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Category: Telecommunications / Business, Economics and Finance / Internet Technology / Computers and Technology

Telstra outage continues as internet service complaints rise

Tuesday, 24 May 2016 13:59:08 | Lucy Carter

Telstra's network has had four major outages this year. (ABC News: Nic MacBean)

As Telstra grapples with more network issues, the latest figures from Australia's Telecommunication Ombudsman shows complaints about internet issues are on the rise.

Key points:

  • Customers continue to complain of Telstra network issues
  • Overall internet complaints up during January-March
  • Consumer advocate says issues are 'very concerning'

Irate customers have told the ABC the latest Telstra outage is affecting their businesses and families, and that they were being forced to wait on hold for up to four hours for technical support.

Since Friday, Telstra has twice posted online that all ADSL and NBN issues relating to this outage were resolved — only to backtrack and acknowledge that there were still problems.

Statistics from the ombudsman show that in this first quarter of this year, internet issues made up about 35 per cent of all complaints, compared to 26 per cent for the same quarter last year.

There were a total of 31,297 complaints during the quarter, an increase of 5.6 per cent during the same period in 2015.

Audio: Telstra customers still without internet, despite claiming network issues are fixed (The World Today)

Narelle Clarke, the acting chief executive at the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, said complaints had not dropped since summer — a period where outages traditionally occur due to bushfires and inclement weather.

"Internet outage figures and internet complaints are on the rise and it puts all the telcos and service providers on notice, I think. They need to lift their game," she said.

"People rely on these services and they're paying for them."

External Link: Telstra tweet May 21: All affected services restored

Ms Clarke said the latest Telstra outage, the fourth this year, led her to question the reliability of their network infrastructure.

"It's very concerning," she said.

Telstra is instructing its customers who are still having technical issues to follow instructions to reboot their modems, or contact them.

"While the network issue has been resolved relating to Friday's NBN issue, we are still working with a small number of customers who are having modem connection issues and we apologise for the frustration and inconvenience this is causing," a spokesman said.

Angry customers hit out at Telstra

Several customers have come forward with stories about how the internet outage is affecting their lives, including Brisbane-based Tanya.

"My son is autistic and he's non-verbal and his communication aids and teaching tools are web-based on an iPad so he hasn't been able to access those resources which has caused a lot of frustration for him and for us," she said.

External Link: Telstra customer Mel Archer complains on Twitter

Tanya said had been followed Telstra's instructions to fix the problem, but it was not working.

South Australian customer Joe said it had been two weeks since his Telstra ADSL internet connection worked and it was impacting his children's schoolwork.

"I have been continuously told that my problem has got nothing to do with the lines, it's got nothing to do with our connection out in the road or anything similar, that's it's all part of this national outage despite the fact that it's been happening long before this supposed national outage," he said.

"Give me some truth. Stop, you know, giving me different stories all the time and just get someone out to fix the thing so we've got our service back."

AustraliaPlus


 

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