Optus offering NBN users the chance to pay AU$10 for fewer hops
Optus announced on Friday a new routing product named Game Path where NBN users will be able to pay AU$10 a month for fewer hops of their traffic.
The company is targeting gamers, with users needing to run an application in Windows to take advantage of it. The Singaporean-owned telco said Game Path can "reduce lag on average by 30% -- which can mean the difference between life and death in a PC game".
Optus told ZDNet it was not using any traffic prioritisation, explaining that NBN connections would remain TC-4. Instead, traffic will travel over the fastest available path "using proxy technology, choosing the most optimal/lowest latency path for gaming traffic across the internet".
"It does this by accessing hundreds of POPs all over the world and constantly analysing the fastest path to gaming servers," a spokesperson said.
"This will create the most benefit when considering international-based servers."
The company said in the future it might have the ability to make the routing "100% network-based", but this would depend on what is learnt from the current offer.
"The app is required to identify the real-time communications traffic on the PC and apply the routing via proxy technology," it said.
"The more people using Game Path, the smarter it will get overtime."
On Thursday, Optus-owner Singtel announced its current consumer business chief Yuen Kuan Moon would assume the role of group CEO next year when Chua Sock Koong retires.
Earlier that day, Optus also announced it was partnering with Australian National University to develop a national system to detect and extinguish fires using a mixture of satellites, drones, and robotics.
"We hope to develop a system that can locate a fire within the first few minutes of ignition and extinguish it soon afterwards," ANU vice-chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt said.
"ANU is designing and looking to build highly innovative water gliders with autopilots that will extinguish fires within minutes of them igniting."
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