BigPond started offering increased speeds of up to 17Mbps on its cable broadband network in March. Previously the network had delivered a maximum of 8Mbps.
Reacting to user concerns the new "Cable Extreme" plans were not delivering increased speeds to all customers, a spokesperson for BigPond acknowledged not all users would necessarily see increased speeds after upgrading but said "the vast majority will".
"We have a process in place to rebate customers where they do not get a speed improvement," the spokesperson told CNET.com.au's sister site ZDNet Australia in an e-mailed response to questions.
"The minimum should be the same speed they got under Cable Standard, although the vast majority will see speed improvements," they added.
BigPond said limiting factors on Cable Extreme speeds included the actual plan selected, customer location, the protocol used for data transmission, current Internet traffic, the capacity and popularity of sites accessed and modem, PC hardware and software configuration.
The spokesperson said the ranks of those able to receive the full speeds were not limited to users who could receive the full 8Mbps under the original cable plans.
The Internet service provider declined to reveal how many customers had signed up for the upgraded speeds since they were made available in March.
They were similarly unwilling to comment on any evidence of users churning from other providers or other plans to the Cable Extreme plans. "Anecdotally we are hearing of 'power users' migrating to Cable Extreme," they said.
BigPond claims to have more than 250,000 customers using its cable broadband service.
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dugz
28/05/2006 09:55 PM
Just changed back to standard cable broadband after trying Extreme(ly disappointing). Rang Bigpond to complain of slow speed after running a speed test program for a week. They run me thru their speed test. Result. A pathetic 700 odd bps when I'm paying for up to 17,000. Thats about 6% of maximum possible. Bigpond stated that if speed dropped below 120bps they would consider looking into it. I'm not impressed.
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teo
12/09/2006 10:35 AM
the only "extreme" is the nerve of BigPond to pretend that it can acheive anything like 17mbps. I have yet to find anyone that even approaches 25% of that speed. I have it in writing from their rep., that the maximum I can acheive is 2mbps. I have not been able to find out, under what conditions is it possible to get even close to 17mbps.
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nifty
18/04/2007 08:07 PM
This is my first month on Bigpond Cable Extreme (after much difficulty changing from normal cable plan, I'd add). I've seen no increase in download speed at all. Tonight I've done speed tests using a number of sites. The results for my new 17,000kbps download plan - a lousy 5,000kbps ! I phoned Bigpond tech support and was told that only 880kbps (110KBps) was guaranteed - sorry can't help. Tomorrow I'll phone Bigpond and tell them to cancel my Extreme plan and put me back on normal cable. My opinion is the Extreme plan is a ripoff.
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Concerned User
31/05/2007 05:02 PM
@ Anonymous: "the only "extreme" is the nerve of BigPond to pretend that it can acheive anything like 17mbps. I have yet to find anyone that even approaches 25% of that speed. I have it in writing from their rep., that the maximum I can acheive is 2mbps. I have not been able to find out, under what conditions is it possible to get even close to 17mbps." Just to let you know, 17 Mbps means ( 17 Mega bITS per second. ) Now ONE bIT, is an EIGHTH of a BYTE... This means 17 Mbps is a little over 2 MBps ( Mega BYTES per second ) Don't be fooled, ... But as the next user said, they only guarantee 110KBps... :( Stick with OptusNet, they give me 9.9mbps, and my download speed is 1.2MBps... it's nice.
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MH08
01/12/2007 03:26 PM
I have Bigpond Cable Extreme and I've managed to get a maximum of 18.1Mbps and a download speed of 2.4-2.5Mbps download speed. Bigpond cable is not a rip off it obviouly depends on wher you live. I live in the Hills District (NSW) and I love how fast the pages load in Internet Explorer 7 under the Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Operating System (O.S.). If you want fast internet webpage browsing download Firefox it really fast at browsing webpages, unlike Internet Explorer that waits to gather all the website information before it displays the page Firefox display the website as soon as you typein your web address and hit enter, as far as Bigpond Cable Exytreme Broadband goes it's super fast for me. Although it does also help if you have a modern computer system. I've got an old computer that I've tested Bigpond Cable on and the speeds alright but with a new modern computer like I've got it's super fast. These are my old computer Specifications: CPU: Intel Pentium 3 933MHz RAM: 512MB (1X 512mb Module) Video Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Video RAM: 128MB HDD 1: 20GB HDD 2: 40GB OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP 1 & 2. etc. New Modern Computer Specifications: CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad 2.40GHz (4 CPU's) RAM: 2048MB (2GB) Video Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 8400GS 3D. Video RAM: 256MB (1024MB (1GB allocated by Windows Vista) HDD: 500GB OS: Microsoft Windows Vista - Ultimate. etc. This is why Bigpond Cable Extreme runs fast for me.
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