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Telstra Free Data Day Round 2 (Sunday 3rd April) Including Boost Mobile, ALDI, Woolworths & Telechoice

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Another Telstra fail, Time for round two enjoy your data.

We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience we have caused.

We had a problem that triggered a significant number of customers to be disconnected from the network. Reconnecting them to the network caused congestion. We had a connection problem overseas impacting international roaming customers which then had a flow-on effect domestically.

As a way of saying we’re sorry we’ll be providing a free data day for all of our mobile customers on Sunday 3rd of April.


Telstra CEO Andy Penn told media this morning the outage was caused by network congestion when a large number of services disconnected at the same time and were then reconnected.

Mr Penn said a free data day would be offered on Sunday April 3 to compensate for the disruptions.

Source


Boost Mobile

Some of our mobile customers experienced difficulty making and receiving calls, and using data last night (17 March 2016).

This issue started at around 6pm and we started seeing progressive restoration from around 7.30pm, although the issue was sporadic so different people were impacted at different times.

We sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience we have caused again.

As a way of saying we’re sorry we’ll be providing a free data day for all of our mobile customers on Sunday 3 April.

Customers will automatically receive free data, from midnight to midnight in their local Australian time zone.

We hope this helps make up for some of the inconvenience they experienced.


ALDI Mobile thanks to @PeeDee

You may know that due to circumstances beyond our control, our carrier experienced a service disruption on Thursday 17th March.

This outage impacted some of our customers for a short period of time and you may have been unable to make or receive calls, SMS or use data.

Whilst the outage was outside of our control we want to make things right for our customers that were impacted which is why we are giving free data (within Australia) to all of our customers on Sunday 3rd April 2016.

The free data will apply to you regardless of which plan you are on - if you have Pay As You Go, or a Value Pack, you will not be charged for data on this day.

The free data on Sunday will apply from 12am AEDT Sunday 3rd April morning until 3am AEDT Monday morning, this will allow for our customers in WA to also enjoy free data until midnight on Sunday local time in WA.


Telechoice

Free mobile data on Sunday the 3rd of April 2016

On Tuesday 17/03/2016 some TeleChoice customers experienced issues using their voice and data services due to a network outage. While this has now been resolved, we wanted to show our customers that we are sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Because of this, we are providing our mobile customers with free data within Australia on Sunday the 3rd of April from midnight to midnight (in your local timezone).

This is available to all of our customers, and you do not need to do anything to receive this free data - it will be made available to you automatically. For any more information, please email us at [email protected]

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closed Comments

        • There's actually an agreed scale that they have to pay for outages which is enforced by the TIO (if you complain enough) but I don't know what it is off the top of my head

        • @Jackson:

          Did not know that. Thanks mate!

      • Some places still have the old "mouse trap" things they can use to take a credit card imprint if their EFT system is down, they only do credit card though, and not SAV/CHQ transactions

    • I think if you give them a call and complain hard enough you will get a credit of some sort.

    • +1

      My mobile download speeds are four to five times that of our ADSL. For a day it lets me run a faster connection to the home which is nice.

    • +1

      Completely agree. Sunday data is irrelevant to me and likely many others, as that's when you tend to have access to your home connection data limits.

      For many of Telstra's customers, the only thing this does is make the network congested on Sunday, causing further problems.

  • As a paying telstra customer I'm not looking forward to this at all. Last time they did this I didn't know and ended up rebooting and even reflashing my router because I couldn't figure out what was causing the terrible lag. At least I know to expect my service to go to shit this time.

    • haha yes i know… i restarted my phone a few times thought it was my phone and thinking "surely cant be telstra's fault.. AGAIN???"

    • +1

      Last time they did this I didn't know and ended up rebooting and even reflashing my router because I couldn't figure out what was causing the terrible lag.

      Do you rebuild your car engine when you have a flat battery as well?

    • +2

      what do you mean paying telstra customer? Are there non-paying ones?

      • I'd say they mean someone who gets a business phone or iPad

  • +2

    So time to finally download those final fantasy pc games at ~60gb each…..

  • I only managed 25GB last time, need to do better this time!

    • I did just under 100GB last time.. aiming for 200GB this time..

  • Free data day on a Sunday? What jerks. Either compensate people with credit to bills or give us free data on a day where people are likely to use it

    Mod edit: Removed inappropriate language

    • I use data every day.

  • Sorry is this for 4g connection only or also for cable/adsl connection? Thanks

    • +1

      Mobile network 3G and 4G/x

  • +1

    This is actually round 3 from what I remember. Round 2 was not well publicised. Don't know about others but I'll be downloading Steam games.

    • +1

      Was that a prepaid only from memory?

      • I used an expired prepaid SIM to benefit from both but I believe people on plans also took advantage. At least the braver ones did. Others were scared it might eat into their actual data.

        • How did you use an expired prepaid SIM? I've never recharged mine. Maybe that's why.

      • +1

        Also the prepaid one wasn't for a full day.

  • Good timing to get my free Office and OneDrive… https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/226284

  • Funny how most people pay more than other providers for coverage, then they get almost a week a year of 0 coverage. And all is good when they give reduced speed unlimited mobile download for a day. In turn giving low speed to ALL customers, potential congestion for another whole day.

    • +3

      This is the first year since the 10 or so years of using Telstra that there has been an outage and it didn't even affect me.
      Optus and Vodafone outages rarely make the news anymore.

  • Will boost prepaid customers be included as well?

    • They were last time I believe…

  • +1

    So to say sorry for congestion and outages they are offering free data.. Which will cause more congestion and possibly outages for businesses using eftpos.. Hah

    • did it happen last time?

      • Yeah I read a lot of people weren't able to use data at all due to the congestion

        • i had no issue's … they probably need to think of a better scheme then, pretty silly if it caused problems and they do the same thing.

        • It was so slow for me!

    • +1

      It was interesting to hear the Telstra boss explaining this mess in an interview this morning. Last problem was caused by human error of connections causing congestion, this time it was the system automatically making connections causing congestion. He was dancing around that, not sure he really knew what was happening. The only point he seemed to be getting across was that the network is congested and I am not sure he meant to say that?

      Free data day next month will fix it, but what happens if it keeps occurring? Lots of free data days on a congested network :)

    • +1

      I thought the Telstra network actually held up impressively well during the last free day. I was getting at least 4-5 times my ADSL speed throughout the day. I suspect that Telstra sees it as a win for them, to show off their network (that it can handle such demand)

  • +9

    Such strange reactions. Using heaps of data unnecessarily will inconvenience other customers more than it will Telstra. And since when is using lots of bandwidth just for the sake of it fun? Sounds pretty dull.
    I don't get it at all.

    • +1

      Because people feel ripped off by telstra especially for their high data charges and this is a way to get back at them?

      • How does downloading large things get back at Telstra? Telstra doesnt give a shit.

        • Nope but when something is free people will take advantage

        • +2

          It will cost them a fair bit of money; yes, they care.

          However, their increased costs will no doubt end up being recovered from customers through higher pricing, so in the end it's not a very clever strategy.

      • Because people feel ripped off by telstra especially for their high data charges and this is a way to get back at them?

        Are those people forced to use Telstra?

        • +1

          For many in rural areas it's the only option

        • @happyantix: Are they the people who are wanting to "get back at them"?

        • +1

          @eug:

          I dunno dude, it was just a theory

    • +10

      Well telstra 4gx is like 10x faster than the typical ADSL2+ connection majority of ppl have in their homes. Being able to experience that speed with no data limit is kinda fun lol… its like driving a corolla all your life and given a ferrari for the weekend. You bet people will be gunning the ferrari down princes highway syd>melb and back just for the sake of it even if it inconveniences other drivers who actually need to drive SYD > MELB by creating traffic and congesting the roads ;)

      • Sure. But we're not driving a remarkable piece of precision engineering on an open road here. We're downloading lots of torrents we're never going to use.

        • Im sure telstra's network infrastructure is also a precisely engineered :P

        • I'm using mine for steam and gog.com stuff I've yet to catch up on….

      • +1

        I think this is a good start for an analogy, but we can improve it.

        You regularly drive the hume sydney to melbourne, have a corolla and ferrari in the garage, but you always take the corolla because its cheaper to run, and gets much better fuel economy.

        Telstra Logistics Co. decide to one day take a truck full of printouts of bills that have been overcharged to Melbourne, but as you may guess the truck is enormous and blocks the entire highway. As compensation they pay for the road users fuel in 2 weeks time, so everyone elects to take their ferraris that day. Because they have to stop so often to fill up and there's only a limited number of bowsers so congestion builds up.

        There are still some kinks in the analogy to be ironed out though. Like how speed limits and stuff fit into it.

        • +3

          Or how everyone has a ferrari parked at home.

        • +2

          That is an improvement. The main problem with the analogy is that one has people driving a fast car they love and the other has people wrecking a fast internet experience for others with no other personal benefit, while feeling a false sense of revenge against a major carrier.

        • @xsacha: Or the wear and tear on said Ferrari. Fuel is the cheapest part of running a ferrari for 1000km

      • +7

        I think a better analogy is you get a blackout. The power company offers a day with unlimited free electricity. Everyone leaves their air cons on 24/7 just.. well.. because.
        Another blackout occurs.

        • +1

          Spot on.

      • I like the analogy.

    • +3

      Think of the people who don't have access to decent internet, or good quotas… Even doing things such as Windows updates and the like is impossible for some.

      • +3

        Absolutely. I am thinking of them. It's a great opportunity for them. That's why people unnecessarily downloading useless files are spoiling it for people who actually need it. Downloads were about half normal speed last time. Kind of like vandalism.

    • Telstra have that much bandwidth available everywhere I would be surprised if many see any slowdowns.

    • +2

      Am I the only one, who genuinely..benefits from this,and not in a "Stick it to the man manner"

      I ALWAYS go over my data and I always need more data. I have Wifi, but even that, gets maxed out, with a household of 4 people all into heavy streaming and or downloading.

      So yeah, just like the last time….I will get some useful downloads that I will enjoy, for free.

      • My internet speed is sh*t so I will be happy to give this a whirl….

  • -1

    Well I'm here in the city, at work, with 4g showing, but still trying to login the ABC app 15mins later

  • +1

    With all the shit going on the free day should be the 1st of April

    • -1

      Yup Telstra fools you with another stuff up

  • Why don't they just make data free all day, every day, and be done with it. It'd probably save a lot of time for their PR spokespeople. That way they can have outages whenever they want!

    • I'm sure the network will love that :)

  • +1

    I genuinely hope the country people, or anyone who can't access decent Internet really benefits from this…. having been on dialup for the best part of a dozen years I know how they feel!

  • Really not happy about this.
    I do not want the network to be saturated all day.
    Im a paying customer with enough data on my plan.
    Not only do i get an highly inconvenient outage last night but not my data is going to be super slow all day Sunday, (profanity) you Telstra.

  • What's the best way to do a backup into the cloud? I think I have about 300Gb

    Probably Amazon but it's not exactly drag and drop.

  • +2

    I love the way Telstra explained it. They didn't have an outage caused by congestion, my guess is an Exchange restart/reboot dropped all the connections, then you get congestion when people try to reconnect. They need to ask the vendor - probably Ericssons - why this is happening.

    In my mind this is probably happening because Telstra has slowly forced most of the good technical staff into redundancy these last 10 years while slowly moving support to India and the current staff can't handle complex problems anymore.

  • +1

    If I buy a Telstra Sim and activate it now will I be able to make use of the free data, or will it only be for customers that were active on or before the 17th of March?

    • +1

      If I buy a Telstra Sim and activate it now will I be able to make use of the free data

      yes

      • That's good., Even I was wondering the same.,

  • +2

    What a crap attempt at compensation by Telstra.

    They choose a day where most people are using there home wifi on their phones…

    • +11

      their*

      • +1

        you are correct…

      • +1

        zing.

    • In this instance it is turn off your home wifi day.

      • why? it's faster and is virtually free…

        • I get about 100Mb/s on Telstra here. Can't imagine my home wifi being faster unless it is NBN. Certainly not unlimited quota at that speed.
          How do you think people were downloading 100s of GB last unlimited mobile day?

          You might be in an area with poor 4G signal but I don't think that's the majority.

        • Mines about 1/4 of the speed of my mobile so certainly it helps me. But you're right, the free data won't help everyone.

    • As inconvenient as it was, I don't see Optus or Vodafone doing the same thing.

  • Is it Telstra mobile only or does it include 4g/3g dongles?

    • last time it included broadband plans too…

  • +3

    I'd rather some kind of a discount than "free data".

    • +1

      last time i had a cable outage and complained, I asked for extra data allowance on my prepaid broadband…
      They asked the manager and I got $50 credit expiring in a year… :)

    • +1

      This. I have broadband with telstra also so rhe free data is pretty much worth $0 pro rata refund of 50c would be better than “free data day”

  • +2

    Good job Telstra. Criticising them for this is just silly - everybody makes mistakes. Telstra could have done nothing or just apologised, but they went the extra mile here.

    • +1

      they've had three recent outages on my mobile service (prepaid wireless bb)
      That's pretty poor performance.

  • Good strategy might be to get a good laptop with SSD drive, and a few spare 2.5" USB drives.
    Park near a tower that has all the 4G bands http://oztowers.com/,
    start breaking DL/UL records.

    • +2

      Why does the laptop need to have a SSD?

      Also, the D in SSD stands for drive, so you've written Solid State Drive Drive

      • LOL. Pedant.

  • I think they need a free data month at the rate they are going.

  • Damn! By the time I have ported to Optus.

    • a $2 sim might work

  • +2

    Sorry, but giving me free data 2 weeks later and on a Sunday is useless to me.

  • +2

    Why cant the free data day be when i'm not sitting at home on my wifi :(

    • +3

      Exactly, same here.

      I think they picked Sunday deliberately since most of the workforce won't be out and about like usual.

      • +1

        I think they picked Sunday because the network's less busy.

        • Exactly, that's what I was trying to say :)

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