The outage affecting Telstra’s 3G network yesterday appears to be over, and Telstra advises it will discuss compensation with business customers on a case by case basis.
Telstra could not confirm the number of businesses or terminals affected. However, the national carrier has advised the outage affected every state except Northern Territory. Businesses have been forced to decline card payments, referring their customers to nearby ATMs to obtain cash for payment. However, for businesses with no ATMs nearby, the outage has understandably caused chaos.
Ausdroid understands the outage has left customers around the country frustrated. It has affected businesses large and small, including taxi operators, fundraisers, restaurants and more. In 2018, with so many businesses dependent on card payments, an outage like this can have a significant impact. So few people carry cash regularly these days that things we take for granted are simply not available when the card network goes down.
The ABC reports that passengers arriving at Sydney’s International Airport have had to pay cash for taxis to take them to their ultimate destination, and for international arrivals who may not have any Australian currency, this is an impost not planned for and not easily resolved. The ABC also reported that ATMs near busy areas (including the airport) were running out of cash.
All passengers arriving at Sydney International airport this morning are told while waiting in the taxi queue that all taxis are “cash only” this morning. “Something, something, @Telstra, something, something”. I’m sure there’s a good reason for having such an unreliable system.
— Stuart Khan (@stukhan) November 2, 2018
It appears that things will be coming back to normal, but small business operators will feel the impact for days and weeks.
Did Telstra’s 3G outage affect you? Share your stories with us using the comments below.
We were at the local pub in Melbourne for a celebration lunch on Friday. With the payment terminals down and no nearby atm the pub were putting orders through the till for food and drinks and then emailed the bill through to people for payment later in the day. I really hope everyone was honest and they get back all the money due. Just goes to show the reliance we have in technology and also the need for a good manual backup system.