Originally the telco giant's Service Status page reported that the problem would be fixed by Monday, March 18, but that has now been extended until Friday, March 22.
-We are still assessing the technical solution," Kerrina Lawrence, a Telstra spokesperson, told ZDNet Australia. As previously reported the problem is due to new software implemented in late February, and affects around 1,300 customers who joined the service between February 21 and March 7. They are unable to use the service due to synchronisation issues between their username and password.
However, one reader who contacted ZDNet Australia claimed that he signed up on March 8 and cannot access the service. In response, Lawrence pointed out that there are many reasons why a new user may have problems accessing their account, and that it may not have anything to do with the reported problem.
-At this stage we believe it is limited to the 1,300 customers who signed up between those two dates," she said. -If there are any customers that think they might be affected or have a related question they should contact Telstra so we can cross-check it against our list and solve the problem to their satisfaction."
Telstra is also following up reports that employees are telling customers they have stopped signing people up until the problem is fixed.
-The customer contact program is underway, and we'll keep them briefed on the situation," Lawrence said.
Perhaps coincidentally, received in today's mail is a demonstration CD and an offer to sign up for Telstra's Broadband service at the charming rate of $54.05 per month on a 12 month contract (the pretty brochure neglects to mention connection and/or cable modem fees but does give a MIMIMUM figure of $918.40 for 12 months) and I think to myself..."Not bad...". Then I read some more into the fine print and find a 300Mb (Yes, MEGAbyte) download limit per month, with a 15.9 cents per Mb after that. This equates to 10Mb per day in the average month which, anyone not hiding under a rock will know, is approximately not much. One attached email and half an hour at your favourite interactive music site or latest online game (not to mention those of us that are on all day, every day trying to run a small business from home on a 56kbps dial-up) and bingo...download exceeded. So much for broadband for EVERYBODY...it's just taken another step backward by being priced out of the market for the average user!