Telstra gives free speed boost to cable customers

Jacqui Dent - Editorial Strategist

Last updated 23 April 2018

Telstra gives free speed boost to cable customers

If you're a Telstra cable customer on the standard cable speed tier, you just got a massive speed boost, free of charge. Telstra announced today that it has boosted standard cable download speeds from 30Mbps to a maximum of 50Mbps. That's equivalent to the maximum download speeds available on NBN 50, the second-fastest speed available on the NBN.

All Telstra cable customers, including those paying for the faster cable download speeds of 100Mbps, should also see an upload speed boost as part of the initiative. Upload speeds will rise from 1Mbps to 5Mbps for standard customers and from 2Mbps to 5Mbps for speed boost customers.

The upload speed boost is not equivalent to NBN 50, which offers upload speeds of up to 20Mbps. However, it's still enough of a shift for customers to notice an improvement in the time it takes for you to upload large files like videos to the internet.

50 Mbps download speeds should ensure everyone in a household of four is able to partake in their favourite online activities all at the same time – whether it's streaming movies and music, online gaming, sharing memes and photos, or video calling with overseas friends and family.

How do you get the cable speed boost?

If you're already a Telstra cable customer, the only thing you need to do to get the speed boost is turn off your modem, wait for around two minutes, and then switch it back on again. After this, you should find your new speed profile has been configured.

If you're not a Telstra cable customer but would like to become one, you can get the speed boost too when you sign up. Remember that cable internet is not available to all homes in Australia. You can search your address on the Telstra website to see if your home is able to get a cable connection.

A Telstra speed boost trend

Telstra's latest move to boost speeds for cable customers follows the telco's news last month that it would upgrade all Telstra NBN 25 customers to NBN 50 free of charge. Telstra announced today that of the 850,000 customers that were to be affected by the March NBN speed boost, around 800,000 have already received their upgrade.

Adding the NBN 25 upgrade to the cable speed upgrade, Telstra can now boast that 1.3 million customers have received a free speed boost. We have yet to see any other telcos follow suit and offer free, automatic speed upgrades for customers.

Jacqui Dent

Editorial Strategist

Jacqui Dent is an Editorial Content Strategist at WhistleOut Australia, where she writes about mobile phone plans, NBN plans and everything in between. Over her ten-year career, she has worked to provide informed advice to the public, first in the sphere of writing and now in the world of consumer tech. Jacqui has also written about consumer telco products for Business Insider, Pedestrian and the 50Up Club.

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