Multi Room TV Trial

[paulshent]

Just seen an email Invite for a MultiRoom TV Trial.

Is this real. Since i see no mention of it on the forum

[Anonymous]

I would like to participate in this trial if possible.

[Gondola]

Hi Paul

The TalkTalk trials team are sending personal invitations to trial Multiroom. The email is specific to the recipient.

The product offering was mentioned on 15 November at the TalkTalk financial results presentation as something TalkTalk were working on providing in early 2018.

It was mentioned at that meeting that TalkTalk staff were trialling Multiroom. The trial is now being extended to specific customers.

[bitsandpcsuk]

If it is real i have not had one and i have been on all the tv trials.

If it is true i hope they dont put a speed requirement on the line like BT have done.

As many trialist have said in the past multi room worked great when TT allowed it in the early days.

[fre55die]

Hi @bitsandpcsuk

It will only be for fibre enabled lines as the normal ASDL speeds will not support 2 boxes plus computers and other plugged in equipment.

[Gondola]

Hi @fre55die

TalkTalk deciding as a marketing choice to target fibre-only enabled homes could well encourage the take up of more fibre upgrades so more revenue generation for TalkTalk from both fibre and extra TV services.

But ADSL2+ running at the top end of the range of speeds up to 17Mbps will quite comfortably support a family home with two TV Boxes etc.

The average UK ADSL speed of 9Mbps wouldn't be best suited but 14Mbps and above has enough headroom to be perfectly acceptable.

[fre55die]

@Gondola

Quite true BUT how many are getting that high speed continuously?

[Gondola]

Hi @fre55die

I am. Am I unique? Remember that the fibre customers are still only 25% of TalkTalk's total customer base and 3 million of us are on ADSL. Given that the average UK ADSL speed is 9Mbps implies statistically that around a million ADSL customers are likely to be in the same position as me with enough speed to support multiroom.  That's exactly the same as the fibre customer base. ¹

But the key thing is that TalkTalk needs to increase its fibre and TV customers and their spend because that's the only thing that's balancing and ultimately reversing the dilution of revenue from the increasing take up of Fixed Low Price Plans. 

¹ Customer numbers are from the H1 2018 results

[fre55die]

@Gondola

When I was on ASDL I was getting between 4 Mbps and 16 Mbps usually towards the higher end but often down to about 6 Mbps especially at peak times.

[ferguson]

TalkTalk are the only provider making multicast IPTV available to ADSL customers at all, unlike BT and PlusNet. Extending that to a multi-room service is clearly a step too far in bandwidth terms.

[fre55die]

We're all just guessing here as no details have been made public yet.

[ferguson]

---

@fre55die wrote:

We're all just guessing here as no details have been made public yet.

---

We’re not guessing that it will be available to fibre customers only, that has been stated.

[Gondola]

...as we know, the network usage could slow you down at peak times, but here it's a consistent 16Mbps so I'd be comfortable with purchasing a multi-room option. 

And although Plusnet only offer YouView boxes to fibre customers BT Retail will provide me with a YouView box for BT TV and BT Sport on an ADSL connection.  So they at least are NOT in the mindset of "it only works on fibre"!

[ferguson]

BT provide BT Sport on ADSL with a minimum of 6Mbps. They do not provide any other multicast channels unless you have fibre.

[Gondola]

Yes, all of this:

With Essential (on standard BT Broadband only) you get:

• A YouView+ box
• Up to 80 Freeview TV and radio channels^§
• 7 days of catch up TV on BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, Channel 4 and Channel 5

Plus, you can

• The latest movies and boxsets to rent or buy on the BT TV Store
• Pause and record TV^
• Choose from our brilliant on-demand bolt-ons: Netflix, Sky Cinema, Kids and Music
• Add BT Sport on TV in standard definition.

And as I originally only had the Starter Pack with the TalkTalk YouView Box the BT offering of Sport and on-demand bolt-ons is a good competitive offering without the cost of fibre.

[ferguson]

Yep, still no other added channels, or multi-room though.  

[bitsandpcsuk]

to get multi room with BT your connection has to be at least 33mb i believe.

[Gondola]

Hi @bitsandpcsuk

BT Infinity with speeds of 23Mbps or more is BT Retail's criteria for the Extra Box.  Not that it wouldn't work at lower speeds. 

[paulshent]

The next question has to be. When will those that replied to e-mail invite actually be contacted, as per original invite
At this moment in time there has been no contact at all. Would be nice if they made contact or acknowledge folk on the odd occasion
Feel like a mushroom growing in the dark.

[Gondola]

Hi Paul

The usual email address for triallists is: Talktalktrials@talktalkplc.com