Telstra T-Box

Should never have got one – There seems little point in listing the endless problems I had with my T-Box as pretty much all the problems listed here by others I've had. What I would like to say is that firstly there's no way the T-Box itself is worth $300. One would think the god awful compulsory Basic Package you're forced to subscribe to would cover the $20-$30 it probably… Read more

really is worth. $300 is the same price as a low end laptop which is infinitely more useful than this pile of cheap rubbish. If you want to get Foxtel and I understand why many would, then do yourself a favour and get the proper Foxtel IQ along with proper Foxtel installation. The T-Box doesn't record any Foxtel shows, requires a relatively expensive internet connection on top and is just more trouble than it's worth. Even on a basic level you probably wouldn't buy a 10 year old desktop pc so why on earth would you buy a piece of so called technology that is equally out dated, constantly problematic and won't deliver on basic functions such as recording Foxtel which is presumably why you'd consider buying it in the first place?

So easy to operate, and brilliant reception! – After having all sorts of reception issues when I bought a Topfield PVR I decided go to with this as the latest model has 480GB of memory space for hard drive recordings. I don't have a broadband connection as I have a mobile wi fi device. Although the unit connects to it and offers me the option of buying movies from Bigpond Movies, I have been… Read more

informed that the unit can only connect to landline broadband wi fi. I only wanted to use it as a PVR anyway so that's fine, but it is also good to know that if I wanted to connect it in the future I have these benefits available to me. The only drawback of using this if you are not with Telstra broadband wi fi is that you don't get program information guide, you only get what is on the current channel as you change the channel. You therefore cannot use the program guide you must program a recording manually.

The best things are the great reception, it really must have an awesome double tuner, and the easy navigation through menus. I love the way it shows me what I have recorded, offers me to play from the start or where I left off, I have found that if I press record of a show that I like it automatically records that show or movie until the end. Then it stops the recording and turns itself off. I also like the time shift it works seamlessly. Plus you can watch and record at the same time and record two channels at once.

Only drawback is getting used to not having the stop button on the remote. You don't need to stopy anything you just hit menu. It's a new thing to get used to but it is easy to adjust. So glad I bought this to use as a PVR. It's awesome.

Just Fabulous and 6 Months Free Presto! – Best thing I ever bought. I took a chance on the Tbox and purchased one used from Ebay for $50. Make sure if you buy a used one that the previous owner has de-registered it from their account so you can register it to get full use of its features. Quick and easy to set up and register. We have a Netgear wifi router that runs via our internet and… Read more

the Tbox has to be connected to this via the Ethernet cable rather than the ADSL modem itself. Others may have differant set ups though, but all round it is easy to do. Records easily from free to air. Just leave the Tbox in sleep mode and turn off TV and internet and unplug if you prefer to do that, and it will record. Do not turn off or unplug the Tbox itself though or it wont record! Registering for Presto was easy and quick - 6 months of Presto for free is an awesome offer! The code you need for the free 6 months is on channel 911, the offer ends in June. You get TV and movies free for 6 months and after that you can cancel, pay $14.99 per month or have just movies for $9 per month or just TV for $9 per month.

You pay nothing to watch each movie, they are all included in the $9 per month Presto subscription, as many as you can watch! You can also rent new release movies for around $5.99 each from Bigpond Movies. These can be charged to your Telstra bill so be careful if you choose that option LOL you can easily rack up a huge bill. But if its bucketing rain and nobody wants to go to Blockbuster then this would be handy.

We have no problems at all. There is literally hundreds of movies in all genres (they have just changed the line ups too) and all you do is click and play! And they are all ad free!! No waiting in a queue or making a "list" to watch and waiting for them to be available, it is all on demand so they are there when you want to watch them. You can watch back to back mnovies all day if you like and no data is being eaten up. This is the best thing about Tbox via your Telstra account - no matter how many movies or TV shows you watch each month it is all unmetered so it will not use your data. At the end of the 6 months it is not costly to keep the movies part for just $9 per month. Some are quite new and some are older so there is a good selection.

Foxtel is a little cheaper via Tbox but we do not have Foxtel on ours so cant say if its worth it or not. I do know that it is also unmetered if you have it via your Tbox though, so no data being used for Foxtel either. And if you have a rental where you are not allowed to have Foxtel installed (some places dont allow the installations) then this is an alternative to having it connected without upsetting the real estate!

Absolutely loving the Tbox and very happy with ours, no issues and enjoying the vast selection available. I would highly recommend a Tbox!

Surprisingly good – I had a Toppro PVR and it worked well, until it died :( I bought a used LG PVR - not good. Returned it to seller. Spotted a T-Box on GT for $25 so thought I'd give it a go, and very pleasantly surprised. The UI is very good - fast and intuitive. There are restrictions as I don't have a Bigpond account, but I work around that. I found a… Read more

way to record my favourite show each weekday and each week. The EPG only show the next show, but I look at the online EPG and can schedule the T-box to record what I want.

It's working great. Very happy, especially for $20!!

Reliable – Had T-Box from when they first came out. The first 5 over 12 month were rubbish. Great idea but poor quality. The one I've used with update firmware and later controller for last 7 years or so. You won't fault. Used every day for TV rewinds recordings 2 qt a time if watching one. Timer series record, etc. unfaultable till last weekend, whoops no… Read more

light. No box in bin. Not made anymore. I'm still trying to find something else that will do same job under $260. Yet to find and the reviews up to $800. I wish my T Box was still working.

Don't knock one if you have one. You won't find better.

PS email me if you want to pass yours on I'LL take it with open arms.

Telstra T-Box works for me. Getting better with time – My T-Box has worked reliably for over two years. It contains 2 free-to-air receivers so you can watch one broadcast TV channel while recording another program. It also has internet connections for watching YouTube videos and Catch Up television. There is also a large hard drive to allow you to record TV programs and rewind and replay live TV… Read more

broadcasts.

Recently some third-party software developers have added features that Telstra removed (the YouTube app) and that Telstra never provided (ABC iview catch up TV).

This continuing third-party development of features for the T-Box means it will remain a useful home entertainment device. Certainly worth keeping a while longer if you already have a Telstra T-Box.

Telstra doesnt care – On the third unit now...continully locks up and reboots. Always shows recording error on recordings and you have to reboot or put to sleep and start again. Dobt get me started on the farce of calling Telstra for help. Still on "level 2" from 2 months ago and no call. Dumping Telstra as soon as NBN available. Any alternate units worth considering?  Show details

T box – It used to be very good but Telstra continues to withdraw features. This makes ownership of Tbox pointless. Do Not Buy A Tbox as what they used to do, they no longer do. Telstra should show some ticker and just come out and say Its over chuck it in the bin. It would have been nice if a replacement device was available  Show details

closed captioned timing is off – many good points, but telstra no longer supports it. so stay away, particularly if you use closed captions, which are no often out of time on recorded programs. However, that said, if you can pick up a 500 gb model (the latest one), for $50 or so, that's pretty good.  Show details

Not anything special – Got this for an extra $10 a month thought I'd try it out. Doesn't offer anything out of the ordinary. The Telstra box office feature is nice being able to rent some of the latest releases. Flicking through the Live TV guide is glitchy, can freeze up a lot whilst browsing channels and sometimes the unit may require a reset. It's rather glitchy… Read more

with some apps crashing intermittiently. Seems like any other cheap Chinese media box out there, I would expect something better from a reputable Telecommunications company.

It WAS excellent! Until ruined by Telstra – This was always close to the top end of PVR/Set Top Boxes. However, when Telstra decided to end it in March 2018, they deliberately sent out one last software 'upgrade' in order to downgrade it's functionality. They did this presumably NOT because they had to, but merely to push people over into their new Telstra TV. I am certain that the machine… Read more

could have been left as was withOUT that last 'upgrade (downgrade!)', still keeping all it's functionality intact. Telstra, offering no further support for the unit anyway, would not have been compromised by leaving it as it was. They were simply downgrading it in order to up-sell their next product. Nothing more, nothing less than corporate greed! And I'm about to change my ISP away from them and have no further business there again! [TIP: The Fetch Mighty TV is about the same as the old T-Box, but a bigger drive].

Great for a family! – We bought a Telstra Tbox around 3 years ago and haven't regrated a moment. The Tbox provides us with many channels and allows us to download a variety of movies for very reasonable prices. The remote is easy to use and when the batteries run out we don't have to stress as their is an app which can be used to control the Tbox! I have found I have… Read more

been able to watch many movies new and old and also record numerous things to keep. I would recommend the Telstra Tbox as it is bound to meet the needs of your family.

T_box rendered useless by software update December 2016 – T-box has been rendered virtually unusable since software update introduced without warning or explanation end of 2016. Software extremely slow to load, numerous error messages when renting, Movies now badly categorised and can no longer be played after 3% download - takes enormous time to download to point where can be played.  Show details

Was good but Telstra has nerfed it – Recent update has made it extreamly difficult to navigate and takes longer to watch movies as they download anymore. The creativity of designers has made it impractical to use and they probably never stepped inside a video store as the categories are limited as are the contents of the library. In the digital age the library should be far… Read more

bigger and diverse.

Service destroying update will be going else where. More choice of movies elsewhere so when NBN arrives no real benefit staying with Telstra. Will be discontinuing service.

Shame was ok until update

Programs always late!!! Wifi drops!! All round crap!! – Grand final day!!! You played adds through every goal...!! Pull your head in!!! Free too everyone !! No one wants adds!!! Play the game, put adds on through the quarter breaks!!! Outside of that!! Stick to your own schedule!! And play what you list!! E.g. Secret Daughter !! May have been a re-run! !! On Friday night.. most of us work all week and fri we sit back and relax.., this came on 38 mins late!! Just saying!!!  Show details

T box – I have had a tbox since they frist came out, but in the last 4 months i haven't been able to watch any foxtel channels, telstra have adjusted my account so i dont pay for the tbox but it takes 30mins each time on ther phone to mane an adjustment to my bill, now heres where the real problem is, telstra don't see any issues on their end with my tbox… Read more

so it doesn't get fixed, 4 bloody months and still nothing, been told its going to be escalating to level 2 but still nothing that was the last 2 months

The unit is satisfactory if u can't get foxtel where you love but the service and follow up if they're ever is any is on par with nothing ive experienced, ABSOLUTE RUBBISH!!

Just Awful – I'm about to throw four yes four of them out! The one that didn't work replaced by the one that didn't work replaced by the two they sent me when they were going to send one (that both don't work)! What's worse Telstra will probably give the idiot that oversaw the TBox disaster either a promotion or a redundancy package. Telstra is Latin for "waste of time and money."

WARNING - Never Get One!!!! – My 1st one died one second after warranty ran out, got another. 3 months on, needed a new remote. Said it would arrive in 2 weeks - 4 weeks ago, and still waiting. Expected me to pay for the postage even though it was under warranty, Records some things 3 times; 'bad reads' many programs so doesn't record them at all; Records wrong channels,… Read more

and yes.....you can put stuff onto a USB stick, but it will only play through the t-box, not through any other device, eg computer. Rubbish Telstra. Off to get a Fetch TV. Sounds much better to me.

Don't do it! – It constantly freezes or doesn't work at all. If you're watching tv you can't have wifi on on any other devices or the wifi drops out completely. $115 a month for a headache. Telstra won't admit that there's anything wrong with the product and only offer to send out a technician which you have to pay for. Joke!

best invention ever – Greatest invention ever for recording and watching free to air tv, so simple to use. I am not an avid movie watcher but there seems to be a big selection. Trouble free for three years until today, when it stopped operating. After contacting the very friendly and knowledgable help line, they decided to replace the machine even though it was out of the contract period.

Terrible! – Extremely basic with very few featues. Extremely poor quality and buggy. Some featues just don't work ar all. The few features it did have (Youtube) telstra removed (and lied very weakly for doing so) so that people were forced to use the "pay as you go" features instead. A very expensive machine considering it's very poor performance and features set, and also considering its extremely poor build/quality.

Very frustrating- if internet is off so is the TV – The most frustrating thing about it is that when you record a movie or show it NEVER records the whole thing!! It is not worth the money- massive rip off and the movies that you can pay for are totally over price for this day and age. If your internet is playing up I have to also go without tv.

4/5 – If you have Tesltra Broadband, a t-box is a bargain at $144. If you don't then most of the features won't work and it is probably worth buying something else. We have had a t-box for 3 years and recently got a second one. The older t-box has a fault which means if you don't turn it off, it needs to be reset. It developed this about 6 months ago. … Read more

The t-box is great for recording tv, watching films and playing media through a portable hard drive through the two USB ports. It has played everything I have asked it too and supports all the usual file types. It also lets you stream Presto to your tv (although the we have had some issues with this at times).

If you have Telstra broadband I would highly recommend it. My problems with the box have been more related to Telstra (they tried to charge me 360 dollars and not 144 for the second box) and less related to the box. Keep the receipt if you get one.

Telstra T Box - requires Broadband for everything – What a dumb approach. In Aust with the world worst broadband we create a device that must use the internet to allow a hard drive to be attached - DUMB. I have a HD full of movies but when the internet (Bigpond) fails, a common occurrence in Parkerville, WA (40km from Perth CBD), I can't use the HD. WHY - The bugger is connected directly to the… Read more

T-BOX and TV???????

Telstra - Sorry but you have not hit the mark on service of Broadband internet or the T Box that could have filled a gap.

Life destroying product – I have had a T-Box for some years - 3 T-Boxes in fact. (Replacement upon replacement because the previous didn't work properly.) It goes well for a week or so then it happens. Presto and Bigpond movies stream well but watching normal digital TV and recordings becomes a nightmare. I don't know how many "peak" moments have been missed watching… Read more

programmes but this thing continues to freeze, skip and plain shut down. New batteries in the remote and total resetting and re-tuning fail to work.

The trouble has been going on for years. Where do I get the fortitude to put up with it. But now I am sick of talking to Telstra about it. Optus here I come with my $250.00 a month worth of broadband, mobile and fixed telephone and streaming services. Hope you are better.

Reliability - AT LAST! – Finally dumped the appaling Bush STB. Yes despite the cost, it's IN THE BIN! This is the second T BOX I have had. It was simple to set up and connected easily to the internet (Bigpond). Starts up quickly. Good TV Guide. Good Menu. Records reliably and pre and post recording times ensure that I don't miss beginning and end of programs. The… Read more

remote is an improvement on the old Tbox type. (Although is now has to be "aimed" at the box).

Excellent movie streaming via Presto. (This depends on the speed of your internet connection.)

Connects via wifi to my computer so that I can look at photos and videos on it on the TV.

I ordered it online and received it 2 days later.

Upgrade And Replacement – My previous review complained that the unit kept shutting own and had to be reset. I rang Telstra, they sent me a brand new unit which works perfectly, also they upgraded the software in the faulty unit and returned it to me and allowed me to keep it, so now I have two T Box just in case one falters. Great work Telstra

Worst product ever – I purchased a T-box 3 years ago, having been promised all sorts of wonderful bells and whistles. Wasn't interested in Foxtel or big pond movies - just wanted a good PVR. When first delivered the remote didn't work out of the box, so then had to wait for a replacement. Had been advised that content could be transferred to USB drive when hard drive… Read more

got full - this didn't work, in fact USB memory wasn't even recognised, tried several different USB hard drives and memory sticks, all to no avail. Advised by support to reset hard drive - lose all existing recordings, no thank you! when finally able to reset hard drive, still didn't work, then found that software updates had actually removed the ability to do this. Support advised that this was done for "copyright" reasons. All I wanted to do was transfer recordings to USB to be watched again at leisure - what a rubbish! OK. I'll live without being able to transfer recordings. However, I am now on the 5th replacement remote for this unit, and as it is out of warranty am having to pay for the last couple. Today remote went down again - it is only a couple of months old, but good old Telstra - there is no warranty on replacement remotes. So, in order to watch existing recordings have no choice but to order yet another replacement remote.

Support is now suggesting that because the remote keeps failing the fault is with the T Box. If that is the case, why didn't they offer to replace the T Box whilst it was still under warranty? Bear in mind this issue has been ongoing for over 3 years. Now the pressure is applied by support - why not buy a new T Box, we have a special offer of only $144. Why, why, why? Is their product so obsolete after 3 years that it needs replacing? Oh No says support, the T Box is fine and not obsolete. So why do I have to pay up another $144 to replace the whole unit?

Having read various reviews online, it appears that at least 50% of people who participate have had, or are still having, T Box issues, even with the "new" version, so Dear Telstra, think again. I'd rather spend the money on a decent PVR from a reputable company that will probably offer better support and a product that actually works.

For Telstra to suggest that a 3 year old product that has repeatedly failed during that period should be replaced at my expense is preposterous and indicative of a total lack of regard for their users and their support for the "throw away" society/environment that has surreptitiously entered all our lives.

Great device – This is our second tbox. Our first one didn't work well initially with the Internet, but once we sorted our connection, no problems. Enjoy the additional channels from foxtel and the BigPond video hire. Would recommend the device to others. Our first tbox is set up for the kids to use, and we can set the level of access to the ratings on TV. So no adult only for them.

Used to be great until!!!!! – My Tbox does not receive wifi due to an automatic update done on our BigPond modem. Our Tbox is not faulty just simply not compatible anymore with the modem. Was on the phone for over 39minutes to be told I have to shell out $144.00 in total for a new Tbox because of this update. Why should I have to fork out money because of telstra's update???? … Read more

Just re contracted our Bigpond internet along with 2 x new iPhone 6pluses and this is the service we get.

Appalling..........

Not only that, TBOX tech said he would explain everything to the sales team everything before transferring my call. Guess what??? "They didn't"

had enough – We have persevered for so long, my wife got suckered into renewing contract just to get a free replacement for a faulty t-box unit. then they take big pond video's away not that they made regular additions to videos!!!. now they have taken Y tube. I have had enough of our complete bundle and am about to find a better provider.

Absolutely crap from the word go!! – Nothing but trouble complete crap movies freeze 15 minuets watching a movie with out sound 3 hours on the phone to tec support to fix to no avail Stay away from T BOX ITS TROUBLE AND A WASTE OF MONEY ABSOLUTE USELESS.

Exporting recordings – Won't export recordings to usb. Shuts down ring tbox support no help there idea is to reset it to factory settings. If I do that I loose my recordings. Not worth it. Feeling ripped off

Appalling product and service!! – Don't go near it! The product is unreliable, the support service is dreadful to the point of being rude. It's a big take! Shame on greedy telstra!!!

Can't live without it! – We've had the Telstra T-box for 2 years and we have been entertained all the way. We selected all the available channels and added them onto our package. And wonderfully, new channels appear every few months. They just get better and better. It doesn't matter that we aren't able to record Foxtel as it's all available on demand. Every minute of the… Read more

day new shows and movies are added and we never miss a single episode of anything. We watch when we are ready. With telstra we get 100GB included so anything else we want to watch we check out on the internet or watch Youtube direct on our TV. The quality is always excellent AND we stay in a remote area. We've had the best experience with Telstra and Foxtel. Thank you for an amazing service!