The Telstra T-Box

While I am not usually someone who responds to sales calls, I did succumb to Telstra’s offer of a T-Box when I recently upgraded to an admittedly more expensive bundle. For an extra $10 a month and a new modem to accommodate it, I am now on Cable 3.0, which is a lot faster than the old Cable I was on. Bundled with this was a device that I had not actually ever heard of.

The Telstra ‘T-Box’, is probably one of the most disappointing devices to look at that I have ever unwrapped and plugged into a power socket. A boring black box with a single USB socket in the front of it.

The most interesting thing that I found is that there is no documentation with it. I am not a big manual reader (who is?), but this didn’t even come with more than an A4 sheet with ‘plug it in and then turn it on’. All the information is gained either from the device itself or by searching Google.

For those that have never come across a T-Box; it basically acts as a digital receiver for television. Imagine an overblown set-top-box. However, the device can also record many, many hours of television, on multiple channels. It can even be set to ‘record series’ for lazy, forgetful people like me that want to see whether Sir Harry gets his job back in the latest series of ‘Spooks’ or not, but will probably forget to watch or record the last episode. The T-Box supposedly does this for you. It also wirelessly connects to the broadband internet connection to download movies, television series etc. I recently discovered that it plays movies from small USB flash keys (remember the single USB socket) or anything else that is connected to it, either wirelessly or via a cable.

There is a catch though. Telstra assume that you will use the basic and boring, vanilla flavoured network that they offer.

As anyone living in very old Victorian houses will be able to tell you, wireless networks don’t penetrate too far through solid brick walls. Especially not through multiple, thick solid brick walls. To further complicate matters, there are at least 12 other wireless networks in my area that fight for the airwaves and frequencies.

My solution was multiple routers, slaved to the main gateway, to boost the signal in the back of the house, where the home office and most of my computerised toys live. Simple? Not for a T-Box. It appears that the T-Box doesn’t like to be given a dynamic IP address. As the loungeroom and consequently the T-Box as well is both located in the middle of the house, it picks up the signals from all the wireless routers. It does not like being told to choose which hot spot to select from!

As the house is on concrete, the choice was drilling holes in a 12 foot ceiling and dropping bright blue Cat5e cable to the T-Box (not really something I relished) or working out how to fix the problem with software.

At one point I had some old HTTP course notes out and a massively heavy text book ‘HTTP, the definitive Guide’ spread across my knees trying to come up with a solution.

A great book, if you ever need the information!

A call to Telstra to sort anything out only leads to an hour in a phone queue and the inevitable ‘We only support Windows XP…’

I eventually discovered the solution was/is to hard code the device to look at a particular router and ignore the others and to set the T-Box up with a static IP address.

Using the T-Box

While the interface is relatively intuitive, the control is similar to that of a traditional DVD player. While the device requires extensive text input, the controller has a simple alphanumeric keypad like an older style mobile phone, which makes entering more than a word of text a painful exercise.

Another complaint is that the interface appears to be just based around looking good. While Apple manage to do this well, they never seem to compromise on the ease of use. The T-Box has far too many layers of superfluous screens that are little more than embellishment, with clunky, time consuming steps that do nothing to enhance the experience.

Channel selection can be likened to that of the process of configuration; a painful experience that once finished allows the viewer to finally sit back and relax. This is not a device for users who like to channel surf.

So is the T-Box worth the worry?

It is good in that it replaces a DVD player/recorder and it also allows for the playing of various media, but it is effectively only a copy of the Apple TV device, which (although I haven’t got one) has to be easier to configure. Apple stuff is truly plug and play.

So, while I probably wouldn’t have chosen a T-Box, it cost me nothing and now that it is actually configured, it is useful. Maybe next year after I finish my Masters, I’ll have time to actually watch something on it!