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

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 23 August 2007 11:27

Opinion and Analysis

But it is not just T4 that has concerns about Next G. Kondinin Group, a long-established organisation that provides advice on a vast range of issues to the agricultural industry - and which has no particular reason to be anti-Telstra - also has serious concerns and has set up its own Next G register where users can submit comments on Next G. A spokeswoman told me it had received about 40 submissions in the first week and only one of them favourable.

The organisation issued a press release on 8 August in which it said: "Kondinin Group have been overwhelmed by the feedback from farmers in response to its testing of Next G handsets and have established a web page containing quick links and phone numbers for easy access to Telstra's black-spot reporting service as well as tips for improving Next G reception...Feedback from Kondinin Group members and other farmers experiencing problems with the Next G network has found, in many cases farmers have been sold unsuitable handsets for use in rural areas."

Telstra itself has admitted that not all handsets are equal and has recently sought to identify those with superior RF performance.

Telstra, however is facing an uphill battle in squashing negative press about Next G. It is nigh on impossible to prove that coverage of Next G is equivalent to CDMA and as Telstra is now putting pressure on customers to move over rather than leaving customers with a free choice of networks and letting market forces determine the outcome, some dissatisfaction is inevitable.

If customers migrate to Next G and find they cannot use their new handset, un-enhanced with an external antenna, in every location where they used the old one they are not going to be happy. And they are going to complain.

Yes Next G is a great service: its high data rate makes all sorts of applications possible (albeit at a relatively high price). And Telstra has no shortage of case studies showing how it has been a great asset to businesses in rural areas. But there seems to be sufficient reports coming from multiple quarters to suggest a significant level of dissatisfaction. And of course Telstra's ability to wheel out happy users by the score can never prove that the issue of poor coverage has been exaggerated.

I'm in no position to objectively satisfy myself as to whether coverage is equivalent (and even the planned ACMA audit of Next G coverage will check on about 100 locations concentrated in the Eastern states). But if the service is a good as Telstra claims the carrot rather than the stick should be sufficient to reduce CDMA user numbers to a level at which the network can be turned off without too many complaints.