Goodbye, Telstra pips

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 01 June 2009 11:34

Opinion and Analysis

No, this isn’t a late goodbye to Sol Trujillo, but instead a fond farewell to the Telstra pip tones that, for 40 years, let you know your phone bill was getting massive by the minute!

Remember those five pip tone beeps you hear when you’re calling nationally on what were “STD” calls?

Well, from today onwards, many people will no longer hear them at all, with Telstra phasing them out.

Telstra calls this phase-out part of the transformation process that is turning Telstra into a “world leading media communications company”.

Quite why Telstra had to draw that bow into the pip tone farewell seemed unclear, on face value, aside from Telstra simply wanting to remind us all that it is transforming into a “world leading media communications company”, but there is a reason.

After all, removing the pip tones encourages people to talk for longer without remembering they are on a long distance call, which some people actually still pay more than 10c per call for.

But the technical reason why is because Telstra says it is committed “to removing antiquated systems” which do many things, including the generation of pip tones, thus making it an ever more modern company.

Telstra also notes (as you’ll see on page 2) that its “product exit and migration programs” are key pillars of this transformation process.

Pip tones were recently heard on “some” national STD calls and on “Iterra” satellite phone calls, and while some will immediately notice the pips are gone, some people will hear them up until the end of July, after which they should be completely phased out on a permanent basis.

So, what does Telstra specifically have to say about removing its own pips? Please pop on over to page 2 for the squeeze!