[UPDATED] Australia hit with more widespread Telstra network outages
Telstra is currently investigating nationwide 3G and 4G outages across the country after several reports of service issues flooded in this morning.
After a series of national 3G/4G outages across 2016 and 2017, Telstra customers have been sailing through 2018 without much of a worry or concern. Until this morning that is. Customers of Australia's biggest mobile network provider have reported 3G/4G outages nationwide this morning. Telstra's own outage map is showing Australia's populated areas in each state have been hit the hardest, with intermittent mobile data and voice for both 3G and 4G customers.
It seems as though @Telstra is having an #outage affecting mobile services.#Monday pic.twitter.com/w0ZVQCgp3u
— BenAylett.com (@BenAylett) May 21, 2018
Telstra is aware of the issue and currently working on a fix. We'll update this post with more details as they emerge.
We’re working to fix an issue impacting some mobile services. Sorry for the inconvenience.
— Telstra (@Telstra) May 21, 2018
UPDATE 12:56pm:
Telstra has issued another update, claiming that 4G voice and data traffic is improving nationwide after a workaround was used to "bypass hardware which had been preventing some customers from accessing the 4G mobile network". The 4G network is on the mend and as a consequence is freeing up 3G voice and data services. That's still quite vague and there's of sure to be plenty of information still to come. We'll continue to update this article as more updates are made.
Our 4G voice and data traffic volume is improving nationally after we bypassed hardware that had been preventing some customers from accessing the 4G mobile network. 3G voice and data volumes are also improving. We're very sorry for the interruption to services.
— Telstra (@Telstra) May 21, 2018
UPDATE 11:40am:
Telstra has issued an update via Twitter. The problem lies with 4G mobile voice and data services across Australia. As a knock-on effect, the issue is also causing congestion for Telstra's 3G services. Telstra also noted that calls to 000 emergency services will still connect over other carriers' networks where there is sufficient coverage.
Calls to 000 will connect over other carriers’ networks where they have mobile coverage.
— Telstra (@Telstra) May 21, 2018
While we still don't know everything about the issue itself (past outages have been caused by human error, international roamers and a raging fire), Telstra customers have historically been offered free data days as compensation for the nationwide network issues. Here's hoping something similar is offered this time around.
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