Check for network outages via postcode
Filed under: community, natural disaster, network outages, technology
Telstra has a proud history of responding to natural disasters wherever they occur and I am so proud of the work my teams did, day and night, to restore service to Queenslanders following the Brisbane Floods and Cyclone Yasi. I am also proud of the work our call centre teams did to communicate with customers about what was going on.
With responsibility for Telstra’s response to the Brisbane Floods and Cyclone Yasi, I saw firsthand how important it is for our customers, and their family and friends, to have timely information when one or more of their services are affected.
Every day, I was interviewed by various media outlets on the impacts and restoration activities on our network and I made sure I had as much information available as possible to tell our customers.
However, I wanted to increase the channels through which we communicate to empower customers by allowing them to check easily on outages and restoration activity.
That’s why I am thrilled to launch Telstra’s new ‘Network Outages’ website which will improve the flow of information to customers on outages and restoration activities.
This website will also allow customers to check on the network in non-disaster times if their landline, mobile or broadband service is not working. Information about any network outages will be displayed by postcode.
During a disaster, we will display the suburb or town name of every affected area and list impacts to the various services. A map will also be displayed so customers can see where the network is affected.
I have seen great innovation and improvements in customer service as a result of staff experiences during major outages or natural disasters. For instance, from the Black Saturday Bushfires of 2009, Telstra developed the Mobile Exchange on Wheels (MEOW) that allowed us to quickly restore damaged exchanges or mobile towers during in the absence of standard operating equipment. These were used to great effect in Queensland and kept communities connected.
I’m sure this new site will provide similar aid to those looking for information in their time of need and I look forward to hearing what you think of it.
Visit the new Telstra ‘Network Outages’ website here
I think this is a great and much needed step forward. Only thing needed now is a location-aware iPhone and Android web app to display the same information.
NextG does seem to be having congestion issues, these do not seem to be included.
I think i’m experiencing network congestion issues. Twice this week my iPhone has gone 2G. I worry with congestion now, what the state of the UMTS 850 (Next G) will be like once Telstra close their 2G network. But i guess that won’t happen until UMTS 850 covers every single location 2G does
Hi Jon. Thanks for your feedback and I’m glad you like it. Thanks for the great idea for an app, I’ll pass this on to our development team for consideration.
Perth CBD has atrocious congestion. Can’t even open Telstra WAP page. When I force phone to 2G I get a lot better speed. Something has to be done. I hate to say it but Optus has better speed.
Why has the exchange at Bawley Point NSW be out for so long???? What a disgrace.
Julie Greening
The Network Outages web page doesn’t appear to match reality. The Brighton exchange in Melbourne has been having major issues for over a week yet there is no listing of the problem.
Major outage in my area not publicised on this site, what wonderful service!
There’s been a 2G outage affecting Tamworth for almost 10 hours now and it’s still not on the Network Outages website. It is therefore a waste of time.
Hi Mark, This should be up to date. Thanks for making me aware. I have now passed on your feedback and asked to understand why this might have happened so I can share it with you. Brendan
Hi Mark, there was a failure with the transmission to our Bald Hill and Daves Hill base stations this morning. This was reported on our network outages site under Bald Hill’s postcode 2549. The failure has now been repaired and we apologise to you, and anyone who was inconvenienced by this issue, and encourage you to let us know if you are still experiencing a problem with our 2G network.
Brendan, thanks for the response. My reason for posting here today is that these recent outages affect our businesses service to our clients and info on the reasons for the outage is handy, but even more critical to us during an outage is an ETR which we never seem to be able to get via our current sources. I’d really like to speak with you if that’s possible, to discuss this further. Are you able to email me a number to call you on, or can I PM my number to you?
Bump… would be nice to get a reply to this.
Are there any issues in the whitelsea area in Victoria
Benowa Gold Coast has been out with Telstra cable bigpond and foxtel since Thursday 20/09/12 was to be back on Friday 21/09/12 at 1900 then was advised it would be on Monday 24/09/12 at 1900 , now 1800 Monday we are told it will be out until tomorrow Tuesday 25/09/12 until 1900. Telstra stink at communication (they have none) and are should pay for all the business my Husband has lost due to no internet, I have an OPTUS internet computer now, at least it works!
Telstra seems to be a lot like Queensland weather REALLY is, beautiful one day, shocking the next. But mostly just shocking.
Outage postcode 2088 on Telstra 3 g since 9 am this morning. The outage not listed on your hopelessly out of date outage service. Please fix up
Hi Simon. I’ve passed on your feedback.
This is not a step forward. Telstra’s old Service Status page was better as you could see all current issues at a glance. This one does not even list problems that “are” in effect in our area – we have to search neighbouring suburbs, an hour’s drive away.
As usual, it’s Telstra’s way of hiding problems they are having.
hi ,
im in Toowoomba and im pretty sure were having a outage nothing loads it slow i rang telstra who say nothings wrong lol right
Hi Karen, the best place to check is on our System Status page. If there are no problems for your postcode, our customer service team can look into it further. You can start a live web chat with them here.
pity it aint working today!
I have been without adsl broadband internet for 24days now with no signs of it being repaired anytime soon. I need my internet for studying online courses and my website designing. They are blaming it on the floods yet my area was not affected (Albany Creek QLD) and yet my next door neighbor has the exact same adsl broadband plan as me and yet has internet. Would this be considered as a breach in Telstra’s contract, allowing me to disconnect my connection and end my contract with no cancelation fee’s so I can go with a more reliable ISP. Queries, Questions and Answers please.
Hi Luke,
My apologies – this is unacceptable. Can I grab some details off you from this webform http://www.telstra.com/24x7help so we can get one of our customer service operative to get in contact with you ASAP?
We have been without broadband for 5 days. Every time we call we get a different story. Most commonly that maintenance is being done on our exchange and our whole suburb is out. Of course, our phone works fine, and our neighbours who are not with Telstra have service. I have also been assured by tech support (in Manilla???) that maintenance workers are working around the clock. Today when I was called I was advised to go out and purchase a Telstra mobile broadband stick….and Telstra would reimburse me. However, I have already paid for my home connection – which I don’t have – and am not prepared to give Telstra more money and hope they pay me back. This never happened with Westnet, thank goodness I at least kept my email address with them…. oh and no contact from Telstra to explain or apologize….
Hi Fiona,
This situation does sound extremely frustrating. If you have not been able to find an issue on the service status website, I recommend you contact our customer service team who can investigate further.
You can get them on live chat here: http://tinyurl.com/24×7-service
-Az
…oh and by the way…nothing on the service status page that I can find for a problem in our area 6108
Telstra is doing all it can to rectify any connection problems you might be experiencing at the moment, hold on and the problem will be solved, have faith, God only took six days to create everything we could possibly imagine and on the seventh he rested !!!. (Patience is a virtue)
LOL jj…… well there’s never any problem getting through to God…his lines are never down.
The problem was finally rectified a week later when repeated calls to tech support resulted in a service guy replacing the port at the local rim.
Still I did get to the point of where I had to mention those those two magic words…. breaking contract
<>
Actually JJ it all started with a big bang.
I have had no Internet since march 30. My ISP tells me it’s a Telstra fault and not their service however according to your network outages page there are no issues in my area? How does that work? My modem and the cabling to my home have all been checked but there is no adsl on the telstra line, this is immensely annoying. And very inconvenient.
Hi Wendy,
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been without internet for so long. That is mighty inconvenient.
I’d recommend you give us a call on 13 22 00 and say ‘faults’ – we can check your area and let you know whether there is infact an issue and what can be done about it.
Az
Hi
Since tuesday i have had no 4g coverage and i have for the past year as i live 5 kms from brisbane city. My sierra wireless picks up 4 bars of 4g but when i connect a message appears that says connect 4g usb. I am very frustrated as i have no explanations from telstra service techs when icall. Apparantely there are no outages in my area. But yet i can get 4g at my other halfs who lives further from the city. Any help would be appreciated as i am threatening to end my service with telstra.
Hi Nicolina,
Please get in touch with our Live Chat team and I am sure they will be able to assist you in getting to the bottom of what is going on!
Az
i finally find out after the fourth phone call to bigpond tech support that there is upgrades in the area and they will be notifying me by text when it is done. So fingers crossed.