Telstra has announced boosting the speeds across its cable broadband network for around 500,000 customers, lifting maximum download speeds on its standard plan from 30Mbps to 50Mbps, and maximum upload speeds from 1-2Mbps to 5Mbps across all plans.
Announced in a blog post by Jana Kotatko, Telstra head of Fixed Products for Consumer and Small Business, the higher speeds will be provided at no extra cost, with users needing to restart their modem.
"We know how integral fast broadband is to your life ... that's why we've just sped up our cable service so our loyal home and small business cable customers get faster speeds at no extra cost," Kotatko wrote.
"This has surprised some of you, but we want to let you know it's the real deal."
The blog post follows a user of OzBargain on Friday night saying they were seeing a free speed upgrade as a Telstra cable network customer after a power cycle or reboot of their modem.
The move also comes despite Telstra signing a AU$11 billion definitive agreement in December 2014 for the National Broadband Network (NBN) company to take progressive ownership of its legacy copper and hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) networks.
"We regularly review the performance of our cable service and make upgrades when required to ensure it is meeting the expectations of our customers," Telstra told ZDNet on Monday.
"Our cable network runs DOCSIS 3 technology, which allows us to deliver these speeds, and we continue to invest in our network to ensure it meets the evolving needs of our customers. We want our customers to have the best experience irrespective of whether they are on our cable service or on the NBN."
Telstra CEO Andy Penn in November argued that the issues causing NBN's HFC rollout pause cropped up during NBN's works, and that the network was fine when Telstra had it.
"Can I say, to be clear, that is the same cable that currently provides internet services to Telstra's customers and also for Foxtel pay TV services, and for those services, it is absolutely fine, it's been a great experience," Penn said.
"It's in the process of NBN taking it and making whatever technology changes they are making to it where they've had some issues."
Telstra also picked up a AU$1.6 billion contract two years ago in April 2016 to provide design and management services for NBN's HFC network, however.
"All design, program management, construction management, and scheduling activities will be undertaken by Telstra," Telstra said at the time.
"Field construction activities will largely be performed by NBN's MIMA [Multi-technology Integrated Master Agreement] partners, while in-exchange construction activities and limited upstream in-field activities will be undertaken by Telstra."
NBN earlier this month relaunched its HFC network, but simultaneously announced moving 440,000 HFC and fibre-to-the-node premises to its fibre-to-the-curb (FttC) network.
Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/telstra-confirms-cable-broadband-speed-boost/