Optus cable upload speed.

Hey guys, had Optus cable for about a year now, I have the speed pack and it does everything it says on the box. I get just over 100mbps DL and 2mbps upload. That's the issue. Today 2mbps is just not enough, my ring doorbell rarely connects via video and my CCTV remote connection is woeful. NBN won't roll out here for several years, so doing some research, I've found that Optus appear to be artificially limiting uploads for no apparent reason. The DOCSIS 3.0 protocol they use allows for upto 108mbps, but I don't need anything like that, even 10mbps would be a huge improvement. Be tried to reach out to Optus via twitter and I've had no luck. (The response was basically 'that's the way it's always been'). Is there anyway I can get them to redress their upload policy. Who can I contact high up to get them to even look at this policy? I understand the cable network is a legacy infrastructure that doesn't have long left when the NBN takes over, but surely in places where it works they could maintain the network to keep up with the times?

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  • I'm on Telstra cable and I never get more than 2mbps uploads (114mbps downloads). I was always under the impression it was the limitation of cable.

    • +1

      No it's not a limitation of cable. Docsis 3.0 can do something like 150/108mpbs. It appears to just be policy from the 1990s.

      • What the technology can do and what the cable telcos will sell you at a given price point are different things.

        • That's my point. It's policy for the sake of policy. It's an outdated speed that could be changed at the flick of a switch. I'm trying to find a contact in Optus with the ability to change it.

        • @thorton82: No, as the Wiki entry for DOCSIS indicates, the provider has to provide better upstream equipment also. It's not a matter of throwing a (software) switch. Since their provisioning works for most users, they have no incentive to upgrade their equipment to accommodate you.

        • @greenpossum: So the actual physical limit of the equipment is only 2 mbps? That seems rather low.

        • @thorton82: Multiplied by the number of users.

  • +2

    Sorry but this post is long. :)

    NBN have said the Optus HFC network is junk node coverage areas are to big and Optus have oversubscribed it and NBN.co are going to do FTTDP now instead of using it.
    So I would doubt anyone would be willing to upgrade it to support higher upload speeds.

    Just to point out docsis 3 speed limitations are the channel's modulation and how many bonded channels there are. There is no generic limitation like docsis 1 and 2 had.
    Spend top $ in investments and you can have 1Gbit/s down and 400Mbit/s up. Some part of the world actually have that.
    Telstra's gateway max cable modem can support 800/120Mbits with how it can bond channels but due to processing power and ram limits it to a combined 680mbit/s.
    This was the Liberals reasoning as to why a FTTH NBN was pointless. As we can't max out the current technology we have now so why spend to much for straight fibre which again is only going to be artificially limited as well?

    I can't comment on Optus's cable network but telstra for example has a upload modulation that supports a total pool of 20mbit/s per channel and they only 'bond' one channel. The cable modem config file then limits it to 2.4Mbit/s and 1.2Mbit/s.
    Since cable is shared pool offering too high upload speeds on such a low pool can cause other people to well disconnect and not allow them to reconnect until the uploads slow down.
    If you want a higher upload Telstra Optus want you to pay for it either by a business grade service eg 10/10mbits or wireless by 3G/4G network.

    On iiNets HFC network (neighborhood cable) they have a upload speed in their cable config files of 8Mbit/s but most users I've seen see it was a tad over 4Mbit/s.

    Basically in the end you have zero chance of getting Optus to change there minds as other people before you have tried.

    • So are there any technical limitations behind only a small bump? In his suburb Optus cable works very well and it almost never drops below 100/2 even during peak times.

  • Yeah, I'm afraid that's all they're doling out. I've been between Optus and Telstra for cable services for years and it's always been that speed. I suppose at least the download speed is something, just a shame about the upload. :(

    As for the doorbell and CCTV, are they hard-wired or running off wireless? You might be able to prioritise certain connections to help alleviate the problem.

    • +1

      That's my point. 'It has always been this way' shouldn't be an excuse. They should at least give us some kind of bump.

      The doorbell is wirelss but the cameras are hard wired. The network is run by a Netgear nighthawk and all the wired connections are gigabit. There is no issue with the network speeds in house, CCTV works fine on the network, it just doesn't work well when I leave the home network and access remotely.

      • As my comment below. It's not a matter of optus simply allowing you to access higher speeds, they'd have to spend money to change a network they're contracted to sell as-is.

        • Why would they have to spend money if the protocols supports it? It should be just a matter of changing the settings.

        • @thorton82:

          Not at all, they would need to add additional capacity to the network in order to maintain the current down speeds, as well as change physical equipment in the field across their entire network. There would need to be significant physical changes to the network. DOCSIS stands for "Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification" it is a protocol for sending data over a cable network, the cable network is what needs to be changed to support the kind of service you're referring to, it's got nothing to do with the protocol used by the modems/cmts to transmit data.

  • Hey guys,
    I'm currently a Telstra cable customer, moving homes in a few months and considering switching to Optus - their unlimited plans look very enticing!

    Anyone who has made a similar switch and noticed a considerable difference in dl speeds??

    FWIW, it will be in Wantirna South (VIC) if that makes any difference?

    Cheers

    • +1

      My parents have Telstra cable and get 114dl, in on Optus and get about 102dl. Telstra is a tiny bit better, but they are limited to 200Gb a month where as I'm unlimited (I got through about 500gb) for less money. I wouldn't recommend it though unless they fix the uploads. It's too slow in this day and age. Sometimes even uploads onto photo form webpages time out of there are a lot of photos.

    • +1

      Hey mate, we chose Optus cable in our new place because it's unlimited. No complaints, down speeds at 28-30 mbps throughout the whole day (you can pay more for 100mbps).

      Only thing you should check is if Optus cable runs underground or overhead in Wantirna South?

      In our street in Malvern East, Telstra cable runs underground to the premises, but Optus cable runs above ground. So we then manually ran the cable down and underground :)

  • The way HFC works is that you have a certain amount of frequency which you can split for the upstream/downstream. Optus designed their network in such a way that they have more downstream capability at the expense of the upstream. There is also very little incentive for their network to be changed significantly to support this because NBN has to buy it off them and pretty much scrap it regardless. You're not going to be able to get better speeds just because the DOCSIS standard supports them and you're certainly not going to convince optus they need to change their network architecture for the sake of your upload speed.

  • This is the reply I got from Optus, can anyone actually decode it, is it techno BS or is he making an actual point?

    I've been advised it is also due to bandwidth, as there is no upstream channel bonding implemented on our network. Guy

    • Maybe you should look into how HFC networks operate if you want a better understanding of why it isn't feasble for you to have more upstream bandwidth. The Optus guy's point is that they don't bond channels in the upstream on this network, meaning their equipment is almost certainly not capable of it (Because if it were, they would be). While we don't know exactly what equipment they would need to replace to start bonding upstream channels, it's pretty reasonable to assume that it's not likely to be a financially viable idea. The story here is, optus made a low quality high contention cable network to try and get to as many homes as possible as cheaply as possible, that's why you're not going to get over 2mb up on their HFC services. And with the nbn buyout solidly locked in, there's also no reason for them to upgrade this network. Basically, if you want more upload capacity you'll need to swap to another network or load balance a second connection of some description.

  • OP you're not listening- it has been stated that although the DOCSIS 3.0 standard supports higher upload speeds, you're not going to get it because it would require Optus to put new equipment in, and/or upgrade software, redesign the entire network.

    It's not a matter of logging on to the master router and allocating MOAR POWER to Bob from Lindfield…..

    • No, I am listening, but anyone who has said that has stated it as a fact without questioning it, or providing any proof/reasoning. What I'm asking is essentially are Optus putting an arbitrary 'it's just the way it is' and using hardware limitations as an excuse, or is the hardware actually limited to 1.9mbps. I understand that they can't provide 100mbps upload without substantial investment, (which will never happen), but do they have the capabilities to bump it to say 5mbps, with nothing more than a software change? An above poster seemed to indicated this was possible with Telstra cable, as the 2mbps upload on the Telstra cable modem is governed by a config file within the modem itself.

      • Like i said above, there's a certain amount of frequency available and Optus made a decision when implementing their network to use it in this manner, they can't simply take some of the frequency away from the downstream and give it to the upstream because that would require changing all their nodes, passives, CMTS systems etc etc. The frequency split is a physical issue and the hardware they've chosen to build their network is designed to run the network with X upstream frequency and Y downstream frequency. The only way Optus could logically give you more upstream capacity is to have less houses running on each node (1500~ homes/node i believe compared to telstras ~700ish) which would mean installing more nodes and running your cable to them, which is a pretty significant investment for, and again, a network which they have zero incentive to spend money improving.

  • ADSL2+ Annex M can be good for up to 3.5MB/s upstream if you are close enough to your exchange.

    • I could never go back to below 100mbps download

  • +1

    Lol uploads on cable, ADSL ADSL 2 and nbn is a joke overseas have had uploads at 10MB years ago and what's the max on nbn these days 4MB our nbn is already outdated before it even started :(

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