Optus is the ars*hole of ISP's

[Ghost Patrol]

I'm with Optus for phone and internet so it sucked but I don't really get the complete outrage. If the power was out for 6 hours or whatever people wouldn't melt down like they have being without internet for that time.

Pretty amazing from a business continuity perspective that Metro trains were completely shut down though. They deserve some grilling.

Agreed.

If your whole business relies on an Optus internet connection and you don't have a backup plan, which could be as simple as a telstra prepaid 4g dongle, then I don't have much sympathy for those that lost a day of trading.

 

[revo333]

I'm with Optus for phone and internet so it sucked but I don't really get the complete outrage. If the power was out for 6 hours or whatever people wouldn't melt down like they have being without internet for that time.

Me either, someone told me they were going to change to Telstra because what if something bad happened in the morning to their kid at school and they were not able to find out.

I know people in the Philippines and they have blackouts every week.

 

[Frank Grimes]

These utter shitcampaigners are now offering free extra data to impacted customers. Does anybody even use all the data they have on their plan as it is?

Optus has proudly taken the title off Qantas as the anal wart of Australian business.

I think the extra 200mb data is great compensation for my unlimited NBN and data plan (which still isn't working at my home).

Bargain.

 

[Cleavy]

These utter shitcampaigners are now offering free extra data to impacted customers. Does anybody even use all the data they have on their plan as it is?

Optus has proudly taken the title off Qantas as the anal wart of Australian business.

it's a token gesture that costs them very little

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

I'm with Optus for phone and internet so it sucked but I don't really get the complete outrage. If the power was out for 6 hours or whatever people wouldn't melt down like they have being without internet for that time.

Pretty amazing from a business continuity perspective that Metro trains were completely shut down though. They deserve some grilling.

Mate, as the country’s second biggest telecommunications and internet company you simply cannot be unusable for any period of time, let alone 10 hours.

The whole world relies on connectivity. The cost to businesses yesterday in lost productivity would have been in the hundreds of millions. As one very simple example, I work from home mostly and use Optus for mobile and internet. I logged in from a local cafe yesterday to try and do some work but was unable to do too much because of bandwidth limitations at the venue. Aside from taking the mick on here for a laugh my day ended up with me at home watching reruns of the West Wing on DVD followed by a business hours trip to the gym.

It was awesome but not exactly good for my employer. And I was one of dozens at my workplace who ended up doing similar.

 

[dav3]

Mate, as the country’s second biggest telecommunications and internet company you simply cannot be unusable for any period of time, let alone 10 hours.

The whole world relies on connectivity. The cost to businesses yesterday in lost productivity would have been in the hundreds of millions. As one very simple example, I work from home mostly and use Optus for mobile and internet. I logged in from a local cafe yesterday to try and do some work but was unable to do too much because of bandwidth limitations at the venue. Aside from taking the mick on here for a laugh my day ended up with me at home watching reruns of the West Wing on DVD followed by a business hours trip to the gym.

It was awesome but not exactly good for my employer. And I was one of dozens at my workplace who ended up doing similar.

Outages are a fact of life, all providers are going to take a hit sometime. If people puts all their eggs in one basket when it comes to connectivity and claim to have a requirement for constant internet then they're doing it wrong.

If a shop has to close as they can't use EFTPOS because Optus goes down, why do they not have a wired, wireless, or alternative mobile connection they can utilize? Your standard EFTPOS devices have all these capabilities built in.

WFH is a whole new shitshow, but again if you have an absolute need to work away from the office you should have a service on another provider you can use, or an alternative location.

People are calling Optus s**t because redundancy blah blah blah, but that must mean truly affected people (ie not people crying they can't upload pictures of their cat) and businesses are also s**t if they haven't got a workable Business Continuity Plan they can use.

 

[Gralin]

Agreed.

If your whole business relies on an Optus internet connection and you don't have a backup plan, which could be as simple as a telstra prepaid 4g dongle, then I don't have much sympathy for those that lost a day of trading.

The reality is no one is going to pay for backup with another company unless regulations force them.

That's not to say I worry about lost income of companies, but a lot of workers 100% copped abuse over this

Did you see the videos of people angrily going to Optus retail stores?

Dickheads

 

[mr bagcroft]

"free data" !!! )
I don't think Management is managing very well at Optus.
They would be much better off offering no compensation at all than that.
Hmmmmm, lets see, how can we actually anger our customerbase even further

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Outages are a fact of life, all providers are going to take a hit sometime. If people puts all their eggs in one basket when it comes to connectivity and claim to have a requirement for constant internet then they're doing it wrong.

If a shop has to close as they can't use EFTPOS because Optus goes down, why do they not have a wired, wireless, or alternative mobile connection they can utilize? Your standard EFTPOS devices have all these capabilities built in.

WFH is a whole new shitshow, but again if you have an absolute need to work away from the office you should have a service on another provider you can use, or an alternative location.

People are calling Optus s**t because redundancy blah blah blah, but that must mean truly affected people (ie not people crying they can't upload pictures of their cat) and businesses are also s**t if they haven't got a workable Business Continuity Plan they can use.

So everybody should be rocking and paying for a backup ISP?

What planet are you on?

 

[PT Bar None]

Funnily enough for my team, those who were WFH were unaffected (NBN) but those in the office were dark, as when in the office we use an Optus dongle to connect back to the mothership

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Funnily enough for my team, those who were WFH were unaffected (NBN) but those in the office were dark, as when in the office we use an Optus dongle to connect back to the mothership

How odd. I am on NBN at home via Optus and had no coverage.

 

[PT Bar None]

How odd. I am on NBN at home via Optus and had no coverage.

I'm with Internode who used to be an Optus reseller I think? But they got bought out by IINet and they were bought out by TPG. Plus I'm in an apartment block with FTTB so who the hell knows?

 

[dav3]

So everybody should be rocking and paying for a backup ISP?

What planet are you on?

I'm saying instead of getting some bundled package from an ISP for phone and internet, move one of your services to a different provider if constant internet is THAT critical.

If you're running a business that relies on internet for payments there are cheap data only plans out there, have a SIM card ready, or run internet through a device than can use a backup connection (they aren't expensive), or use something that can tether to a working mobile phone.

 

[dav3]

I'm with Internode who used to be an Optus reseller I think? But they got bought out by IINet and they were bought out by TPG. Plus I'm in an apartment block with FTTB so who the hell knows?

I'm not sure Optus and Internode/iiNet have ever been linked too much.

 

[PT Bar None]

I'm not sure Optus and Internode/iiNet have ever been linked too much.

Maybe not. Maybe I'm misremembering. Been with Internode for >20 years.
Might be confusing with my mobile plan (Amaysim) which is definitely an Optus reseller.
Not that it matters anyway

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

I'm saying instead of getting some bundled package from an ISP for phone and internet, move one of your services to a different provider if constant internet is THAT critical.

If you're running a business that relies on internet for payments there are cheap data only plans out there, have a SIM card ready, or run internet through a device than can use a backup connection (they aren't expensive), or use something that can tether to a working mobile phone.

Mate, I get what you are saying but let's split this into two parts:

1) Businesses - yes, agree it is not smart to only have a single option if connectivity is critical. But the flipside is that many small businesses are barely breaking even and every added cost is a problem. It should be the responsibility of the ISP to provide a backup plan for business if their product is unreliable.

2) Individuals/WFH - I am not sure why people should be asked to go to an added expense of splitting their provider (bundles are generally cheaper). If I am paying good money for an allegedly "premium" provider such as Optus, it is only reasonable to expect a level of service commensurate with what I pay. We can all accept outages that are brief in nature. This happens. But you cannot tell me that a 10 hour outage is in any way acceptable in the 21st century when so much depends on being connected. Why should people pay more to be protected? ISP costs in this country are exorbitant by global standards (and Optus is at the extreme end of that) and we are all feeling the inflationary squeeze. Asking people to pay more to "insure" themselves just because one of the most expensive ISP's in Australia cannot be trusted is an absurd concept.

 

[Nothing]

I run a small business and my work internet and mobiles are separate providers. I realise not having access to internet when my files are cloud based would be terminal. It costs less than $10 extra a month than going cheaper/bundled.

 

[dav3]

Mate, I get what you are saying but let's split this into two parts:

1) Businesses - yes, agree it is not smart to only have a single option if connectivity is critical. But the flipside is that many small businesses are barely breaking even and every added cost is a problem. It should be the responsibility of the ISP to provide a backup plan for business if their product is unreliable.

2) Individuals/WFH - I am not sure why people should be asked to go to an added expense of splitting their provider (bundles are generally cheaper). If I am paying good money for an allegedly "premium" provider such as Optus, it is only reasonable to expect a level of service commensurate with what I pay. We can all accept outages that are brief in nature. This happens. But you cannot tell me that a 10 hour outage is in any way acceptable in the 21st century when so much depends on being connected. Why should people pay more to be protected? ISP costs in this country are exorbitant by global standards (and Optus is at the extreme end of that) and we are all feeling the inflationary squeeze. Asking people to pay more to "insure" themselves just because one of the most expensive ISP's in Australia cannot be trusted is an absurd concept.

Optus isn't exactly premium, and their consumer level accounts (or any consumer level accounts from Telcos/ISPs for that matter) definitely aren't. Why should you pay more to be protected? You just said Optus is "premium" and shouldn't have these issues, which I assume is why you pay more for that instead of some dodgy reseller.

"Insurance" is everywhere....... people buy solar and batteries for homes, people have spare tyres for cars, people carry chargers for their phones, people have spare keys, people on road trips take extra food/water/fuel, people pay for cloud storage for their critical data, people have torches and candles if the power goes out, people leave a little earlier if they have an important meeting in case of traffic.......... if something is so critical then why wouldn't you spend a few extra bucks to cover yourself? Internet is becoming like that too.

If you're a business that relies on internet you should definitely have a BCP that covers an internet outage, and if you want more reliable connection you should fork out for an actual business plan with proper SLAs. if you're a person who has to WFH then you should at least have some sort of plan, pretty sure our internal WFH policies state that if something makes WFH impossible you need to make alternative arrangements (another place to work, another method of connection, come into the office instead, etc), most half decent companies would have the same thing. As an individual that's as simple has having different providers for your broadband and mobile connections.

 

[Cuzz09]

Been with Optus since I got my first phone in 1999.

Never had an issue.

The outage didn't effect me though

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Mate, I get what you are saying but let's split this into two parts:

1) Businesses - yes, agree it is not smart to only have a single option if connectivity is critical. But the flipside is that many small businesses are barely breaking even and every added cost is a problem. It should be the responsibility of the ISP to provide a backup plan for business if their product is unreliable.

2) Individuals/WFH - I am not sure why people should be asked to go to an added expense of splitting their provider (bundles are generally cheaper). If I am paying good money for an allegedly "premium" provider such as Optus, it is only reasonable to expect a level of service commensurate with what I pay. We can all accept outages that are brief in nature. This happens. But you cannot tell me that a 10 hour outage is in any way acceptable in the 21st century when so much depends on being connected. Why should people pay more to be protected? ISP costs in this country are exorbitant by global standards (and Optus is at the extreme end of that) and we are all feeling the inflationary squeeze. Asking people to pay more to "insure" themselves just because one of the most expensive ISP's in Australia cannot be trusted is an absurd concept.

We'll have to just agree to disagree of some of this mate. There is no way anybody should have to go to the added cost of separating their mobile and internet providers. Also, there is the added issue of how murky everything is. For example, most people wouldn't know that Macquarie Internet is an Optus resold product and that Aldi uses Telstra. It all just confuses people.

Of course Optus is a "premium" option in the home ISP market. And as I said, most people will cop a short outage. 10 hours though? I cannot believe anybody would even try to defend Optus on this one. I was just reading about some poor woman with serious medical issues who relies on connectivity to operate everything in her home as well as necessary medical apparatus. There is no way that a split ISP/mobile setup would assist her. Porting from her phone would not provide the bandwidth for her to function properly. You are literally advocating this woman (and many others) paying out serious money for a monthly "insurance" ISP. Give me a spell. Most people are struggling to feed their kids at the moment yet you are expecting them to insure against every single bloody thing.

You are victim bashing. This is 100% on Optus. 10 hours without coverage is completely unacceptable. As has been their response to it.

 

[GROTTO]

Special kind of stupid.

Optus boss's sassy comment about barber badly backfires

North Sydney Barbers was forced to turn away customers and close by lunchtime during Wednesday's outage, a decision that cost the business hundreds of dollars.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[dav3]

Special kind of stupid.

Optus boss's sassy comment about barber badly backfires

North Sydney Barbers was forced to turn away customers and close by lunchtime during Wednesday's outage, a decision that cost the business hundreds of dollars.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I agree

 

[Shell]

Been with Optus since I got my first phone in 1999.

Never had an issue.

The outage didn't effect me though

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

Same.

Except... 2000 for me

And with a brief couple years with 3/Vodafone, but now with Dodo/Optus. Not one issue with them until the other day.

 

[Cuzz09]

Same.

Except... 2000 for me

And with a brief couple years with 3/Vodafone, but now with Dodo/Optus. Not one issue with them until the other day.

may have been 2000 actually yeah. flip phone

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Shell]

may have been 2000 actually yeah. flip phone

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

I never had a flip phone. I wanted one tho!!!

I went 3210 > whatever other Nokia at the time > Panasonic (damn that was a niiiice phone- little silver thing) > back to Nokia > then iirc smart phones were around by then, went Samsung > now at motorola