While lambasting a number of ISPs — iiNet, Internode and TPG — the group has taken specific aim at Telstra, with spokesman Andrew Connor saying that since last Friday, thousands of Telstra NBN and ADSL customers in Tasmania have been without services when the telco made software updates to customers' home routers.

As iTWire reported just two days ago, Telstra has denied claims that faulty firmware updates to modems it supplies to NBN and ADSL broadband customers have been responsible for the outages.

According to Connor, the Telstra updates forced some routers to reboot repeatedly preventing Internet and phone services from working, and “had a knock-on effect to unaffected customers by overloading their systems”.  

“Additionally, in recent weeks the performance of iiNet, Internode and associated TPG brands in Tasmania has been slipping at peak times as their connection, a congested alternative to Basslink, has been reaching capacity.  This was exacerbated on Tuesday night when part of that capacity over Telstra fibre failed causing major slowdowns during the evening.

"These brands represent around 30-40% of the Tasmanian consumer Internet market and they already experienced eight days of severe slowdowns after the Basslink cable was cut for repairs in March, for which promised compensation and credits have not been forthcoming for many customers.”

According to Connor, on Tuesday the operator of the Basslink power cable, which also provides wholesale telecommunications services to many Tasmanians, advised that the cable repair had been delayed a further two weeks by weather and it would not be back in service until the end of June.

“Internet slowdowns and outages can’t simply be dismissed as affecting customers' ability to stream video; it impacts on their ability to conduct the business of their daily lives from home and to stay in touch with friends and family.  Reliable Internet is no longer a luxury, it’s an essential service and needs to be recognised as such."

Connor says Tasmanians need reliable communications services, and “the best way to achieve this is with NBN’s fibre-to-the-premises service for most and fixed wireless where that is not possible. Beyond the NBN, Tasmania needs another fibre optic cable across Bass Strait to improve resiliency and competition in the communications sector.

“Internet companies need to improve their network and technical capability to provide robust services to Tasmanians. Their customer service channels also need to be well trained and informed about outages so they can help customers without spending hours on the phone. Adequate compensation for downtime needs to be mandated, rather than ‘free data days’ or miniscule pro-rata compensation for days per month of downtime, set penalties for each day of outage need to be set in law.”

Connor said Digital Tasmania recommends that if consumers are without service or are not getting the service they are paying for, and they have “not directly contacted their provider and raised a fault, that they do so as soon as possible”.

“If they can’t get their phone or Internet provider to fix their issue within a reasonable timeframe they should escalate to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman on 1800 062 058  or online.”