[AusNOG] EFPOST terminals down

[Nathan Brookfield]

It’s my experience that almost all of them also have Ethernet and just failover to 3G, with most banks terminals anyway.

Kindest Regards,

Nathan Brookfield (VK2NAB)
Simtronic Technologies Pty Ltd

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On 22 Jun 2020, at 13:15, Jason Xiros <jason.xiros at gmail.com> wrote:


I'm not sure the EFTPOS network is as robust as people believe. There was a time perhaps seven or eight years ago when 50% (or more) of all transactions in Australia went through a single data centre on the Pacific Hwy in North Sydney.


Kind regards,

Jason




Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2020 09:06:36 +0930
From: John Edwards <jaedwards at gmail.com>
To: Chris Hurley <chris at dragonrail.com.au>
Cc: "<ausnog at lists.ausnog.net>" <ausnog at lists.ausnog.net>
Subject: Re: [AusNOG] EFPOST terminals down
Message-ID:
   <CAOSsYkr=19BQ+qNjSaDuVUVDuctOyd0qg3z5PLhvdHdCLvOy0A at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Tips are low priority areas for mobile coverage. They are deliberately
built where no-one else is, such that they would account for the majority
of an expensive mobile sector.

I imagine that most EFTPOS terminals are still 3G. If 3G failed, most of us
with a smartphone less than 5 years old wouldn't notice.

So if there's a 3G network failure:

 - Terminals would usually migrate to another cell, there are probably
 not multiple cells covering a tip
 - There is still LTE coverage there, so no customers are screaming for
 the failure to be fixed
 - The network is aging so failure is common
 - Parts are hard to get or expensive because its old
 - Social Distancing is mutually exclusive to how teams of mobile network
 riggers normally operate, so there's a backlog of faults
 - Coverage of a tip with a handful of regular customers is low priority
 for a fix, no manager is escalating this over other faults
 - Some WFH people nearby are smashing the local 3G network with their
 old USB 3G adapters that are now on an unlimited download plan

In summary, it's probably not a cyberattack.

John


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