-The resolution for existing [affected] customers is to contact them and issue them with a new username and password," Telstra spokesperson, Kerrina Lawrence, told ZDNet Australia.
The problem reportedly affects 1,300 users who subscribed between February 21 and March 7, and was the result of new software, which caused a loss of synchronisation between usernames and passwords. The outage was noticed on March 7, and published on the Telstra Service Page on March 11.
-Most of the customers have been called," said Lawrence, -and at least half have had the issue resolved by the issue of a new username and password."
Telstra representatives have either spoken with, or left a message for, these customers. Any customer who has not yet been contacted by Telstra should call the helpdesk to resolve the issue.
-There is a process where they need to get in touch with the helpdesk, and they'll step them through the process of getting a new username and password," said Lawrence.
There has been feedback on ZDNet Australia indicating the problem is ongoing, with people experiencing 'authentication' problems during log-on up until March 19. -There can be a range of reasons which aren't immediately obvious," responded Lawrence.
-We believe there are no new customers affected, it's just between those two dates," she said. -The helpdesk hasn't registered any new complaints, which is how we keep track of these things. If a customer has problems they should ring BigPond, that's how we can deal with their concerns."
The BigPond helpdesk number is 133 933.
1800 023 019 will also get you through to Telstra's technical support - without you having to pay them for the privilege.