Who pays for repairs to your phone line when you have Naked ADSL?

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Thursday, 21 February 2008

Page 1 of 3 ! Although it may be common knowledge for some, the question of who pays for a faulty copper phone line was raised in the comments section of our previous story on Gotalk’s new Naked ADSL service, so we contacted Telstra and have an official answer. When I wrote a story on Gotalk’s new Naked ADSL service, we received an interesting question in the comments sections on the topic of phone line damage when line rental isn’t being paid to Telstra. Reader Les Fraser asked a question that I’ve edited slightly for clarity: “What happens when rain gets into the copper or some clown damages the line when building, etc? Who pays for Telstra to repair?” It’s a great question, whether you’re paying line rental or not. What happens if you’re in your backyard, digging a hole or something, and suddenly you realise you can see some cables that have been cut, then the kids come out screaming wondering what happened to the Internet? Or perhaps there has just been an enormous storm, and now the phone lines are dead – but your neighbours next door aren’t having a problem. Or, in the context of the Gotalk Naked ADSL story – what happens if you have a line fault – do you call Telstra? Or Gotalk? Another iTWire reader, Chaosdog, threw us all a bone with his answer, which has also had slight editing: “Hi – someone asked who maintains the copper and the answer is Telstra, just as now. In the monthly fee you pay to the ISP for Naked DSL, there is a component which is paid to Telstra for the use of their copper (around $16-$17 per month from memory). Maintenance is included in this fee”. Now, I don’t know how much Gotalk pays Telstra for the use of their copper, but in the context of this article, it doesn’t matter. What is important is the correct answer, which Chaosdog had answered correctly, although without broaching the subject of what happens when "some clown damages the line when building, etc”. So we decided to put a call in to Telstra’s media relations department to find out the official word, and their answer is on page 2. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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