iTWire - Anti-Telstra group "inundated" with Next G complaints

Anti-Telstra group "inundated" with Next G complaints - UPDATE

by Stuart Corner
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Page 1 of 2 The original item under this headline was a news item that opened with the statement: "The T4 (Tell the truth Telstra) carrier group claims it has been inundated with complaints about lack of coverage on the Next G network from consumers across Australia, particularly in regional and rural areas." However... Register now to win a Canon EOS 500D Telstra, not surprisingly, was not happy about it. And complained. Telstra wanted the story removed, or significantly amended. Why had I not asked T4 what they meant by "inundated"? How many complaints had they had? After all, T4's raison d'etre is to oppose Telstra. And, why I had not sought input from Telstra? Guilty. I could, and should, have done those things. I had reported this claim from a group that was anything but non-partisan, and I had not sought comment from Telstra. Although I would have to say that Telstra has made its claims for the performance of Next G very public anyway.. So, I went back to T4 and asked them for more information. This was their response. "T4 has published a small fraction of the complaints it has received about Telstra on its website since mid April. In the past four months the T4 site has received 150 complaints, which recently have been dominated by NextG. This, remember, to a website that is has no money to publicise its existence and no retail brand. In addition, the members of T4 receive complaints about NextG directly. T4 has also recently completed 61 meetings with 41 Federal MPs and 20 Senators who have consistently passed on complaints they have received from their local area and constituents about Telstra's service. Telstra might also care to read the newspapers, listen to talkback radio or even visit our website to get an idea of what people think about its service." That's not the way Telstra tells it. In a press release issued last month after communications minister Helen Coonan threatened to delay the shutdown of CDMA, Telstra quoted executive managing director wireless, John Gonner saying: "The minister's action is puzzling based on feedback from MPs to date. We have asked them to supply details of customers in their electorates that are having issues so that we can respond, and very few have been provided. We have also invited members of Parliament to join us on drive surveys so they can experience how Next G coverage compares to CDMA and at this stage only five have accepted." << First page < 1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>