Phoneline/internet out after storm - Telecom being less than helpful

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Phoneline/internet out after storm - Telecom being less than helpful

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#841839 23-Jun-2013 08:21

I've seen the most service outages coming through via email in the last 3 days that I have ever seen while working at Telecom. It would be upwards of 30+ alerts impacting cell sites and PSTN exchanges or backhaul. I find it helps to be kind and considerate when talking with CSRs as they do have some discretion on what can be offered when your service is impacted. You also have to consider the call center has taken a battering over the last few days and some CSRs who have worked there longer may know a few tricks that aren't strictly to the rules and can offer you something that isn't traditionally within the script.

I was also at a colleagues 50th birthday party last night, out of my team of 9 developers 3 have lost power. One of them got it back Friday morning, one got it back 3pm on Friday and the last one was still waiting for it to come back on when I saw them last night. Two of them went into the office on Friday since they had no heating in the house and wanted to have warm showers and stay warm. So I take some complaints about your broadband being unavailable with a grain of salt.

I am sure Chorus (who aren't part of Telecom anymore) are working as hard as they can to get service back up. But I suspect it will be well into mid week before everyone is back up in the best case.

RunningMan

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#841841 23-Jun-2013 08:25

StevieT:
johnr: Further to this they don't want to put more load onto the mobile network so you can watch Youtube and browse trademe and post status updates on FaceBook

That comment came across as rude. No need to make assumptions about how said user would use mobile data.

I suspect that it was based on the OP indicating that a free amount of about 1GB / day would be reasonable. You'd only use about 10% of that just for basic keeping in touch with relatives etc. during the outage, so it was inferred that the additional usage may be for less essential use, such as entertainment.

johnr

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#841842 23-Jun-2013 08:37

StevieT:
johnr: Further to this they don't want to put more load onto the mobile network so you can watch Youtube and browse trademe and post status updates on FaceBook

That comment came across as rude. No need to make assumptions about how said user would use mobile data.

Did tumnasgt mention they need it for business reasons? They can't be that hard up for data if they are posting on GZ

Shock

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#841858 23-Jun-2013 09:21

Hey Peter one thing mate. All these outages yet there is nothing on the telecom page indicating it. All the statuses are green yet we know that's not the case. With a slammed call centre probably a good idea to get that fixed so we don't have to ring to check status.

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plambrechtsen

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#841874 23-Jun-2013 09:55

Shock: Hey Peter one thing mate. All these outages yet there is nothing on the telecom page indicating it. All the statuses are green yet we know that's not the case. With a slammed call centre probably a good idea to get that fixed so we don't have to ring to check status.

Completely agree with you here Ben. :) I have raised it a few times. I was assured that the ivr has been updated so if you call from your homeline it should indicate there is an outage in your area.

But will chase that up again about having accurate info on the status page. "It's complicated"

openmedia

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#841883 23-Jun-2013 10:20

1080p: Would you expect your energy supplier to run you an extension lead from the sub station if a storm took down your power lines?

Yes

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

StevieT

702 posts

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#841893 23-Jun-2013 10:46

johnr:
StevieT:
johnr: Further to this they don't want to put more load onto the mobile network so you can watch Youtube and browse trademe and post status updates on FaceBook

That comment came across as rude. No need to make assumptions about how said user would use mobile data.

Did tumnasgt mention they need it for business reasons? They can't be that hard up for data if they are posting on GZ

More assumptions. Keep them coming.

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mercutio

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#841906 23-Jun-2013 11:35

quickymart: Not quite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Auckland_power_crisis

(quoting from that page)
The old gas cables were found to be repairable and were put back into service, but were restricted to 30 MVA capacity. The newer oil cables were irreparable, so to restore full supply to the city, a temporary 110 kV overhead line was constructed along the rail corridor between Penrose and Liverpool Street.

nate

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#841914 23-Jun-2013 12:16

This will come across as harsh, but I don't think Telecom should do anything.

Firstly, 1GB/day is a huge amount on mobile. Can you not use the internet at a friend's or relatives?

Remember home ADSL is a best effort service. Unless you have a SLA (Service Level Agreement) with them (expect to pay extra for this) Telecom are working their quickest to get your internet back.

Annoying as hell, but such is life I'm afraid. Blame the weather gods :)

mattwnz

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#841917 23-Jun-2013 12:40

I don't know why ISP s bother to have status pages as most ISP s I have used don't keep them up to date

jeffnz

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#841923 23-Jun-2013 12:55

I just find some peoples expectations are set very high, maybe its a generational thingy but I generally accept that when things go wrong they will endeavor to sort it as quickly as they can as it is to their benefit to do this. Too often you see the moans and groans of people that think they are being singled out for bad treatment, in some cases they are but the majority is usually high expectations combined with a lot of misinformation.

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Zeon

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#841927 23-Jun-2013 13:04

We pay 1k a month for an internet connection with an 8 hour SLA (that is if there is a break and its not fixed within 8 hours we get financial redress). We have another connection on a separate medium as a contingency also.

If you want to pay for it, its available. They cannot give you massive amounts of mobile data as that will overload the mobile data systems in your area and then you will probably call and complain about that. Just accept there was a massive storm, lots of Wellington's infrastructure is overhead and there's finite resources to fix it.

Why not go help your community clean up rather than going online?

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jeffnz

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#841929 23-Jun-2013 13:09

well said XZeon, I was just sittinfg here musing over the situation and when you look at what happened in the storm I think the Op should think about their situation and how lucky they are instead of complaining about no internet, drive the 25km's to varsity if need be I think your plight isn't that urgent considering

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quickymart

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#842000 23-Jun-2013 17:08

tumnasgt: tl;dr: Phone/internet out for 2 days so far, won't be back till Thursday. Telecom are offering nothing more than a number diversion, is that fair?

Yes. Yes it is. How much do you pay for your monthly connection again?

michaelmurfy

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#842012 23-Jun-2013 18:14

I'm a Telecom employee - and my broadband has been in and out since the storm, spending more time being out. I don't get any special treatment and have to wait in line like everyone else around Wellington to get a Chorus Tech out to the cabinet to get it fixed, in fact up to this morning it was running on generator power (Island Bay)

I'm just patient, and think I have no SLA on my broadband, I have Mobile Broadband for when I really need it, internet to most home users is not an essential service, it's a luxury, humans can survive without it, this weekend has been my most productive weekend in ages - cleaned the house, washed the car, fixed 2 light fixtures outside that never worked and not once have I complained about my lack of broadband this weekend.

Find something better to complain about, there's a chap around the corner from me with no roof - I went around there Friday Morning to make sure he was alight and bought him around some coffee, he was very thankful, I spent half the day sweeping the street and his driveway and took out a chainsaw to trim a tree that was taking up half the road.. Plenty to do around here than complain.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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