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Giving assistance to Townsville and our flood-affected customers

By Rachel Cliffe February 5, 2019

Major flooding in the Townsville region of Queensland has threatened thousands of homes and forced the evacuation of over 1,100 residents, with a record amount of rain falling in the area. We’re committed to helping our customers through this difficult period.

We’ve put together an assistance package to help our customers in the region, giving customers access to free and interim services during the recovery period as we understand how important it is to connect and reach out to friends and family during these situations.

We want to make things easier for anyone in a flood-affected location, so we’re opening up free use of Telstra public payphones, as well as free use of Telstra Air Wi-Fi hotspots in the area.

Telstra residential and small business customers can also access an assistance package designed to help manage both short- and long-term impacts of this strong weather.

If you’ve had to evacuate your home or if you’ve lost your home, call us on 132 203 (then enter your full home phone number including area code when prompted) to report a fault. From there you can register for assistance.

Telstra relief packages can include the following:

Short term measures for Telstra customers who have a short term impact – temporary evacuation of premises or temporary fault:● Free use of Telstra public payphones in the affected area

● Free use of Telstra Air payphone hotspots in the affected area

● Free call diversion from an affected fixed home or business phone service to another fixed or mobile service of the customer’s choice, regardless of the carrier

● Customers who use the free call diversion to divert their affected fixed home or business phone to their Telstra mobile service, can also make local and STD® calls on their mobile at fixed line rates, in accordance with their selected plan (limited to one designated Telstra mobile per affected household or business).

The above offers are applicable until network damage in the area due to floods is repaired, or while customers remain evacuated, for a maximum period of three months from the date of the floods.

Affected Telstra mobile customers who do not have a Telstra home phone can receive a one-off credit to the value of $100 inc. GST (limited to one mobile phone per Telstra mobile account).

Long term measures for Telstra customers who have suffered severe damage to or loss of their premises:

Fixed services

● Cancellation of a Telstra fixed phone service at the affected address, with number reservation for up to 12 months from the date of the floods.

● Free call diversion from the customer’s Telstra fixed phone service to another Australian fixed or mobile service of their choice, regardless of the carrier. This offer is applicable for a maximum period of 6 months from the date of the floods.

● Customers who use the free call diversion service to divert their affected Telstra fixed phone service to their Telstra mobile service, can also make local and STD® calls from that mobile service at fixed line rates, in accordance with their selected plan (limited to one designated Telstra mobile diversion per affected Telstra fixed phone account).

● In addition, Telstra will apply a one off credit to the value of $500 inc. GST to the customer’s Telstra fixed phone account to help cover the costs of the following, if required:

● Connection of a Telstra fixed phone service at one temporary residence.

● Re-connection of a Telstra fixed phone service at the customer’s original permanent premises.

Broadband services

For Telstra residential and small business customers who do not wish to retain their broadband service at an affected address:

● Disconnection of the affected broadband service without the requirement to pay any applicable early termination charges or fees, as well as an email address reservation for up to 12 months from the date of the flood.

● Connection of a broadband service at an alternate residential or business address without any connection charges within a 12 month period beginning from the date of the floods.

For Telstra residential and small business customers who wish to retain their broadband service at a temporary alternate address, Telstra will apply a one off credit to the value of $110 inc. GST to the customer’s account to help cover the costs of the following:

● Move of a broadband service to a temporary alternate address.

● Move of a broadband service back to the customer’s original address.

● For existing Telstra Mobile Broadband residential and small business customers – free replacement of the modem or USB device if required.

Tags: disaster assistance

By Rachel Cliffe

Area General Manager for North Queensland - Telstra Country Wide

Rachel joined Telstra in 1994 and is the most senior Telstra representative in an area she knows intimately. Rachel was born in Townsville and is a North Queenslander through and through. She was in the thick of things during and in the aftermath of Cyclone Yasi earlier this year, professionally as part of the Telstra team restoring telecommunications services, and was also personally impacted. In her spare time she juggles family commitments and enjoys cheering on the NQ Cowboys at home games and spending time with her friends and family.