For some time, Internode has been working away on a new technical approach to allow us to deliver the full fetchtv service to Internode customers using Fibre connections on the National Broadband Network (NBN) and also for Internode customers connected to Opticomm based FTTH (Fibre to the Home) network ports.

Well, we’ve done it – and it works :)

This has involved Internode designing and implementing a new technical approach to allow us to deliver the full subscription TV channel suite offered in the full fetchtv service, without requiring the underlying network to support ‘IP Multicast’.

We believe this represents the first time that any Australian ISP has delivered the full fetchtv subscription TV channel capability (including all available TV channel packs) over NBN and Opticomm service ports.

This service is progressively being enabled across the country this week, and we are now launching a national commercial trial of this service.

In the trial period, we’ll be operating the service using a form of bandwidth reservation that means that we’ll be locking down 6 megabits per second of your FTTH port capacity and dedicating it to delivery of the fetchtv full subscription TV channels service. In the future we expect to remove that requirement, but meantime you should factor this in to your expectations if you undertake the trial.

This means that on a 12 megabit connection you’ll be running with 6 megabits left over for normal Internet usage, and on a 25 megabit connection you’ll have 19 megabits left over, and so on for higher speeds.

(It is actually possible to ‘live dangerously’, too, by turning off the bandwidth reservation that we’ll be engaging in our network, by special request. We have technically provided for you to be able to make that request if you wish to. However,  if you do that, you’ll need to to self manage your peak network link usage, because your other Internet activity may then interrupt the subscription tv channel experience. The remedy if you ask us to switch off the reservation and you run into problems will be to simply turn it back on again).

We’d love any interested Internode customers on the NBN or Opticomm Fibre networks to jump in now and try fetchtv full using this trial, and to tell us how it goes!

Trial Conditions: fetchtv full service trial over NBN and Opticomm connections

• Signups must be done over the phone by calling 1300 626 669 and nominating that you want to trial fetchtv full over your NBN or Opticomm service. There is no online signup support for this trial.
• You must have an Internode NBN or Internode Opticomm based broadband service (obviously).
• Pricing is the normal fetchtv full service pricing from Internode: Free setup and $19.95 per month on a 24 month term (but see below).
• For existing NBN/Opticomm based ‘fetchtv lite’ customers: You’re welcome to move up to fetchtv full under this trial.
• As for all fetchtv full services, you must already have, or be prepared to buy, a fetchtv certified or supported router (as per http://www.internode.on.net/support/guides/fetchtv_iptv/).
• While these will be set up  as normal 24 month term fetchtv full subscription plans, it is a trial. Accordingly, if you’re not happy with it due to technical problems with the service, you will be welcome to downgrade to fetchtv lite or cancel the service outright and not pay any early termination fee (i.e. pay only for the months used).
• Note that you can’t also return the router (or cancel your Internode NBN or Opticomm service without early termination penalty) if you decide to end your fetchtv full trial. Its not a trial of the router or the Internet service,  its only a trial of the subscription TV service.
• We’d appreciate your feedback (thats kinda the point!) on how well it works – with special emphasis on the subscription tv channels, as thats the bit where the magic is for this trial.
• When we finish the trial and release this for full production signups in general (estimate: 2-3 months time), we’ll contact existing triallists and ask them to confirm whether they want to stay with it, or downgrade to fetchtv lite, or to cancel without penalty at that point (and we obviously hope you’ll love it as much as we do and stay with it).

As part of the trial, we’ll be publishing appropriate router configuration guides on our web site, but in the meantime our team can can talk you through what is needed over the phone to configure your fetchtv certified or supported router. In terms of configuration, its really not hard – and actually it is a tad simpler than the configuration on Agile ADSL2+ ports, as it happens. Thats because the approach we’ve developed means that we have absorbed some of the technical complexity involved up into our network, instead of having it in your router.

We think that fetchtv full is a great service to use on the NBN and Opticomm (And potentially other FTTH services via Internode in the future) and we’re very keen to see people using it!

Last word: This is a trial, so results are not guaranteed. But we’re quietly optimistic that your experience will be as good as the internal testing suggests that it will be.