Telstra to call users with broadband downtime explanation

Across Australia, people will soon receive phone calls from Telstra explaining why they cannot access their e-mail on their BigPond broadband connections.

Telstra have received about 200 customer complaints so far, and -in the interests of open communication", will call all 1,300 customers affected to explain the situation.

Due to problems with new software implemented by Telstra in late February, there was a loss of synchronisation between customer usernames and passwords, resulting in new users being unable to access their e-mail. Telstra became aware of the problem on March 6, and with the help of its supplier, claims to have resolved the problem the following day.

Anyone signing up for Telstra Broadband from March 8 onward will not experience any difficulty, but about 1,300 customers who joined between February 21 and March 7 experience ongoing problems.

-The complex nature of the synchronisation fault means that our supplier cannot provide a restoration date at this stage," Kerrina Lawrence, a spokesperson for Telstra, told ZDNet Australia. -Affected users won't be billed while Telstra resolves the issue," she added.

Telstra assures its customers that their usernames and passwords were not compromised while Telstra tackled the software problem.

-We are looking into past practice in order to identify the issue and ensure it does not happen again," said Lawrence. She also emphasised that anyone who has been unduly affected by the problem can apply for compensation.

Talkback 9 comments

    The idiot never learns. Should ...Anonymous -- 15/03/02

    The idiot never learns.
    Should have always tested before it was implemented on the live environment.

    well since i've CANCELLED my b ...Anonymous -- 15/03/02

    well since i've CANCELLED my bigpond cable connection dialup my internet access (albeit slow) has never been so reliable.

    telstra are good at ruining their relationships with their customers. after 2 months of having cable they imposed the 3gb per month limit, i thought i can live with that. then all is well until they tell me recently heres' $50 for lousy service (which i havent seen yet BTW) in december and then 2 DAYS later i get an email saying that my 3gb per month will now cost me $87.95.

    if i didn't need my phone telstra, you'd lose my business there too.

    and what you've lost $20m.........watch that soar.

    Telstra are lying greedy kunts ...Anonymous -- 15/03/02

    Telstra are lying greedy kunts. They use their monopoly to charge exhorbitant fees and provide farked service.
    Hooray for Optus... doing it's best to provide *some* competition, but still not enough to keep that giant money-sucker at bay.
    A lot of the time, the only reason why people will opt to go with Telstra/Bigpond is b/c they have no choice. Optus (or other) just do not service their area... such as me. :(
    Telstra should start giving back to the community.

    Not only new users have a mail ...Anonymous -- 15/03/02

    Not only new users have a mail problems , I have tried sending emails to my email address from my other (non telstra account) and I got postmaster errors

    Nike .... wake up and smell ...Anonymous -- 15/03/02

    Nike .... wake up and smell the grass buddy optus is about to impose higher fees and a download limit, oh they say they are not going to .. haha yep we all beleive them,, you idiot

    QUote "Due to problems wi ...Anonymous -- 15/03/02

    QUote "Due to problems with new software implemented by Telstra in late February, there was a loss of synchronisation between customer usernames and passwords, resulting in new users being unable to access their e-mail. Telstra became aware of the problem on March 6, and with the help of its supplier, claims to have resolved the problem the following day"

    Well they obviously knew about the problems with email in late Feb if they had problems installing the software, not March 6th!

    It's not true that users who s ...Anonymous -- 15/03/02

    It's not true that users who signed up on or after Mar 8 are OK. I signed up on Mar 8 myself and cannot get on.

    Also, one Telstra employee told me they have stopped signing people up and making installation appointments because they cannot estimate how long it is going to take to fix it. My request that this be put on their "Service Status" page was ignored. Management prefer to put a new bogus ETA on the site every day or two, thus engendering false expectations in their customers.

    What sort of Mickey Mouse system are they running? They have the largest IT budget of any corporate entity in Australia and they can't authenticate mail users? Come on, you have to be joking.

    I used to believe that Tel$tra should not be made to open up their facilities to competition as they had done the 'hard yards'. Well, no more. Let's open it up to someone who understands the meaning of the word "service" and that customers are at least as important as shareholders. After all, without the former you can't keep the latter.

    Telstra should be taking more ...Anonymous -- 16/03/02

    Telstra should be taking more responsibility for such a poor service. Stop passing on the blame to "third party" vendors as that kind of information is not important to the customer. The customer cares for a service that works. If something fails then FIX IT or FIND ANOTHER SOLUTION immediately. But with their billions of dollars in profit they decide to shrug this off and make their shareholders happier at the cost of "paying but disgruntled" customers.

    Have you all noticed that the ...Leo Levarre-Waters -- 18/03/02

    Have you all noticed that the higher title that people who post on here give themselves, is equal to the lack of education?
    Hey people, get cynical like moi. As time goes on, I trust Big Business less and less!
    That way you don't get ulcers or the sweats.
    As regard Optus/Dingoblue as opposed to Telstra,
    no prob....they have gone belly up...
    I take exception to Zdnet's reference to Australia's "rush to embrace new technology"....sorry...since when?????
    Australia has the reputation throughout the world as being the one who hangs about waiting to see if 'IT' works in some other country for yonks before embracing it. Our pollies are the most gutless and 'short term' thinkers in the western world.
    For you youngsters who are going Whaaaat???
    Check out television, Decimal Currency, Internet, Woman's Vote, Koorie Citizenship, and all the rest.......see how long after other countries we adopted these!

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