New glitch for Telstra mobile network hits prepaid phones

TELSTRA has refused to give customers another free-data day after the latest network meltdown left many mobile customers cut off.

Telstra phones Tasmin Blarchford (Kelvin Grove) texting in Queen St Mall

TELSTRA has rejected calls from frustrated consumers for another free-data day after the latest network meltdown left many mobile customers cut off just a few weeks after the carrier’s massive national shutdown.

Telstra said today’s network shutdown probably affected about 490,000 customers.

A spokesman said it was difficult to count the exact number but the estimate was based on the number of people normally using the network at that time.

“Due to the smaller impact of the outage we will not be providing a free data day,” he said.

Angry customers took to social media to complain about Telstra after the network failure left prepaid mobile users and Boost mobile users without voice and data services for several hours.

Many of the complaints highlighted the lack of information on the Telstra service status about the network outage, and complained that the latest problem was so close on the heels of the previous embarrassing failure.

Two weeks ago the Telstra network was put to the test with its biggest day ever when it offered a free-data Sunday to appease customers who were cut off for several hours after a problem that Telstra head Kate McKenzie blamed on an employee failing to follow correct procedures.

That outage affected up to 16.7 million services on Telstra’s 3G and 4G networks.

The latest network failure did not affect as many people, although that was little consolation to those who found their Telstra mobiles were again “bricked” by a crashed network.

The Telstra Twitter account again bore the brunt of complaints, with many customers complaining of business lost during the latest outage and the inconvenience of being without communications, especially for Telstra customers with serious health conditions.

@Telstra - prepaid service down. No calls out? Lucky I don't have an emergency! Twice in a month - looking forward to more free internet

— Annika Bradley (@SMSF_woman) March 1, 2016

@Telstra prepaid problems this morning AND!!! Unavailable
Service Status is currently unavailable, please try again later. Very poor comms

— Keith Wallace (@wallacekeith) March 1, 2016

@Telstra Yet again Telstra have let there customers down AGAIN!! Time to move providers I think #useless #whatsgoingon #TelstraThanks

— lewis cambridge (@lewis_cambridge) March 1, 2016

@Telstra how long am I not going to be able to make calls for this time?

— Sara (@sara771987) March 1, 2016

Several frustrated Telstra customers on Twitter threatened to change carriers after the latest failure while some suggested Telstra needed to hire more technicians to ensure network reliability.

A Telstra spokesman said compensation for the latest network failure would be considered on “a case-by-case basis, as always”.

@Telstra Now I can't make calls. It's getting worse. I think I'm going to change telcos.

— Nakkiah Lui (@nakkiahlui) March 1, 2016

@Telstra more than an inconvenience! Its downright disgusting! Its the second time in a matter of weeks. So much for the best in Australia!

— doelioness (@doe_lioness) March 1, 2016

The spokesman said Telstra technicians were still investigating the cause of the network failure but ruled out any connection to the problems that cause the recent high-profile national shutdown.

The spokesman said after the problem was identified, data was restored within a few hours and then most voice services another hour after that.

However many customers continued to be frustrated throughout the day with a problem with the Telstra app not showing their data usage.

Another issue that continued throughout the day for some customers was that they could not make international calls.

The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network says customers affected by network outages could be entitled to compensation from Telstra.

Originally published as New glitch for Telstra mobile network hits prepaid phones