Telstra unveils 'T-Box' digital set top box

Telstra (ASX:TLS) unveils Australia’s fastest cable broadband and new digital set top box

Melbourne will become home to Australia’s fastest cable broadband network after Telstra today announced the completion of an upgrade of the hybrid fibre coaxial broadband network offering an ultra fast, multi-user experience.

From 1 December nearly one million Melbourne homes will benefit from the upgrade to the cable network. The network download capacity increases to up to 100Mbps and the upload capacity to up to 2Mbps, offering an increase in bandwidth to share across multiple users and devices within the household.

Telstra also revealed a new television set top box incorporating two digital television tuners. To be known as T-Box™, the set top box features the ability to view and record free to air television programs up to seven days in advance, the ability to pause and rewind live television and seamlessly integrates access to BigPond internet content such as BigPond TV channels and the BigPond Movies download rental service.

Telstra Group Managing Director of Product Management, Ms Holly Kramer, said as the family home now connects multiple computers and devices like the new T-Box™ to the internet, increased bandwidth allows members of the family to receive a better internet experience when they are all online at the same time.

“The completion of this cable upgrade means multiple family members can surf the internet, play games online or download movies at the same time,” Ms Kramer said.

Ms Kramer said the new T-Box™, which will be trialled by Melbourne customers over the coming months, takes advantage of the increase in bandwidth to bring high quality internet television and movies downloaded straight to the home television.

“The Telstra T-Box will enhance the free-to-air digital TV experience by allowing customers to pause and rewind live television, access a seven day program guide to record upcoming programs and rent and download movies from BigPond® Movies.

“T-Box also gives users unmetered access to the seven BigPond® TV internet channels including live news, sport and online music all streamed directly to the television set,” Ms Kramer said.

Telstra also announced that its Velocity fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network has been upgraded to offer a network download capacity of up to 100Mbps into the home for sharing across multiple users within the household.

The upgrades to the cable and Velocity services will mean that the download capacity they offer is so fast that they exceed the capabilities of many internet sites and computers. This means the actual download speeds an individual customer will receive on the services will depend on factors including customer equipment, server limitations, Wi-Fi reception/capacity, and so will be less than the total capacity into the home.