[AusNOG] ITNEWS: Telstra retail staff caught cancelling ISP orders

[Heinz N]

> Are people complaining to ACMA? Do ACMA even have responsibility to 
> pursue this? Why aren't people themselves taking Telstra to small claims 
> court?
>
> No consequences means no incentive to change behaviour.

These are my personal opinions.

I have never understood "naked." As far as I know, the price is marginally 
below a budget PSTN service, as you still have to rent the actual copper 
anyway. If you have a PSTN service, you can also put an out-of-band 
dialin/out service (33.6K modem) on the line for emergencies or admin. If 
you are sensible and contract the line directly with the supplier of the 
copper, then you have some control if something goes intermittent with the 
line (the dreaded "dropouts"). If you are not a direct customer of the 
copper supplier, then the ISP and the supplier will try to handball you 
off between each other internally. As a phone is considered an essential 
service, the copper supplier is under an obligation to get the PSTN 
service back quickly. You are also able to make a nuisance of yourself and 
keep complaining until the problem is fixed, and in some cases even speak 
directly with the actual local technical staff: not some clueless overseas 
helpdesk drone that doesn't care.  For those that are too cheap to take 
that little bit of extra insurance to have a PSTN line contract directly 
with the copper supplier, then they may be facing a painful lesson. The 
cost in downtime is far, far bigger than those extra few dollars a month.

As for small claims, I had to try to get compensation from a certain very 
large telco and the amount of paperwork (and questions) was daunting. What 
small business has the technical knowledge or time to pursue such a course 
of action only for a pittance at the end of it. To go to small claims, you 
must first have tried to remedy the situation with the supplier without 
success. The whole process is (deliberately) just too hard and too long.

H.