It's 9am. Latency is 500ms PLUS on both the Bigpond and Internode services. Neither my partner or I can connect to work via VPN. The link is running like a pig. VOIP is unusable.
This is completely ridiculous and we have had enough.
Hello TIO.
10 December 2009
06 December 2009
Third time's a charm! (Well, kinda)
This morning we got out of bed far earlier than a sane human ever would on a Sunday, and prepared to battle Telstra for the third time in as many days in an attempt to upgrade our iPhones.
Off we trotted to Fountain Gate Westfield to face The Clipboard Mafia. On our way to the T-life store we decided to see if the little old neglected Telstra kiosk in the same centre was in operation. To our delight it was! I recognised the salesperson there from previous interactions and knew that he actually had a clue about the products he was peddling.
Much to our amazement, he had 2 x 32gb iPhones in stock and could attend to us without a clipboard in sight. Praise the -whatever deity you normally praise in times of joy- here.
Within 30 minutes he had arranged the transfer, arranged to have the early termination fees for our current plans (we had one month left) waived and it was all going wonderfully.
Until.
The Nice Man told us that he could not activate our phones at the kiosk. He advised that because people (read: staff) keep fiddling with the settings on their activation system, it doesn't work any more.
We would have to go back to the T-life store with our new toys, WAIT IN THE CLIPBOARD QUEUE (*cry*) and they would have to activate our phones there.
LE SIGH.
So we thanked him and headed off to Clipboard Hell.
Sure enough, no sooner had we walked in, Mr Clippy (sorry Microsoft) had accosted us. His officiousness was palpable.
Resigned to the fact we would have to join the queue, we reluctantly provided our details and he took our precious new babies out the back to be activated (it was all very secretive - as he disappeared through the heavily coded door, I'm sure I saw a couple of witches and an eye of newt just behind a boiling cauldron).
We had some time to pass while the magic happened, so I did what any person with a longstanding history of negative customer interactions with Telstra would do: I worked my way around the store, carefully opened the Bigpond branded browser (Ugh IE - I felt so dirty) and loaded this blog on every one. Childish? Absolutely! Strangely satisfying? Hell yes.
I had just long enough to "enhance" the customer experience for anyone checking out their laptops, and our phones were done and we were on our way.
Anyone like to place a bet on whether or not they get the first bill right?
Off we trotted to Fountain Gate Westfield to face The Clipboard Mafia. On our way to the T-life store we decided to see if the little old neglected Telstra kiosk in the same centre was in operation. To our delight it was! I recognised the salesperson there from previous interactions and knew that he actually had a clue about the products he was peddling.
Much to our amazement, he had 2 x 32gb iPhones in stock and could attend to us without a clipboard in sight. Praise the -whatever deity you normally praise in times of joy- here.
Within 30 minutes he had arranged the transfer, arranged to have the early termination fees for our current plans (we had one month left) waived and it was all going wonderfully.
Until.
The Nice Man told us that he could not activate our phones at the kiosk. He advised that because people (read: staff) keep fiddling with the settings on their activation system, it doesn't work any more.
We would have to go back to the T-life store with our new toys, WAIT IN THE CLIPBOARD QUEUE (*cry*) and they would have to activate our phones there.
LE SIGH.
So we thanked him and headed off to Clipboard Hell.
Sure enough, no sooner had we walked in, Mr Clippy (sorry Microsoft) had accosted us. His officiousness was palpable.
Resigned to the fact we would have to join the queue, we reluctantly provided our details and he took our precious new babies out the back to be activated (it was all very secretive - as he disappeared through the heavily coded door, I'm sure I saw a couple of witches and an eye of newt just behind a boiling cauldron).
We had some time to pass while the magic happened, so I did what any person with a longstanding history of negative customer interactions with Telstra would do: I worked my way around the store, carefully opened the Bigpond branded browser (Ugh IE - I felt so dirty) and loaded this blog on every one. Childish? Absolutely! Strangely satisfying? Hell yes.
I had just long enough to "enhance" the customer experience for anyone checking out their laptops, and our phones were done and we were on our way.
Anyone like to place a bet on whether or not they get the first bill right?
05 December 2009
Hello? Is there anybody in there?
It's Saturday afternoon and we have been trying unsuccessfully since lunchtime to have anyone pick up the phone for either the T-life store at Fountain Gate, or the Telstra kiosk elsewhere in the same centre.
I rang Westfield Concierge in sheer desperation to see if someone was actually at the Telstra kiosk and they confirmed that there was indeed someone manning (womaning) the store today.
Is it so hard for either of these stores to even pick up the damn phone when a customer rings. I'd be happy if they took my number and details and got back to me (although I highly doubt I'd ever get a return phone call).
See? All too hard.
I rang Westfield Concierge in sheer desperation to see if someone was actually at the Telstra kiosk and they confirmed that there was indeed someone manning (womaning) the store today.
Is it so hard for either of these stores to even pick up the damn phone when a customer rings. I'd be happy if they took my number and details and got back to me (although I highly doubt I'd ever get a return phone call).
See? All too hard.
04 December 2009
Here, there's no cash.
Scenario:
Friday night: 7.00pm, Westfield Fountain Gate.
Requirements:
1. Purchase iPhone for daughter who wants to go with Optus as all her friends are with them and she is already an Optus customer and would like to keep her number.
2. Renegotiate with Telstra to purchase 2 x 32gb iPhones on a 24 month handset plan (continuing with current $100 cap plan & $29 data plan currently in place)
First stop, Optus. The transaction involved switching from a pre-paid to a post-paid account (requirement to keep the same number) and commencing a 24 month plan for an 16gb iPhone.
We're served after a couple of minutes of standing around. We explain what we're there for and are escorted to one of the booths at the back of the store to do the paperwork stuff.
As daughter is under 18, post-paid account had to go into my name. Optus shop person found that when prepaid account was originally set up, they incorrectly keyed my last name, so this had to be fixed first. This took about 30 minutes as it had to be changed in a couple of places (or something). An annoying wait, but not interminable and now the details on file are correct.
Once the incorrect name was sorted, the transaction was swift and was completed with with minimal fuss. We were in and out in about 45 minutes.
Second stop, Telstra. My partner approaches Telstra sales staff, says hello and starts to explain our current situation and the information we'd like to find out.
And I kid you not, the VERY first thing this salesperson said to my partner was "No" - "No, I need your name" and he prepared to start writing my partner's details on a clipboard. My partner asked "Are you able to help me?" and he answered "No, we're busy, I need to take your name and someone will get back to you."
If by "we're busy", he meant there were 3 Telstra salespeople standing around behind the counter doing nothing and one female salesperson sitting at a PC twirling her hair through her fingers, then yeah, they were absolutely FLAT OUT.
My partner told him he wasn't interested in waiting around for "someone to get back to him" and left the store.
Telstra just don't get it. If I have made my way into a store, I wish to engage in discussion or transact at that time. I am not interested in having my details taken and being told that someone will ring me at a later date so I can return to the store AT A TIME THAT'S CONVENIENT FOR TELSTRA (not the customer) to conduct my business.
For those of you who are going to ask why I'm even bothering with Telstra for mobiles in the first place, the answer is simple; we live 50km from Melbourne, directly in a Voda shadow (if I want to make a call on a Voda handset, I need to walk out my front door, up the driveway and halfway down the street - and I need to be in the middle of the road - to get even 1 bar of coverage. So Voda is out. Optus is ok at home, but travelling on the train (which I do for approximately 3 hours per day), 3G data is patchy and spotty for approximately half my trip home. So Optus is out.
Without doubt, Telstra have the best 3G coverage and that is the SOLE reason why we persevere. If I could get the same quality of service on either of the other two, I would drop Telstra like third period French. Don't get me started on tethering and the lack of visual voicemail.
Alas, we are stuck with Telstra.
But you know what, giving Telstra our money is just too much like hard work. We're happy to pay for using their mobile network - it is arguably the best. We are also willing to re-enter into another 24 month contract for a couple of 32gb 3GS iPhones, but you know what? I just don't have the energy to fight to do it. Clearly Telstra don't want our business.
Interestingly, it was a year ago we went in to the Telstra store to upgrade/extend our plans (from the hideous Palm Treo 750 to iPhone 3Gs). Telstra wheeled out The Clipboard Tactic... and we left the store, went around the corner and purchased them outright from Optus instead. It was just all too hard to deal with Telstra. We just wanted a couple of phones!
The Clipboard Tactic is not doing Telstra any favours at all. I can see what they're trying to do, but the execution fails badly.
Here's a hint Telstra; if you want to start a booking service for appointments at your stores, take a leaf from Apple's book and set it up like they do with the Genius Bar appointments - you book online, pick a day/time that suits you, rock up at your alloted time and hey presto, you conduct your business, and you leave. All at a time and location and date that suits.. you know, the PAYING customer!
Tonight was a glaring example of the difference in the customer service of two of the largest telcos in Australia. In the end, one got our money, one didn't.
Looks like we're keeping our old iPhones. And our $7200 - excluding call costs - (based on the $150 iPhone Plan Ultimate x 2 over 24 months).
Friday night: 7.00pm, Westfield Fountain Gate.
Requirements:
1. Purchase iPhone for daughter who wants to go with Optus as all her friends are with them and she is already an Optus customer and would like to keep her number.
2. Renegotiate with Telstra to purchase 2 x 32gb iPhones on a 24 month handset plan (continuing with current $100 cap plan & $29 data plan currently in place)
First stop, Optus. The transaction involved switching from a pre-paid to a post-paid account (requirement to keep the same number) and commencing a 24 month plan for an 16gb iPhone.
We're served after a couple of minutes of standing around. We explain what we're there for and are escorted to one of the booths at the back of the store to do the paperwork stuff.
As daughter is under 18, post-paid account had to go into my name. Optus shop person found that when prepaid account was originally set up, they incorrectly keyed my last name, so this had to be fixed first. This took about 30 minutes as it had to be changed in a couple of places (or something). An annoying wait, but not interminable and now the details on file are correct.
Once the incorrect name was sorted, the transaction was swift and was completed with with minimal fuss. We were in and out in about 45 minutes.
Second stop, Telstra. My partner approaches Telstra sales staff, says hello and starts to explain our current situation and the information we'd like to find out.
And I kid you not, the VERY first thing this salesperson said to my partner was "No" - "No, I need your name" and he prepared to start writing my partner's details on a clipboard. My partner asked "Are you able to help me?" and he answered "No, we're busy, I need to take your name and someone will get back to you."
If by "we're busy", he meant there were 3 Telstra salespeople standing around behind the counter doing nothing and one female salesperson sitting at a PC twirling her hair through her fingers, then yeah, they were absolutely FLAT OUT.
My partner told him he wasn't interested in waiting around for "someone to get back to him" and left the store.
Telstra just don't get it. If I have made my way into a store, I wish to engage in discussion or transact at that time. I am not interested in having my details taken and being told that someone will ring me at a later date so I can return to the store AT A TIME THAT'S CONVENIENT FOR TELSTRA (not the customer) to conduct my business.
For those of you who are going to ask why I'm even bothering with Telstra for mobiles in the first place, the answer is simple; we live 50km from Melbourne, directly in a Voda shadow (if I want to make a call on a Voda handset, I need to walk out my front door, up the driveway and halfway down the street - and I need to be in the middle of the road - to get even 1 bar of coverage. So Voda is out. Optus is ok at home, but travelling on the train (which I do for approximately 3 hours per day), 3G data is patchy and spotty for approximately half my trip home. So Optus is out.
Without doubt, Telstra have the best 3G coverage and that is the SOLE reason why we persevere. If I could get the same quality of service on either of the other two, I would drop Telstra like third period French. Don't get me started on tethering and the lack of visual voicemail.
Alas, we are stuck with Telstra.
But you know what, giving Telstra our money is just too much like hard work. We're happy to pay for using their mobile network - it is arguably the best. We are also willing to re-enter into another 24 month contract for a couple of 32gb 3GS iPhones, but you know what? I just don't have the energy to fight to do it. Clearly Telstra don't want our business.
Interestingly, it was a year ago we went in to the Telstra store to upgrade/extend our plans (from the hideous Palm Treo 750 to iPhone 3Gs). Telstra wheeled out The Clipboard Tactic... and we left the store, went around the corner and purchased them outright from Optus instead. It was just all too hard to deal with Telstra. We just wanted a couple of phones!
The Clipboard Tactic is not doing Telstra any favours at all. I can see what they're trying to do, but the execution fails badly.
Here's a hint Telstra; if you want to start a booking service for appointments at your stores, take a leaf from Apple's book and set it up like they do with the Genius Bar appointments - you book online, pick a day/time that suits you, rock up at your alloted time and hey presto, you conduct your business, and you leave. All at a time and location and date that suits.. you know, the PAYING customer!
Tonight was a glaring example of the difference in the customer service of two of the largest telcos in Australia. In the end, one got our money, one didn't.
Looks like we're keeping our old iPhones. And our $7200 - excluding call costs - (based on the $150 iPhone Plan Ultimate x 2 over 24 months).
23 November 2009
Snafu.
So, Telstra are increasing bandwidth for cable customers who already get pretty impressive speeds. Fan-freaking-tastic.
Dear Telstra, how about you give your customers with incredibly poor connectivity some love before you give the customers with FAST connections even FASTER ones.
Our latest PS3 update gave us ABC iview. Wooohoo... wait what's that? Our connectivity is so bad we can't use it? Typical.
Situation normal really.
Dear Telstra, how about you give your customers with incredibly poor connectivity some love before you give the customers with FAST connections even FASTER ones.
Our latest PS3 update gave us ABC iview. Wooohoo... wait what's that? Our connectivity is so bad we can't use it? Typical.
Situation normal really.
13 November 2009
Such a lot of red.
What does that graph tell you?
In a nutshell, the graph shows that from about 4pm the link is pretty much unusable, except for the odd intermittent period of a few minutes where latency drops to 20ms before spiking to stupid levels again.
Trying to VPN into work past 4pm is completely pointless - the connections end up timing out.
Shapely.
Our problem still continues unabated on both the Bigpond and Internode services. We're now keeping constant logs with some graphical magicalness which starkly illustrates the latency we're enduring. I'll post something later.
Since my last post, we've been in constant contact with various bods in Telstra and have had visits to the house, RIMS and the exchange. My partner has been kept up to date every step of the way and from his reports, Telstra really are trying to help us out. The Telstra tech that came to the house was really really good and totally understood our frustration. He couldn't fix the problem, but he had some ideas.
Internode are still doing a fantastic impression of not giving a fuck and still charging us full whack for a faulty service. Yay Internode.
Last week we got shaped a few days before our month rolled. We didn't notice the difference in performance.
Since my last post, we've been in constant contact with various bods in Telstra and have had visits to the house, RIMS and the exchange. My partner has been kept up to date every step of the way and from his reports, Telstra really are trying to help us out. The Telstra tech that came to the house was really really good and totally understood our frustration. He couldn't fix the problem, but he had some ideas.
Internode are still doing a fantastic impression of not giving a fuck and still charging us full whack for a faulty service. Yay Internode.
Last week we got shaped a few days before our month rolled. We didn't notice the difference in performance.
05 November 2009
Hello? Bueller? Internode? Bueller?
I'm disappointed with Internode. Bottom line. We've been customers for 5 years and have been happy with their service. But their inactivity and fingerpointing over our congestion issue has soured our opinion of them greatly.
We've heard not a peep from them apart from the cop-out email with token "soother paragraph" you see above. I'd love to know what pressure Internode are applying, and what "doing all we can at this point" means exactly.
Internode have a direct relationship with Telstra Wholesale.
The Internode ticket has been open since 18 January 2009.
And we're still paying full price for a *known* deficient service. Internode's answer for us seeking any financial relief for this crippled service? Choose a cheaper plan. The mind, it boggles.
In another email, Internode advise:
Really? Really Internode? Y'know, I don't think you are doing everything within your ability.
It took me banging on the virtual door of the Telstra CEO to get any action on this issue.
Poor form, Internode, poor form indeed.
Thank you for your email.
I understand your frustration with the congestion issue, taking place at the XXXXXX exchange. As previously mentioned in my last email, in order to fix this problem, we require our wholesaler to perform an upgrade at the XXXXXX exchange.
As you are aware, this issue is out of Internodes control and will affect any service, with any Internet Service Provider at this exchange. We will continue to apply pressure to our wholesaler to resolve the issue as soon as possible however; it is only within their power to advise when this upgrade will take place.
I am sorry that I have not been able to assist you further at this stage, but please be assured we are doing all we can at this point.
Thank you for your patience.
We've heard not a peep from them apart from the cop-out email with token "soother paragraph" you see above. I'd love to know what pressure Internode are applying, and what "doing all we can at this point" means exactly.
Internode have a direct relationship with Telstra Wholesale.
The Internode ticket has been open since 18 January 2009.
And we're still paying full price for a *known* deficient service. Internode's answer for us seeking any financial relief for this crippled service? Choose a cheaper plan. The mind, it boggles.
In another email, Internode advise:
As stated on our website and in our terms and conditions, Internode ADSL connections are not a service that we can provide an operational guarantee on, beyond the commitments made in our SFoA. We do guarantee that we will promptly investigate all matters brought to our attention and work with you to resolve any issues that we are able to; however, some things are simply outside of our control, such as those that occur within external networks and infrastructure and therefore we do not compensate for these issues.
We do apologise for this inconvenience and please be assured that we will be doing everything within our ability to keep escalating this issue to Telstra Wholesale.
Really? Really Internode? Y'know, I don't think you are doing everything within your ability.
It took me banging on the virtual door of the Telstra CEO to get any action on this issue.
Poor form, Internode, poor form indeed.
OMG.
OMG OMG OMG
Less than 24 hours after my email to Mr Thodey, I received a response:
At 6pm Friday night, my partner received a phone call from the Countrywide representative for our area, who advised he would be handling our case moving forward.
The Countrywide rep spoke at length with my partner. The rep knew the history of our longstanding issues and advised that investigations were now underway and he would be in contact.
So I must give credit where credit is due, and give kudos to the office of the CEO for acting on what must be one of many complaints that cross his desk.
Is our problem solved? Not in any way shape or form as yet. Latency last night was abysmal, and we have given up doing anything remotely interactive online.
However, there is hope!
Less than 24 hours after my email to Mr Thodey, I received a response:
Thank you for your email to the Office of our CEO, David Thodey.
David has asked me to thank you for your email on his behalf and to let you know that a member of our team will be in contact with you shortly.
We appreciate your patience while we allocate this and confirm our commitment to addressing the matters you have raised.
At 6pm Friday night, my partner received a phone call from the Countrywide representative for our area, who advised he would be handling our case moving forward.
The Countrywide rep spoke at length with my partner. The rep knew the history of our longstanding issues and advised that investigations were now underway and he would be in contact.
So I must give credit where credit is due, and give kudos to the office of the CEO for acting on what must be one of many complaints that cross his desk.
Is our problem solved? Not in any way shape or form as yet. Latency last night was abysmal, and we have given up doing anything remotely interactive online.
However, there is hope!
04 November 2009
Straw. Camel. Back.
Last Thursday night, when latency was ridiculously high and we were downloading a file at 24k/second, I cracked it. Nothing was usable, I had resorted to loading the 'basic html' version of gmail. VOIP was pointless.
So, after reading that David Thodey "reads every customer complaint that crosses his desk", I thought I'd test this comment.
My e-mail was brief:
I really didn't expect to hear anything. His mailbox must be bombarded daily by angry Telstra customers/employees and general nutballs all wanting his ear. But what the heck, it was therapeutic (although the mail took a while to send - is that irony?).
Anyhoo, I had purged my Telstra anger for the night.
So, after reading that David Thodey "reads every customer complaint that crosses his desk", I thought I'd test this comment.
My e-mail was brief:
Dear Mr Thodey
We write to you out of sheer frustration arising from negative customer interactions with Telstra, particularly over the past 12 months in relation to congestion issues on Telstra ADSL infrastructure we are serviced by. We are now at the point where our internet connections (we have 2 separate ADSL services) are largely unusable for a great majority of the time. Telstra have admitted in writing that the issue affecting us is congestion, but "have no plans to upgrade capacity." We find this answer unacceptable, however multiple attempts to achieve resolution over the last 12 months have been unsuccessful.
I have recently documented our history with Telstra in a blog, which I invite you to read and would welcome your feedback on.
The address for the blog is:
http://telstrafail.blogspot.com/
Please feel free to contact either myself or my husband at any time should you require further information or wish to discuss the matter in greater detail.
I really didn't expect to hear anything. His mailbox must be bombarded daily by angry Telstra customers/employees and general nutballs all wanting his ear. But what the heck, it was therapeutic (although the mail took a while to send - is that irony?).
Anyhoo, I had purged my Telstra anger for the night.
03 November 2009
Eleven .
It's nearly 1am.
Latency is 711ms and rising.
We are downloading a file at 11k/second.
ELEVEN.
Latency is 711ms and rising.
We are downloading a file at 11k/second.
ELEVEN.
02 November 2009
Global Financial Crisis
That's what I'm blaming for tonight's shocking latency. It's been hovering between 500-600ms first hop for most of the afternoon. It's getting worse now that it's after dinner.
I think people aren't going away for the long weekend like they used to. They're all staying home and USING UP ALL THE BANDWIDTH ON OUR RIM!
Damn this global financial crisis.
I think people aren't going away for the long weekend like they used to. They're all staying home and USING UP ALL THE BANDWIDTH ON OUR RIM!
Damn this global financial crisis.
31 October 2009
29 October 2009
"Have you tried turning it off and on again"
Yay Technical Support!
And so we start, Level 1 support. They go through their script. My partner explains the issue, tells the support droid that we've done the isolation tests, we've switched out modems, routers, etc etc. Explains that the problem has been confirmed by Telstra as congestion.
"It's a line fault"
"Really? So why is happening on my other line as well, which has an ADSL service with a different provider?"
"Oh."
"Well the line is obviously working now."
"I'm using VOIP on a different circuit."
"Oh."
And so it continued.
Eventually we're informed that if a tech has to attend the property, we may incur a service fee. My partner very politely tells them that this is a known issue that Telstra have admitted to *in writing*, and we will not be paying any service fee.
We're then told that it someone will get back to us in 2 days.
Here's something to ponder: If there is a 2 day process on reported faults, why do we need to ring when the issue is occuring?
It's now approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes since my husband first noticed the latency spike and called Tech Support.
My partner needs a scotch, or therapy. Possibly both.
And so we start, Level 1 support. They go through their script. My partner explains the issue, tells the support droid that we've done the isolation tests, we've switched out modems, routers, etc etc. Explains that the problem has been confirmed by Telstra as congestion.
"It's a line fault"
"Really? So why is happening on my other line as well, which has an ADSL service with a different provider?"
"Oh."
"Well the line is obviously working now."
"I'm using VOIP on a different circuit."
"Oh."
And so it continued.
Eventually we're informed that if a tech has to attend the property, we may incur a service fee. My partner very politely tells them that this is a known issue that Telstra have admitted to *in writing*, and we will not be paying any service fee.
We're then told that it someone will get back to us in 2 days.
Here's something to ponder: If there is a 2 day process on reported faults, why do we need to ring when the issue is occuring?
It's now approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes since my husband first noticed the latency spike and called Tech Support.
My partner needs a scotch, or therapy. Possibly both.
Groundhog Day.
By this stage my partner is ready to go postal. Frustration levels are high.
He calls Telstra again in an attempt to sort out the authorisation issue. He's passed around again and eventually speaks to someone who checks the account and states that he cannot understand why Bigpond won't speak to my partner as he is most definitely listed as an authorised operator of the account.
Hurrah!
Notes are added to our file and he transfers my partner to Bigpond Activations.
The Bigpond Activations person read the notes on the file and advises my partner that the Bigpond account hadn't been configured correctly. No apology for the inconvenience caused, but we are past caring at this point, we just want to log a fault!
My partner gives the Activations person a brief overview of what has transpired in the previous call. He explains that he was the one that set up both the second phone line and the ADSL service. She tells him that she finds it highly unlikely that he was able to do that.
Yes, you read that correctly - Telstra accused my partner of being a liar.
By this stage, he is beyond frustrated.
Eventually the system is updated (as she apparently is one of only a few people that can see both systems - clearly she holds a position of power in the organisation) and transfers the call to Technical Support.
It's now approximately 6pm.
And we're back to where we were 2 hours ago.
He calls Telstra again in an attempt to sort out the authorisation issue. He's passed around again and eventually speaks to someone who checks the account and states that he cannot understand why Bigpond won't speak to my partner as he is most definitely listed as an authorised operator of the account.
Hurrah!
Notes are added to our file and he transfers my partner to Bigpond Activations.
The Bigpond Activations person read the notes on the file and advises my partner that the Bigpond account hadn't been configured correctly. No apology for the inconvenience caused, but we are past caring at this point, we just want to log a fault!
My partner gives the Activations person a brief overview of what has transpired in the previous call. He explains that he was the one that set up both the second phone line and the ADSL service. She tells him that she finds it highly unlikely that he was able to do that.
Yes, you read that correctly - Telstra accused my partner of being a liar.
By this stage, he is beyond frustrated.
Eventually the system is updated (as she apparently is one of only a few people that can see both systems - clearly she holds a position of power in the organisation) and transfers the call to Technical Support.
It's now approximately 6pm.
And we're back to where we were 2 hours ago.
Not with those shoes, pal.
On 26 October at approximately 4pm, latency hits 650ms (funny that this degradation of service is very close to school finish time. My, what a coincidence.)
Both the Internode service and Bigpond service are showing the same latency.
As instructed in the email from the @BigpondTeam, my partner places a call to Technical Support while the problem is happening.
I arrived home at approximately 5.15pm to find my partner still on the phone to Telstra, trying to log a fault. He was not a happy camper.
You see Telstra had told him he wasn't authorised to operate the account. Really?
He has *always* been authorised to operate the account. *ALWAYS*
If he was not authorised to operate the account, how did he manage to have the second line brought back into service and apply for Bigpond ADSL.
Just so we're perfectly clear:
It was my partner who arranged for the second line to be recommissioned.
It was my partner who arranged the Bigpond ADSL connection.
When he wanted to spend money, there was no problem with him signing up for all manner of services on an account that is in my name. Telstra/Bigpond could not have been more helpful.
Now there is a problem on that service, suddenly he's not authorised to operate the account. It's *his* name on the order number for ADSL, *his* email address as a contact.
In the first hour of this call, Bigpond rang his mobile to verify his identity while he was on the other line. He confirmed his identity with his name, address, date of birth, secret password on the account.
The Verdict? Not. Authorised.
It should be noted that the identity confirmation sequence he failed today, was the same identity confirmation sequence he passed when the line and ADSL service were ordered.
My partner asked to be transferred to a supervisor and after being passed up the food chain a couple of times, eventually landed at Bigpond billing who told him he was not authorised to operate the account.
He asked again to be transferred to supervisor and was told they would not escalate the call without first speaking to a person authorised to operate the account.
He gives up at this point.
1hr and 45 minutes later and we still haven't managed to log a fault with technical support.
Latency is 564ms, first hop.
Both the Internode service and Bigpond service are showing the same latency.
As instructed in the email from the @BigpondTeam, my partner places a call to Technical Support while the problem is happening.
I arrived home at approximately 5.15pm to find my partner still on the phone to Telstra, trying to log a fault. He was not a happy camper.
You see Telstra had told him he wasn't authorised to operate the account. Really?
He has *always* been authorised to operate the account. *ALWAYS*
If he was not authorised to operate the account, how did he manage to have the second line brought back into service and apply for Bigpond ADSL.
Just so we're perfectly clear:
It was my partner who arranged for the second line to be recommissioned.
It was my partner who arranged the Bigpond ADSL connection.
When he wanted to spend money, there was no problem with him signing up for all manner of services on an account that is in my name. Telstra/Bigpond could not have been more helpful.
Now there is a problem on that service, suddenly he's not authorised to operate the account. It's *his* name on the order number for ADSL, *his* email address as a contact.
In the first hour of this call, Bigpond rang his mobile to verify his identity while he was on the other line. He confirmed his identity with his name, address, date of birth, secret password on the account.
The Verdict? Not. Authorised.
It should be noted that the identity confirmation sequence he failed today, was the same identity confirmation sequence he passed when the line and ADSL service were ordered.
My partner asked to be transferred to a supervisor and after being passed up the food chain a couple of times, eventually landed at Bigpond billing who told him he was not authorised to operate the account.
He asked again to be transferred to supervisor and was told they would not escalate the call without first speaking to a person authorised to operate the account.
He gives up at this point.
1hr and 45 minutes later and we still haven't managed to log a fault with technical support.
Latency is 564ms, first hop.
Deja Vu... Vu.
And so here we are.
Same fault, different ISP.
I mention this latest development on Twitter and @BigpondTeam ask me to forward the details for them to investigate (props again to these guys - I hope Telstra realises the good these guys are doing with the Twitter user base).
Anyhoo, I send off the details and receive another prompt response from the @BigpondTeam:
Telstra are quite correct in that they were specifically referring to the number used for the Internode service. The Bigpond service is connected to a different number.
It's the last sentence in their response that I find interesting.
So we start the process again and my partner attempts to log a fault with Technical Support. And I do mean "attempts".
Same fault, different ISP.
I mention this latest development on Twitter and @BigpondTeam ask me to forward the details for them to investigate (props again to these guys - I hope Telstra realises the good these guys are doing with the Twitter user base).
Anyhoo, I send off the details and receive another prompt response from the @BigpondTeam:
You will need to lodge a complaint with Technical Support on 133 933 (24 x 7). They may send a technician to you or to the exchange. Either way, they will run detailed speed tests on the phone number associated with the BigPond account (I recommend calling at a time that you are noticing significant speed issues.) If calling is not suitable to your needs, they can be emailed directly below:
https://bigpond.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/bigpond.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_type=technical
I have reviewed my previous email to you and it specifically states:
'It is unlikely that BigPond would supply you with an ADSL service on xx xxxx xxxx, due to the inability to provide you an acceptable service because of the issues at the RIM. What this means is that although ADSL works at your address, because of the issues with the RIM, BigPond would not put ADSL on at the address due to the poor service that you would receive. An order could be placed, but it would be highly likely that the mandatory further tests, that are done on all BigPond ADSL orders, would have stopped the order from progressing in to an ADSL service with BigPond.'
There were no guarantees made and my intention was based on the existing phone line. Each line has a different entry in to the exchange. However, I am surprised that an order has completed on any phone line from your property, but welcome you as a BigPond member.
Telstra are quite correct in that they were specifically referring to the number used for the Internode service. The Bigpond service is connected to a different number.
It's the last sentence in their response that I find interesting.
So we start the process again and my partner attempts to log a fault with Technical Support. And I do mean "attempts".
27 October 2009
Check.
Two weeks ago, my partner brought our old decommissioned phone line back into service and applied for Bigpond ADSL on 21 October.
On 26 October, our Bigpond ADSL service was activated.
My partner spoke to Bigpond and queried the availability of this service (given the information provided by Telstra previously that they would be unlikely to provide Bigpond ADSL to us because of the "issues on the RIM").
He was assured that there were no faults on any infrastructure. Really? Really Telstra?
How very interesting.
So here we are, a valued Telstra customer and the proud owners of two ADSL Services - one with Internode, one with Bigpond.
It should be noted that we have the links running on different equipment, totally independent of each other. Two very distinct and separate services.
So if the Telstra Wholesale reports are showing no spare ports on the DA we're connected to, where are we routing? Maybe we're on a different RIM? Could it be that by some magic or intervention by a supreme higher being, we have been transposed off the RIM completely? We should be so lucky.
It didn't take too long before we got to test both services. The usual nightly congestion started and we monitored both links.
Well will you look at that. Latency is woeful on both services. only with the Telstra service, we get 12% packet loss as well. Ace.
Congestion? Check.
Direct Relationship? Check.
On 26 October, our Bigpond ADSL service was activated.
My partner spoke to Bigpond and queried the availability of this service (given the information provided by Telstra previously that they would be unlikely to provide Bigpond ADSL to us because of the "issues on the RIM").
He was assured that there were no faults on any infrastructure. Really? Really Telstra?
How very interesting.
So here we are, a valued Telstra customer and the proud owners of two ADSL Services - one with Internode, one with Bigpond.
It should be noted that we have the links running on different equipment, totally independent of each other. Two very distinct and separate services.
So if the Telstra Wholesale reports are showing no spare ports on the DA we're connected to, where are we routing? Maybe we're on a different RIM? Could it be that by some magic or intervention by a supreme higher being, we have been transposed off the RIM completely? We should be so lucky.
It didn't take too long before we got to test both services. The usual nightly congestion started and we monitored both links.
Well will you look at that. Latency is woeful on both services. only with the Telstra service, we get 12% packet loss as well. Ace.
Request timed out.
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=345ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=424ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=454ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=644ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=537ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=566ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=625ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=363ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=281ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=223ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=205ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=273ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=341ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=301ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=399ms TTL=123
Reply from 61.9.133.193: bytes=32 time=305ms TTL=123
Ping statistics for 61.9.133.193:
Packets: Sent = 103, Received = 90, Lost = 13 (12% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 54ms, Maximum = 644ms, Average = 350ms
Congestion? Check.
Direct Relationship? Check.
Playing the Game.
It's a stalemate. Its fingerpointing all round. It's he said, she said, with a large dose of it's all too hard all rolled up in one tidy package.
Where to from here? The toothless tiger that is the TIO? They'll ping Internode as our ISP. No skin off Telstra's nose (even though the ball lies firmly in Telstra's court for resolution). Telstra Wholesale aren't a member of the TIO. Yippee.
My partner and I ponder our alternatives:
- Keep putting up with a crippled link, with both ourselves and Internode paying full price for a substandard wholesale service (as Telstra themselves admit)
- Do as Telstra suggested and move to wireless broadband (which does not meet our data or latency requirements), and is obscenely (eg $1000 a month) more expensive than our current solution and would require us signing up with Telstra on a 24 month contract. Over. My. Dead. Body.
- Move house.
Without the direct relationship with Telstra, we are in no man's land. No direct relationship so Telstra effectively give us a "talk to the hand" and fob us off back to Internode.
Fair enough then. If that's how you want to play it, we can play that way too.
Where to from here? The toothless tiger that is the TIO? They'll ping Internode as our ISP. No skin off Telstra's nose (even though the ball lies firmly in Telstra's court for resolution). Telstra Wholesale aren't a member of the TIO. Yippee.
My partner and I ponder our alternatives:
- Keep putting up with a crippled link, with both ourselves and Internode paying full price for a substandard wholesale service (as Telstra themselves admit)
- Do as Telstra suggested and move to wireless broadband (which does not meet our data or latency requirements), and is obscenely (eg $1000 a month) more expensive than our current solution and would require us signing up with Telstra on a 24 month contract. Over. My. Dead. Body.
- Move house.
Without the direct relationship with Telstra, we are in no man's land. No direct relationship so Telstra effectively give us a "talk to the hand" and fob us off back to Internode.
Fair enough then. If that's how you want to play it, we can play that way too.
SEP aka Someone Elses Problem.
So after I requested a further escalation point from Telstra, I received the following response:
Did you catch that? You might have missed it. That was Telstra hiding behind the "you don't have a direct relationship with us" fairy. No, we don't. Telstra are correct.
However, the fault lies SOLELY with TELSTRA infrastructure. Internode have NO capacity, opportunity or ability to resolve this issue for us.
I particularly like the "if any part of THEIR service is not satisfactory to you". What complete bollox. Telstra KNOW that the issue is THEIR infrastructure, and NOTHING to do with Internode's portion of the service delivery.
Having said that, I was hoping Internode would have gone into bat for us just a little harder, instead of offering a templated hands in the air response like this:
So, just to summarise: Telstra say "not a bigpond customer, go talk to Internode", Internode say "nothing we can do, it's a Telstra problem".
And everyone pays full price up the food chain for a crippled service that works as intended a fraction of the time.
Wonderful.
I have spoken to several Telstra Departments today. I am sorry, but as you are not a BigPond Member, your ISP must be your escalation point. BigPond is unlikely to have connected you to ADSL on the phone line, due to the restrictions at the RIM. If your current service is not meeting your satisfaction, then I must refer you to your ISP.
Your current ISP must escalate any issues on your behalf. If any part of their service is not satisfactory to you, then you will need to communicate with them. I do understand your frustration and wish you well.
Did you catch that? You might have missed it. That was Telstra hiding behind the "you don't have a direct relationship with us" fairy. No, we don't. Telstra are correct.
However, the fault lies SOLELY with TELSTRA infrastructure. Internode have NO capacity, opportunity or ability to resolve this issue for us.
I particularly like the "if any part of THEIR service is not satisfactory to you". What complete bollox. Telstra KNOW that the issue is THEIR infrastructure, and NOTHING to do with Internode's portion of the service delivery.
Having said that, I was hoping Internode would have gone into bat for us just a little harder, instead of offering a templated hands in the air response like this:
I have looked through your fault tickets and I can see your service is affected by a congestion issue at your exchange. This requires our wholesaler to attend to a maintenance upgrade to there DSLAM at the Exchange.
I understand this is a frustrating time for you but unfortunately, we do not have any control relating to Telstra upgrading their infrastructure. We have had our Provisioning Investigations Team escalate this issue to Telstra, but we have not received and ETA yet for the upgrade.
As stated on our website and in our terms and conditions, Internode ADSL connections are not a service that we can provide an operational guarantee on, beyond the commitments made in our SFoA. We do guarantee that we will promptly investigate all matters brought to our attention and work with you to resolve any issues that we are able to; however, some things are simply outside of our control, such as those that occur within external networks and infrastructure and therefore we do not compensate for these issues.
We do apologise for this inconvenience and please be assured that we will be doing everything within our ability to keep escalating this issue to Telstra Wholesale.
So, just to summarise: Telstra say "not a bigpond customer, go talk to Internode", Internode say "nothing we can do, it's a Telstra problem".
And everyone pays full price up the food chain for a crippled service that works as intended a fraction of the time.
Wonderful.
Silly me.
On 3 October I submitted my whingefest to the Twitter feedback page.
I received a prompt response:
So, there's an admission that there's a problem. Sweet. Not going to ever get Bigpond ADSL provisioned on that link because of it. Check.
Wireless? Not an option.
I replied asking for a further escalation point. I also copied Internode on this correspondence, so they could see that we weren't waiting around for them to go into bat for us with Telstra - we were trying to achieve resolution ourselves as they seemed happy to take our money for what we have now had confirmed, is a deficient service.
I would have thought that Internode would have gone to their wholesale partner and asked for a reduced rate given the service both they (and us) are paying for, but not receiving.
Silly me.
I received a prompt response:
I have run extensive tests on the phone number that you are running ADSL on with another provider. There is no information to suggest that there will be any upgrades made to the capacity of the RIM. All enquiries for non BigPond Members, must be sent by your existing ISP on your behalf.
It is unlikely that BigPond would supply you with an ADSL service on XX XXXX XXXX, due to the inability to provide you an acceptable service because of the issues at the RIM. What this means is that although ADSL works at your address, because of the issues with the RIM, BigPond would not put ADSL on at the address due to the poor service that you would receive. An order could be placed, but it would be highly likely that the mandatory further tests, that are done on all BigPond ADSL orders, would have stopped the order from progressing in to an ADSL service with BigPond.
I would make the strongest recommendation possible that you think about moving to Wireless. I see that you have mentioned that wireless is not acceptable due to latency. However, we do offer antenna's that can be purchased to boost the signal and which should offer you a strong broadband service at faster speeds than you have mentioned that you are receiving via ADSL.
So, there's an admission that there's a problem. Sweet. Not going to ever get Bigpond ADSL provisioned on that link because of it. Check.
Wireless? Not an option.
I replied asking for a further escalation point. I also copied Internode on this correspondence, so they could see that we weren't waiting around for them to go into bat for us with Telstra - we were trying to achieve resolution ourselves as they seemed happy to take our money for what we have now had confirmed, is a deficient service.
I would have thought that Internode would have gone to their wholesale partner and asked for a reduced rate given the service both they (and us) are paying for, but not receiving.
Silly me.
Tweet Tweet.
About this time, I become a little more vocal in my online complaining about the congestion we're experiencing daily now. I play Latency Lotto with my followers on Twitter, where they try and guess our peak latency at a given point. Fellow RIM inhabitants sympathise and we compare notes. Gotta love the interwebz.
@Telstra and @BigpondTeam arrive on the Twitter scene. Hurrah! Another avenue of attack.
I ask for an escalation point for our issue from Telstra - given that we've had it confirmed by Telstra themselves, that it is indeed a congestion issue on Telstra infrastructure. Internode have thrown up their hands and pointed the finger back at Telstra and pretty much said nothing we can do - can't force them to upgrade capacity. Weaksauce.
And this is where I will give credit where credit is due - I have had more assistance and action from the @Telstra and @BigpondTeam Twitter guys than I have from Internode in the last 6 months and Telstra in the last 6 years.
But I digress.
@Telstra ask me to provide details of the issue via their Twitter feedback page.
I pretty much tell them the dealio since January 18 as you've read it here (albeit a little more professionally).
And this is where the story gets very interesting indeed.
@Telstra and @BigpondTeam arrive on the Twitter scene. Hurrah! Another avenue of attack.
I ask for an escalation point for our issue from Telstra - given that we've had it confirmed by Telstra themselves, that it is indeed a congestion issue on Telstra infrastructure. Internode have thrown up their hands and pointed the finger back at Telstra and pretty much said nothing we can do - can't force them to upgrade capacity. Weaksauce.
And this is where I will give credit where credit is due - I have had more assistance and action from the @Telstra and @BigpondTeam Twitter guys than I have from Internode in the last 6 months and Telstra in the last 6 years.
But I digress.
@Telstra ask me to provide details of the issue via their Twitter feedback page.
I pretty much tell them the dealio since January 18 as you've read it here (albeit a little more professionally).
And this is where the story gets very interesting indeed.
Rinse and repeat.
By the 18th January 2009, we'd had enough. As our ISP, Internode were our first port of call.
We logged a call and Internode agreed to investigate and subsequently escalated the issue to Telstra Wholesale. We suspected congestion as the link was ridiculously slow at night, on the weekends and on school holidays. We submitted data to substantiate our findings.
By sheer chance, when the Telstra tech came out to test the link at the house, my partner was home. He spoke at length with the tech and explained all the tests we'd done ourselves and what we suspecting the problem was. The tech then toddled off back to the exchange. He rang my partner later that day and confirmed that our suspicions were in fact correct. It was congestion.
Fantastic! It was an identifiable problem that could be resolved!
Hurrah! Hur.. wah?
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
Ok, fair enough. We know they're busy making their billions of dollars worth of profit a year. Can't be expected to fix deficient services straight away.
So we wait. We contact Internode regularly (monthly) to ask for an update.
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
The Internode support ticket remains open.
Latency gets worse. Much worse. School holidays are a write-off. Easter we gave up trying to do anything. We told people if they wanted us to ring our mobiles as VOIP was unusable.
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
September school holidays? Unusable. Weekends? Unusable.
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
We logged a call and Internode agreed to investigate and subsequently escalated the issue to Telstra Wholesale. We suspected congestion as the link was ridiculously slow at night, on the weekends and on school holidays. We submitted data to substantiate our findings.
By sheer chance, when the Telstra tech came out to test the link at the house, my partner was home. He spoke at length with the tech and explained all the tests we'd done ourselves and what we suspecting the problem was. The tech then toddled off back to the exchange. He rang my partner later that day and confirmed that our suspicions were in fact correct. It was congestion.
Fantastic! It was an identifiable problem that could be resolved!
Hurrah! Hur.. wah?
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
Ok, fair enough. We know they're busy making their billions of dollars worth of profit a year. Can't be expected to fix deficient services straight away.
So we wait. We contact Internode regularly (monthly) to ask for an update.
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
The Internode support ticket remains open.
Latency gets worse. Much worse. School holidays are a write-off. Easter we gave up trying to do anything. We told people if they wanted us to ring our mobiles as VOIP was unusable.
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
September school holidays? Unusable. Weekends? Unusable.
"Telstra have no ETA for resolution."
Merry Bloody Christmas.
We sucked up the 3mb cap. We still had ADSL right? It's still broadband, right?
Over the ensuing couple of years, we noticed the odd bit of flaky behaviour, but we still had ADSL right? We paid for our Internode "up to 8mb" service, and sucked up the fact that the RIM was capped at 3mb.
Last year, in an effort to extract ourselves a little further from Telstra's monopolistic clutch, we decommissioned our home phone line and opted for a VOIP solution with Internode. Woot, cheap calls! Three teenagers in the house can talk the leg off a donkey, VOIP was an awesome service.
Life is good. There is occasional connectivity flakiness, but nothing too bad. VOIP works, lots of donkeys sans legs around the place, but things are pretty peachy.
Timeline: November 2008. More flakiness starts appearing on the link. Sometimes the link is sloowwwwww. Like, painfully slow. Phone calls get choppy. Teenagers complain.
Christmas is a write-off. The link is butchered a lot of the time and is intermittently unusable.
Happy Frigging New Year.
Over the ensuing couple of years, we noticed the odd bit of flaky behaviour, but we still had ADSL right? We paid for our Internode "up to 8mb" service, and sucked up the fact that the RIM was capped at 3mb.
Last year, in an effort to extract ourselves a little further from Telstra's monopolistic clutch, we decommissioned our home phone line and opted for a VOIP solution with Internode. Woot, cheap calls! Three teenagers in the house can talk the leg off a donkey, VOIP was an awesome service.
Life is good. There is occasional connectivity flakiness, but nothing too bad. VOIP works, lots of donkeys sans legs around the place, but things are pretty peachy.
Timeline: November 2008. More flakiness starts appearing on the link. Sometimes the link is sloowwwwww. Like, painfully slow. Phone calls get choppy. Teenagers complain.
Christmas is a write-off. The link is butchered a lot of the time and is intermittently unusable.
Happy Frigging New Year.
Life is good. Or maybe not.
So finally, after 3 years of fighting and pleading and daydreaming about committing all manner of evil deeds against Telstra, we had ADSL. Glorious, fast, 1500/256 ADSL. It was only ADSL1, but hey, it was ADSL.
We decommissioned the 128K ISDN link and waved a fond farewell to the one-way satellite service (the dish still sits on our roof, gathering cobwebs, as a solemn reminder of those dark days).
At some point further down the track, Telstra upped ADSL capacity to 8mb. We jumped on the upgrade and bumped our Internode plan to 8mb/384. We were doing Mach 5 on the information superhighway!
For a year or so, things are great. Internode rocked our socks as a provider, the link was stable and fast. 8mb all the way baby, yeah!
But wait, what's this? Now we're getting 3mb throughput? Where did the glorious 8mb that we're paying for get to?
Investigations were made, questions were asked and it was confirmed that Telstra had capped the RIM at 3mb. Fan-freaking-tastic.
We decommissioned the 128K ISDN link and waved a fond farewell to the one-way satellite service (the dish still sits on our roof, gathering cobwebs, as a solemn reminder of those dark days).
At some point further down the track, Telstra upped ADSL capacity to 8mb. We jumped on the upgrade and bumped our Internode plan to 8mb/384. We were doing Mach 5 on the information superhighway!
For a year or so, things are great. Internode rocked our socks as a provider, the link was stable and fast. 8mb all the way baby, yeah!
But wait, what's this? Now we're getting 3mb throughput? Where did the glorious 8mb that we're paying for get to?
Investigations were made, questions were asked and it was confirmed that Telstra had capped the RIM at 3mb. Fan-freaking-tastic.
Watchdog to the rescue.
It should be noted at this point that Telstra had told us that for there to be ANY possibility of the RIM being upgraded, we would need 30 expressions of interest from residents in the estate for them to even consider an upgrade. We printed flyers and delivered them to mailboxes, we put notices up in the local area.
So, I came home from the doctor that day and started writing a letter to Watchdog detailing the painful mess to this point.
We were contacted by Dan Warne and he was very sympathetic to our cause. He spoke to me at length and then to my partner about the more technical aspects of our journey so far.
Our letter appeared in the APC Magazine in November 2004 and Telstra were asked for a "please explain".
On 10 December 2004, a sync light appeared on our modem.
So, I came home from the doctor that day and started writing a letter to Watchdog detailing the painful mess to this point.
We were contacted by Dan Warne and he was very sympathetic to our cause. He spoke to me at length and then to my partner about the more technical aspects of our journey so far.
Our letter appeared in the APC Magazine in November 2004 and Telstra were asked for a "please explain".
On 10 December 2004, a sync light appeared on our modem.
A little history to bring you up to speed.
In 2002, we moved into a new house in a new estate in outer south eastern Melbourne. We had checked prior to moving in that we could get ADSL. We dutifuly put our address into the "Can I get broadband?" website and were pleased to find that yes, we could.
We move in and applied for ADSL. And there started a long, painful and incredibly frustrating journey that continues today.
As it turns out, the "Can I get broadband?" website fails to take into consideration any type of technology blocker to getting ADSL (eg pair gain, RIMs etc). So yes, the Berwick exchange was ADSL-enabled - the RIM we were stuck behind, was not.
So we went from uncapped cable in our old house, to dialup. For people that worked in IT and had a requirement for remote connectivity, we were not happy.
To cut a long story short, the next 2 years saw us fight to have the RIM enabled. While trying to get ADSL into the estate, we were forced to use a one-way satellite service, and later 128K ISDN in order to get the connectivity we required. I had a legacy Telstra direct service that I'd had since 1997 which we used for the satellite uplink.
The Satellite connection had a 3gb per month limit and excess traffic was charged at 25c/mb. Interestingly, while classed as "broadband", this satellite service was excluded from all the 'free sites' that other broadband services enjoyed. Thanks Telstra!
We struggled with one-way sat for a couple of years before we bit the bullet and had 128K Onramp service provisioned. I think it was called Home Highway or something.
At this point we were paying close to $650 a month for "decent" connectivity.
During this time, we had been constantly ringing Telstra and registering our "expression of interest for ADSL" on the ADSL register. Every month we would add our name to the register, and every month would check how many expressions of interest were on the register, only to be told "none". We would go through the process again, add our name to the register again (which would "fall off" the register every month), and rinse and repeat.
We continued applying for ADSL with Internode and the answer was always the same: "no alternative path found". In approximately August 2004, success! (albeit short-lived). Our application was now sitting at "provisioned". Children danced in the street, crowds rejoiced, baby birds twittered. Oh.. what's that? It's Clayton's provisioned? Where "provisioned" means Telstra in their infinite wisdom, transferred us to another RIM... with no spare ports. Great.
So we've gone from first in the queue on a RIM that may be upgraded, to last in the queue on a RIM that is already at capacity. Hurrah! Numerous phone calls to Telstra regarding the transposition and requests for even the tiniest bit of information was met with silence.
One day I was sitting in the local doctor's surgery reading a copy of APC magazine. And I came across the watchdog section. It was a lightbulb moment.
We move in and applied for ADSL. And there started a long, painful and incredibly frustrating journey that continues today.
As it turns out, the "Can I get broadband?" website fails to take into consideration any type of technology blocker to getting ADSL (eg pair gain, RIMs etc). So yes, the Berwick exchange was ADSL-enabled - the RIM we were stuck behind, was not.
So we went from uncapped cable in our old house, to dialup. For people that worked in IT and had a requirement for remote connectivity, we were not happy.
To cut a long story short, the next 2 years saw us fight to have the RIM enabled. While trying to get ADSL into the estate, we were forced to use a one-way satellite service, and later 128K ISDN in order to get the connectivity we required. I had a legacy Telstra direct service that I'd had since 1997 which we used for the satellite uplink.
The Satellite connection had a 3gb per month limit and excess traffic was charged at 25c/mb. Interestingly, while classed as "broadband", this satellite service was excluded from all the 'free sites' that other broadband services enjoyed. Thanks Telstra!
We struggled with one-way sat for a couple of years before we bit the bullet and had 128K Onramp service provisioned. I think it was called Home Highway or something.
At this point we were paying close to $650 a month for "decent" connectivity.
During this time, we had been constantly ringing Telstra and registering our "expression of interest for ADSL" on the ADSL register. Every month we would add our name to the register, and every month would check how many expressions of interest were on the register, only to be told "none". We would go through the process again, add our name to the register again (which would "fall off" the register every month), and rinse and repeat.
We continued applying for ADSL with Internode and the answer was always the same: "no alternative path found". In approximately August 2004, success! (albeit short-lived). Our application was now sitting at "provisioned". Children danced in the street, crowds rejoiced, baby birds twittered. Oh.. what's that? It's Clayton's provisioned? Where "provisioned" means Telstra in their infinite wisdom, transferred us to another RIM... with no spare ports. Great.
So we've gone from first in the queue on a RIM that may be upgraded, to last in the queue on a RIM that is already at capacity. Hurrah! Numerous phone calls to Telstra regarding the transposition and requests for even the tiniest bit of information was met with silence.
One day I was sitting in the local doctor's surgery reading a copy of APC magazine. And I came across the watchdog section. It was a lightbulb moment.
Welcome to hell.
Hi and Welcome to the chronicles of one family's dealings with the monopolistic behemoth that is Telstra.
Enjoy.
Enjoy.
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