Do you think the Telecom XT brand is damaged, and if so what can Telecom do?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Do you think the Telecom XT brand is damaged, and if so what can Telecom do?

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#301214 22-Feb-2010 20:59

robbyp: The good thing about these outages, is that in the long run, they will end up with an even better system. Probably doesn't help their broadband plans with getting the NZ governments contract.

I hear on the radio, that Vodafone have also got problems, with people not receiving txts, so it isn't just telecom who have got problems tonight. However the NZ media do have a field day bashing telecom. A bit of the tall poppy syndrome, as we don't like people being successful, and love to rip them down.

Can't say it'll be better, except better than it is. It will just be what it was promised to be.

And whether VF have problems or not, it's not a tall poppy thing with the media... it's simply taking the easy option and twisting the knife.....

johnr

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#301219 22-Feb-2010 21:06

vodafone NZ have no sms issues this evening this week this month in fact nothing this year. no RNC failures no BSC failures no mmsc issues and any other core element on its network. the odd cell outage

cyril7

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#301220 22-Feb-2010 21:07

Yep, Telecom have taken a hit on the popularity stakes, but I guess there is no doubt that Alcatel Lucent are the real ones with egg on their face, its their gear, their support, their problem to sort at the end of the day.

Guess the question is, how many other 3G networks of this level have Alcatel implemented worldwide?, how many failures at this kind of level have Nokia, or Erricson had to deal with?

Cyril

raytaylor

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#301221 22-Feb-2010 21:07

So im told $10 txt is ending soon for the CDMA network, and its the only reason I have a telecom phone, so I can send txt messages to other telecom users.

But with all these outages, I dont want to change to XT. I talk alot to my clients using txt messages and although reliability isnt all that important to me, these outages are making me want to switch to vodafone when I am forced off the CDMA network.

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Behodar

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#301240 22-Feb-2010 21:41

$10 text has been extended until further notice.

GJB21

55 posts

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#301247 22-Feb-2010 22:00

The eXiT brand is stuffed - and the wider Telecom brand is close behind now.
We knew it would end in tears when under the previous leadership the internal phone list for the PR and legal departments outgrew that for the core technical teams and so much of the institutional knowledge that was Telecom's differentiator was pushed out the door.
Marketing and pricing may win back a few low-value customers with short memories and low reliance but the only way to win the target market, high ARPU, high reliance customers is to build a quality product. To do that they need some solid engineering leadership internally and a partner they can trust who isn't a smoke-and-mirrors clone of themselves. They are clearly unable to manage Alcatel-Lucent's delivery (or should that be non-delivery) of service now. One outage is bad luck, two shows a lack of responsiveness and learning, three is just unacceptable. Three strikes guys!
I feel a bit sorry for the people carrying the can at Telecom - most of them weren't there when the big technology and partner choices were made - and many of those who were are no longer in the telecommunications industry - I wonder why?

paul151

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#301262 22-Feb-2010 22:25

Tonight as I type this I do wonder how it could have gone so bad for Telecom so quickly.

In tech circles it's unthinkable to have so many significant outages in such quick succession.

Yes the brand is seriously damaged but it's not beyond repair.

The CEO should have a sleepless night tonight perhaps he'll follow the actions of the NZ Acatel CEO in the days to come?

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Linuxluver

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#301266 22-Feb-2010 22:33

Tech breaks. This network will be fixed and then memories of breakage will fade.

The sooner the network is fixed, the better. What did they do? Under-spec it?

The technology is fundamentally sound. So what did they do in the design that renders it vulnerable?

Lack of diversity / redundancy would appear to be a key factor. Who made that call? How much money did they *really* save?

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preeve

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#301270 22-Feb-2010 22:37

Damaged with a capital D.
So pleased I was not an early adopter and am still on CDMA (although I do crave an iphone).
Not ready to switch to Vodafone as (working with those on it) know that coverage is dodgy in some areas especially where I work (Newlands/Johnsonville Wellington).
Will stick with Telecom as CDMA is very reliable but will wait for assurances and proof XT is stable before "upgrading".

robbyp

1199 posts

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#301273 22-Feb-2010 22:45

Linuxluver: Tech breaks. This network will be fixed and then memories of breakage will fade.

The sooner the network is fixed, the better. What did they do? Under-spec it?

The technology is fundamentally sound. So what did they do in the design that renders it vulnerable?

Lack of diversity / redundancy would appear to be a key factor. Who made that call? How much money did they *really* save?

I would also suspect that they will get compo from their supplier, as these types of outages would be considered unacceptable. From what I understand there haven't been any problems north of Taupo, so for those users, they have been getting a very reliable service. I suspect that more than half of their users would have been totally unaffected.

JasonDarwin

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#301282 22-Feb-2010 23:18

It won't matter what compo they get, the damage has been done. If I had to go and sand someone's floor 3 times to get it right the client would look at me and think I am an idiot. What does the public think of TCNZ?

insane

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#301288 23-Feb-2010 00:07

paul151:

Yes the brand is seriously damaged but it's not beyond repair.

Totally agree, there will be enough people stuck on 24 month contracts (remember the huge corporate clients) that will be able to carry the network through these tough times. Many others will talk about switching but how many will actually walk into a vodafone store and pickup a Vodafone sim and fully stop using their XT one.

I can't imagine any other opperator taking pleasure in watching their competition suffer these huge knocks as they know Karma will bite them in the butt if they do.

Telecom has a very powerfull propaganda / marketing machine who will be able to cover this up over time.

zonky

62 posts

Master Geek

#301340 23-Feb-2010 08:18

Linuxluver: Tech breaks. This network will be fixed and then memories of breakage will fade.

We're not talking about computers here- we're talking about a telecoms network. The CDMA and AMPS networks had a design spec of less than 3 minutes of downtime per year. Did the W-CDMA network?

People are being a little too forgiving here- they're not having teething problems, but catastrophic design and/or implementation faults - what is happening should simply not be happening, or it really has been designed and implemented in a sub-standard way.

GJB21

55 posts

Master Geek

#301342 23-Feb-2010 08:20

insane:
Telecom has a very powerfull propaganda / marketing machine who will be able to cover this up over time.

But the point is if they don't fix the technical problems (and there's nothing to suggest they've even started with monthly failures now an established pattern), no amount of PR hype will convince serious users to trust their business communications to a flakey network.

I hear this morning Consumers Institute joining the call for XT's instability to be grounds for corporates to terminate contracts early as not fit-for-purpose. We'll see Telecoms legal and PR armies racing round to counter that but its a damn strong moral argument.

I wonder when the XT network fails again, if there'll be any customers "south of Taupo" to notice?

kiwiscoota

237 posts

Master Geek

#301347 23-Feb-2010 08:34

Let's see what the TradeMe auction for the XT Lemon gets to.....

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Mobile-phones/Telecom-XT/auction-273606747.htm

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