The dreaded Optus Sport streaming error message that has been hampering the World Cup for Australians.Credit:Twitter
More broadly,streaming has been interrupted for people who are not streaming through the Optus network or Telstra networks. Optus has worked with its rival telco to give users streaming World Cup games priority access to clear streaming,like it does for Optus customers.
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Optus is also working with a range of other telcos and internet providers to ensure users who are streaming Optus World Cup content get priority access to adequate connections.
"Optus did not identify any issues with our own network last night on the live stream,"a statement on Sunday morning read.
"However,some customers who watched the match on the Optus Sport app,on certain devices through other telco networks,experienced buffering issues.
"Optus has taken actions that are within our own control to improve the experience of these customers. As a result of these actions incidences of buffering reduced significantly during the course of the night to low levels.
"We believe the vast majority of viewers were not impacted and had a good viewing experience."
It's understood that on the Friday night about 10 per cent of customers were impacted by buffering problems,with that figure much lower on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
A higher than expected volume of new subscribers and traffic was to blame for Friday night's problems,Optus said. With a large audience expected again on Sunday night and Sunday morning,the telco is advising people to sign up for accounts earlier rather than just before kick-off to reduce the risk of buffering drama.
Optus has the rights to broadcast all 64 World Cup matches in Australia after SBS sub-let access to the telecommunications company. SBS has the right to 25 of the matches across the tournament.
A massive audience tuned into watch theSocceroos' narrow and unlucky loss to France on SBS. Ratings figures showed that 3.4 million Australians tuned into the match.
Optus has made World Cup coverage available to anyone who wants to pay for it,rather than keeping it exclusive to its mobile and internet subscribers.