ISP outages hit 75 percent of Australian users: survey

Internet and e-mail service outages have hit more than three-quarters of ZDNet Australia readers in the past twelve months, according to a survey.

Asked whether they had been affected by an e-mail or Internet service glitch in the past year, 78 percent of respondents said yes, while just 22 percent said they had experienced non-stop service continuity.

The result, garnered from more than 500 responses, comes during a relatively bad year for the ISP community - vendors and users alike. ZDNet Australia alone has reported on almost 50 Internet and e-mail service problems in the ten months to October.

No single carrier, however, can wear the blame for what the industry watchdog calls a -major problem", with Telstra, Dingo blue, Optus@Home, OzEmail and iPrimus all experiencing technical glitches during the year.

This is little comfort to the user community, however, with many ISP customers vocally expressing their anger at what some have described as -constant dropouts and network failures".

-Dingo Blue's customers are leaving. An associate had had enough of signal drop outs/ kick off's - sometimes 25 a day," one user told ZDNet Australia. -So he rang DB to cancel his Internet service to be shut off at midnight that day. Well DB excelled themselves and shut him off early. Well at least they are efficient at cutting off clients' accounts. Well let's be honest, they have had plenty of practice."

-Telstra cable Internet speeds are comparable to your conventional 56K dial up modems or in other words, slow. I've had nothing but constant dropouts and network failures," another user said.

According to Australian Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, the organisation charged with receiving telecom consumer complaints and helping resolve related disputes, the growing incidences of ISP service failures during 2001 have led to a rash of complaints.

-[ISP service] access has been one of the major problems for Internet users who have complained to our office," a TIO spokesperson said. -And it's definitely an issue the Ombudsman will be paying close attention to in the coming year."

Official figures on the number of ISP service complaints made in Australia during the past year will be released by the TIO on October 25.

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Talkback 7 comments

    I find that hard to believe that 22% experienced no outages. Are the 22% employees of Telstra, Dingo blue, Optus@Home, OzEmail and iPrimus or any other ISP, by any chance?Anonymous -- 12/10/01

    I find that hard to believe that 22% experienced no outages.

    Are the 22% employees of Telstra, Dingo blue, Optus@Home, OzEmail and iPrimus or any other ISP, by any chance?

    Re:I find that hard to believe.... If you are in South Australia try SENet $1 an hour plan (not load sharing $25 a month) I have found them very reliable & no, I do not work for them, I am self employed (http://www.freewheelin.com.au) & not in theLeigh Smith -- 13/10/01

    Re:I find that hard to believe.... If you are in South Australia try SENet $1 an hour plan (not load sharing $25 a month) I have found them very reliable & no, I do not work for them, I am self employed (http://www.freewheelin.com.au) & not in the industry. They are our site hosts & were my primary ISP until recently getting unreliable Telstra cable connected. Now they are my secondry ISP, semmingly a neccesity for Telstra customers that can't afford to be offline. I can only recall 1 short outage form SENet in the past 12 months, I am online between 60 to 90 hours a month, generally nights.

    There is a common link to the disconnections that occur on Dingo Blue, Ozemail and Optus. They all use the Optus(Ozmail) backbone. There is a persitant 'ICMP' that occurs approx every 35 minutes that can and will disconnect most users. The Mark -- 14/10/01

    There is a common link to the disconnections that occur on Dingo Blue, Ozemail and Optus.
    They all use the Optus(Ozmail) backbone.
    There is a persitant 'ICMP' that occurs approx every 35 minutes that can and will disconnect most users.
    The only way to prevent this from occuring is to 'block' it.
    I have found a 'firewall' prevents this from happening. The trick is to find the right firewall for you. I use Zonealarm, however most should do the job. I did have 'BlackICE' but it did not prevent these attacks.
    I was told that the disconection problems were my problem originally by my ISP(OZEMAIL). They now admit I was right and its not my problem. However they appear unable or unwilling to fix it.
    Funny thing though they are now pushing firewall software on their site.
    Happy surfing :)

    I am not surprised with what the survey found. I am still waiting for an answer from iPrimus to a complaint that I sent through their customer support area on their website about 6 weeks ago. I couldn't even get through on their phones to complain about tAnonymous -- 15/10/01

    I am not surprised with what the survey found. I am still waiting for an answer from iPrimus to a complaint that I sent through their customer support area on their website about 6 weeks ago. I couldn't even get through on their phones to complain about the service. I have since chnaged ISP.

    I love my Sydney ISP (sydney.net). I'm not an employee; I'm an extremely happy customer of 4 years. The first glitch for 2001 happened just 2 weekends ago and the outage was less than 12 hours. I can't even recall if there were any glitches in 2000. I'vEva -- 15/10/01

    I love my Sydney ISP (sydney.net). I'm not an employee; I'm an extremely happy customer of 4 years. The first glitch for 2001 happened just 2 weekends ago and the outage was less than 12 hours. I can't even recall if there were any glitches in 2000. I've tried the cheapie plans and Optus cable and found exactly what the ZDNet article claimed.

    i was using optusnet up until the 12 mths leading to may this year. as we decided to go onto Transact (we were led to believe that they used transact, NOT Telstra, Optus, or AAPT as a backbone- one of many lies from Transact), the only ISP available Anonymous -- 15/10/01

    i was using optusnet up until the 12 mths leading
    to may this year. as we decided to go onto Transact (we were led to believe that they used transact, NOT Telstra, Optus, or AAPT as a backbone- one of many lies from Transact), the only ISP available was NETSPEED.

    I did not experience any outages/ or other problems with optusnet, it's just that NETSPEED where the only ones at the time supporting the transact network.
    From May to August, while with NETSPEED (it turns out they use AAPT as a backbone) I experienced outages on a WEEKLY basis, unsolicited mail that was clearly for other netspeed customers, and the last straw was a $150 bill for August (average monthly bill usually $20). Technical support is only available between 8-8pm (I tend to go online after this time).

    I am back with optusnet, and apart from the outage last week (my name starts with A) which did not affect me that morning, there is no way I will support any intermediary again.

    (T)Helstra's ADSL users would have to be 100%. Having been a user since Dec'99, I can't recall a week without one or more interruptions. If it isn't undersea cables being cut, its routers or servers spitting the dummy almost on a daily basis. I harKeith Styles -- 16/10/01

    (T)Helstra's ADSL users would have to be 100%. Having been a user since Dec'99, I can't recall a week without one or more interruptions. If it isn't undersea cables being cut, its routers or servers spitting the dummy almost on a daily basis.
    I hardly ever bother to call Tech support anymore. I just sit back & wait. Calling Tech support is a total waste of time. I keep asking myself how the engineering department ever gets any sleep. They would have to be on duty 24/7 fixing problems. Can't wait for another ISP to lay cable or ADSL in my street. Telstra will lose all my business.

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