justin]

My family has broadband cable i hope we can upgrade to this if it is available in our area.

of course it has slow upload speeds (which affect gaming) because Telstra is so corny.

 

[AsyLum]

And then you factor in where each DSLAM is, then you realise you won't be hitting 1000000000000000000000000000000MB/s every time.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

The whole thing is useless. Anyone who upgrades is a complete moron. There is no point having such a fast speed when you can still only download 10gig. The only thing a speed like that will do is help you get slowed quicker.

 

[hopeles5ly]

i have bigpond and i hate it ..

 

[tempco]

OGM BECOZ PPL SHOULD ALL GET ADSL2+++++ BECAUSE IT GETS PRON QUICKAH!!?!~

Idiot.

haha, calm down, boy. I don't even have ADSL2+.

Whatever it is, Telstra will never, ever be value for money.

 

[vizman]

i've got optusnet cable and its pretty good, esp. the bonus off-peak downloads - it could be a little faster but im not too bothered

 

[CrashOveride]

to be on the 10gig plan for $59.95 (cable) i think you need international and local calls with telstra. Do you actually have to make international phone calls or can you just be signed up to their service. I have telstra home phone but i think i need international as well to get 59.95 instead of paying like 64.95. However, their call rates for international is pathetic...so i was weondering if it suffices to just be connected, and not have to make int. calls?

 

[seremify007]

the 10GB plan sounds good but it has its downsides - i download a lot of stuff, as everyone does, and on this plan if you exceed 10GB then your speed gets slowed to like 64kbps... its tormenting... especially when it happens 8 days into the new month...

Sigh I know the feeling. and my mum yells at me when that happens.

I guess l'll get it but the 10GB really sucks, they need to change it.

Agreed. Why can't we get off peak downloads like Optus? ><

The "Cable Extreme" plans should be like Optus with a peak & offpeak monthly usages. Where by the offpeak usage is double that of the peaked one. That is, a 10 GB plan would become a 30GB plan if used smartly

Can't you get like 40gb+ on Optus if you use up all the off-peak stuff?

 

[seremify007]

Btw... why do ppl say cable is 8mbps? I thought it was 5 (on Bigpond); and the bigpond site confirms this;

With BigPond Broadband Cable you can experience download speeds of up to 5Mb per second. That's up to 100 times faster than a standard dial up connection, and up to 20 times faster than 256kbps ADSL plans.~

http://bigpond.com/internet-plans/broadband/cable/

 

[seremify007]

I was checking the email and it said something about network downloads go upto 10mbit on my current connection- but no mention of the $10 more for the faster speed- not that I'd pay that much for it. Speed hasn't ever been an issue to me on cable.