As I've blogged before, I've cut off the Foxtel satellite and gone OTT with the Foxtel Now service. Upgraded my NBN plan to unlimited data, and stream not only Foxtel to my television via Chromecast, but also a lot of my other content, Netflix, YouTube, and Free-to-Air content.
For the first few weeks it was great - apart from some latency issues, and a truly horrendous Foxtel Now app, the quality of the picture was pretty good. A friend came over and when I tole them they were watching a stream, they remarked how good it was and that they could hardly see any difference in the picture quality.
And then something happened. I don't know if it was other people in my area started using more internet, or if there is an issue at the local node or exchange, but the quality of the picture would deteriorate around peak times such as the evening. It was a considerable drop off, especially with sport. I really have no idea, but my guess is that my neighbour - that just moved in a few weeks ago - has started drawing down a lot of data in the evenings.
I ran a few speed tests, and sure enough, the download speed was well below what I was paying for. 12MB down and 1MB up was slowed to 6-8 down and 1 up.
So I rang my provider, and over a number of days, it was established that the level of degradation I was experiencing was not unusual, but that there may be a smaller NBN unit at the local exchange - or something like that. But it was also established that for my level of use, which is quite pronounced, I may need to upgrade to the next level of internet plan - 25MB down and 5MB up. This is because services like Foxtel Now demand an upload speed of around 1.5MB up. I'm not sure exactly how streaming services need an upload speed - something to do with the asymmetry of the internet connection, but I have almost resigned myself to the fact that I'll be needing a bigger bit rate to get the kind of service I'm after.
I told this to my internet provider, and - God love 'em - they offered me a FREE trial period of a week on the 25-5 plan to see if it resolves the issues I'm having. If it doesn't resolve it, then it may be a technical issues that would likely need to be addressed by the NBN wholesaler. If the problem is fixed, then I may need to upgrade my plan if I want to keep the quality of picture.
I forgot to ask the provider today if the modem I have is up to the demands I'm placing on it. But I think it should be ok - I got it when I upgraded to NBN the first time.
If I do need to upgrade to 25-5, it raises other questions. the cost per month goes up to $80 a month - and all of a sudden I'm back near what I was paying per month for Foxtel on the satellite. Keep in mind that I'm already paying $65 a month for Foxtel Now. So I can chose to go to another provider - the cheapest I can find for a 25-5 plan is $60 a month with Amaysim, which is seriously good. However, I really like Internode as a provider, and I'm not sure if I change provider if my modem would be compatible, or if I would need to buy a new one. However, I'm hopeful that if I do need to change plans, I can haggle with Internode and get them down to maybe $70 a month for a 25-5 plan by leveraging the offer from Amaysim and my good standing as an Internode customer.
Generally I'm on this service as my preferred means of getting content - do I miss the satellite? At times, yes, but in some small way I also feel that if I am putting pressure on the infrastructure, then the government will ultimately have to bend to the will of the people and improve the infrastructure accordingly. I honestly don't see myself going back to the satellite unless there is a catastrophic failure with the NBN delivery. I can only see myself placing more demands on my service once I get my gaming PC back (!), in addition to the second and third screen viewing I'm already doing on my plan.
Maybe a 25-5 plan is inevitable...
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