Optus' EPL coverage is a massive fail, and fans aren't happy

So everyone here thinks it is suitable for Optus to lock people on plans they dont really need or want just to increase their bottom line and subscribtions while not really caring about the end product or number of viewers. As I see it, Optus has just seen an oppurtunity to "FORCE" people onto their network instead of wanting to go to them for actual good service and in the end they really dont care about the EPL or its Australian viewers as long as they make another $40 mil. Not to mention all the additional products like Fetch that you need to run JUST to watch a couple of games a week (lets face it how many people stay up all night watching every game). WOW Geez might be good business for optus but will be nothing but detrimental to the EPL in Australia and just goes to show how easy it is to brainwash people to beleive anything in Australia, how is this service better than before??

Leave it up to private companies and you'll have systems focused purely on the largest population centres because that will be most cost effective for them. Those companies will have no duty to the rest of country. The point of building broadband technology is that it goes a way towards making our countless regional centres less remote. The private companies will continue to improve our mobile internet services. Fixed broadband is a task for the government in a country like Aus.

Funny, that. I've never really understood why it should have been up to the government to build the infrastructure, when it's done by private companies in so many other places. Perhaps its because giving Telstra a monopoly on infrastructure was such a shining example of success that the government thought it would be a good idea to replicate the model with the NBN, rather than letting the private companies compete with one another?

Its obvious nobody did a thorough assessment of the Optus coverage before awarding them the EPL contract. I live 30 mins from the Brisbane CBD and Optus coverage is zero.

I had a bit of an interruption watching the Man United game but it only lasted about a minute and was just before the second half kicked off, so no drama at all.

I believe the FA Cup and the Socceroos World Cup games are also on the anti-siphoning list (as of national and international interest).

"Felt like I was on the pitch marking Vardy half the time." That explains why he was so anonymous throughout the match, you obviously did a good job!

I would also like to add the picture quality and vision on SBS digital for the Foxes game was sensational on my large screen LG intelligent TV. The English FA seem to have invested a lot of money on technology to get the best quality EPL HD video transmission. Felt like I was on the pitch marking Vardy half the time. :)

Huh? The live-streamed football content is delivered to a wide variety of compatible devices including PC, smartphone and handheld tablets. It will be available to all Australians, even those not on the Optus network. If you are not on the Optus network and you access a URL on the internet you have to go through your service provider first and then the interconnect to get to Optus. The fact that you, a non-Optus customer are getting bad streaming may not be Optus' fault. It was actually proven that the disruption during the ManU game was not Optus' fault but the fault of the satellite transmission from the EPL.

For me today it was the ability to watch the highlights of this morning's match on demand when I got to the office. I could also watch lengthy interviews with coaches from all matches played over the weekend. I didn't have to wait for Fox Sports News to watch the highlights. I watched them when I wanted. And I didn't have to sit through latest news on golf, tennis, cricket, rugby, NRL and AFL before getting to the Premier League content. I could just click a button and watch what I wanted. If I needed to pause. I paused and returned to the video when it was more convenient. If I caught public transport to work, I could do all this whilst travelling. The content is available when I want, where ever I want. So the advantages over Foxtel are twofold: First I can watch the content I want to watch whenever I choose, wherever I choose. Second, access to this content costs me nothing. So, the Optus service is more convenient and cheaper.

What exactly do Optus do differently that Foxtel didn't that make it far superior?

TBF, that's exactly what sleeper agents do. Wait until they are needed. hehehe

Two mobile phones and home broadband internet and you're paying $400 a month? Dude you're getting ripped off bigtime.

I think Bundesliga will be my league of choice this year AZ. From what I have seen the standard of play looks to be very entertaining so thanks for the tip!

You're kidding right? So you're not going to watch the Champions League? Not going to watch the Europa League? What is this race in 2 in Spain you speak of? Barca/Atletico? Barca/Madrid? Madrid/Atletico? EPL will be a three horse race this year.

I've no great interest in Chelsa or West Ham so I didn't get up to watch the match, nor do I want to watch the full 90 minutes on demand. Optus's streaming option allowed me to get to have the match highlights playing in the background as I reviewed the overnight emails and prepared for my first meeting. Also watched 5 minute postmatch interviews with Klopp and Mourinho. When Premier League was on Foxtel, I'd have to wait for goal highlights only on Fox Sports News. Then I'd have to sit through news about AFL, tennis, rugby, NRL, golf before the Premier League highlights. Post match interviews would last about 20 seconds. Nothing in depth, just looking for something sensationalist. It's only 1 week, so a long way to go, but Optus's coverage of Premier League for me is far superior to anything Foxtel offered after holding the Tv rights for 20 years.

It was using a laptop for the stream. 2015 Macbook pro to be exact, which works perfectly for streaming anything else I care to stream. Rio Olympics, Netflix, Stan, Foxtel go (which is crap as a service, but it still works fine without stopping). All those services work perfectly. To say it wasn't Optus's fault just because some others didn't have any issues is ignoring the fact that there were quite a few people who did have issues. It may have been a locale specific issue. The cache errors at half time seem to indicate that BNE (Brisbane) had issues. Maybe their caches and load balancers were fine for Sydney and Melbourne, but terrible for brisbane. I dont know, but it made for a painful viewing experience. All I wanted to do was watch the football.

That's a shame that you've got foxtel but won't be watching Bundesliga. It is a brilliant league and a joy to watch. Aside from the high quality attractive football played throughout the league you also have easily the best atmosphere in Europe and although Bayern are dominant you get a lot of competitive football week in week out. Highly recommend checking it out!

It’s just a shame that Brisbane failed to meet payer payments yesterday and several, including Jamie MacLaren, are going to court today to get a release from their contracts. #FFAepicFAIL

I've got Fox but not bothering with Optus. As people say, internet in this country is useless. So, what to watch? Ligue 1 - no PSG is going to win. Bundesliga - good, but Bayern will win. La Liga - race in 2. European football can be pretty boring unless you have a vested interest in one of the teams. Bring on the A-League !!