Tensions between the nation's incumbent carrier Telstra and the Australian Labor Party are mounting, with the telco defending its use of pair gain technology which opposition ministers claim is a -cheap short cut" to avoid upgrading its network.

Pair gain is the use of smart electronics to deliver phone, fax and Internet services over the one copper pipe into a consumer's premises - by maximising the available bandwidth on that copper cable.

Whilst Telstra admits the use of pair gains is a cost-effective solution that saved it billions of dollars in rolling out more copper cable, it denies that customers are being short-changed with services that are detrimentally impacted.

"The impact on customers in terms of service is largely not affected," a Telstra spokesperson told ZDNet Australia, adding that Internet access speeds cannot be blamed entirely on the technology used to deliver it and that factors such as the distance between a customer and an exchange, the type of modem being used, and the way in which a PC has been set up will all affect the speed throughput a customer gets.

However, Shadow Minister for Information Technology, Senator Kate Lundy - who has set up a Web site to ascertain how widespread the practice of pair gain is and to flush out the truth behind its potential impairment on Internet services - says she has been inundated with e-mails from customers who directly contradict Telstra's claims that services are not negatively impacted by pair gaining.

Lundy says she has received e-mails from -hundreds and hundreds of people that have experienced this and got frustrating, condescending and unsatisfactory answers from Telstra." She describes many of them as -horror stories" where users have gone from using a straight phone line to a pair gain and experienced a halving of bandwidth and Telstra's response was that they should -go and learn how to use a computer or change ISPs," she said.

Telstra, on the other hand, claims the technology is used by carriers worldwide and said the politicians questioning pair gains, including NSW Senator Sue West and Shadow Minister for Communications Lyndsay Tanner, "do not understand the technology". Their comments are: -misleading and mischievous," the spokesperson said, adding that the -politicking and political point gaining going on" was -very disappointing behaviour".

Whilst Telstra also refutes the Opposition's claim that ADSL is unavailable on pair gains, saying CMUX is as an alternative pair gain technology that can be implemented for ADSL services, Lundy response was: -very clearly Telstra is not doing that for customers".

Lundy said Telstr's use of the -finer technical details as a smokescreen," was further evidence that it -doesn't care about its customers".

"I am outraged that Telstra is going into misinformation and denial," Lundy said.

Lundy said she intends to carry at statistical analysis of the information garnered from her Web site and draw up a mud map of where complaints are coming from. Telstra is also on notice to further answer questions on pair gains in Senate Estimates.

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