Last Wednesday, over 10 million Optus customers across Australia were left without mobile or home internet access in an unprecedented outage that impacted the telco's entire network.

Now, Optus is offering those affected customers a one-time reimbursement of 200GB of bonus data.

Customers impacted by the outage will receive 200GB of bonus data. From Monday, 13 November, eligible postpaid customers, including small businesses and consumers, can access the extra data. The offer can be activated until the end of the year.

For eligible prepaid customers, unlimited data on weekends is available until the end of the year. To learn more and add the offer to your plans, visit optus.com.au from Monday onwards.

In response to the outage, Optus has offered affected customers 200GB of extra data. Credit: Pexels.

However, not everyone is thrilled with this data compensation.

For example, Rachel from Sydney, who missed a crucial call from a hospital due to the outage, wasn't too pleased, as it cost her a chance to say a final farewell to her mother.

'You can't get those final moments back,' she said, arguing that no compensation from Optus can make up for missing the chance to say goodbye to her mother in those final moments.

'We can never, ever get that time back with our mum.'

Michael, a Sydney funeral celebrant impacted by the outage, also agreed that the compensation wasn't enough. He said, 'This compensation is no compensation.'

'You pay for a plan with a suitable amount of data in it, so you never go over it, so offering an extra 200GB costs (Optus) nothing, and we won't use it.'

Experts also say the compensation simply doesn't cut it.

Tech expert Trevor Long pointed out that the offer falls short due to the way people use their phones nowadays. 'If only data had that kind of value. It doesn't,' he said.

He mentioned that the average mobile user in Australia typically uses around 15 gigabytes of data, so 200GB doesn't provide much-added value.

Long also argued that Optus seemed to forget about small businesses and the impact of the outage on those working from home.

'They have essentially overlooked the businesses that aren't big enough to be on their business radar.'



So, what would be a more appropriate compensation?

Long suggested that a more suitable compensation from Optus could involve adding credit directly to users' mobile accounts. He also recommended keeping receipts during this period, as industry regulators and the ombudsman might investigate the compensation issue further.

Another thing to watch out for is scammers using the outage frustration to trick Optus customers with a new phishing scam.

Officials are advising all Optus users to be cautious of a text message claiming compensation for the disruption. This deceptive text message pretends to be from Optus and addresses recipients as existing customers.

Read more about it here.

Key Takeaways

• Optus has offered 200 gigabytes of free data as compensation for a significant outage affecting 10.2 million users across Australia.
• Tech expert Trevor Long has criticised the offer as 'meaningless' due to the nature of modern phone usage and the relatively small data needs of the average user.
• Long also claims Optus has overlooked the serious impact of the outage on small businesses and those working from home, so he suggested better compensation could involve credit on mobile accounts.

Members, what are your thoughts on this? Do you believe the data compensation is adequate? If not, what would you consider fair compensation? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

 

[Pammyt]

Seems like when anything goes wrong people want to be compensated. This could have also happened to Telstra. Imagine what it must be like in other countries currently experiencing war. The recent outage illustrates just how bad it can be when we are relying on the internet for just about everything now.
We have also just seen the downside of becoming cashless - maybe we all need to rethink that. Not having the ability to accept eftpos had a terrible impact on small business when Optus was down - most people don’t carry cash.
The affect on healthcare - electronic medical records - can’t access when systems are down. The list goes on.
I was thinking it would be great to go cashless- not so sure now.

 

[IAN3005]

Seems like when anything goes wrong people want to be compensated. This could have also happened to Telstra. Imagine what it must be like in other countries currently experiencing war. The recent outage illustrates just how bad it can be when we are relying on the internet for just about everything now.
We have also just seen the downside of becoming cashless - maybe we all need to rethink that. Not having the ability to accept eftpos had a terrible impact on small business when Optus was down - most people don’t carry cash.
The affect on healthcare - electronic medical records - can’t access when systems are down. The list goes on.
I was thinking it would be great to go cashless- not so sure now.

Glad you changed your mind on going cashless

 

[Suzanne rose]

Seems like when anything goes wrong people want to be compensated. This could have also happened to Telstra. Imagine what it must be like in other countries currently experiencing war. The recent outage illustrates just how bad it can be when we are relying on the internet for just about everything now.
We have also just seen the downside of becoming cashless - maybe we all need to rethink that. Not having the ability to accept eftpos had a terrible impact on small business when Optus was down - most people don’t carry cash.
The affect on healthcare - electronic medical records - can’t access when systems are down. The list goes on.
I was thinking it would be great to go cashless- not so sure now.

Are you with optus ? People don't have the choice but to have internet

 

[Suzanne rose]

Compensating by giving extra data !!! What about home internet service?

My home internet is with optus so couldn't use computer, TV ect my problem was my son had a uni exam, online so panick sunk in, then he worked out to hotspot from his phone, our mobiles are with Vodafone.

My daughter who's phone is with optus and lives 15 minutes away was and still is sick with a really bad flu and needed us to get her 2 year old daughter but unfortunately she couldn't call or message out. She had a very high fever, shaking , body ache , head ache ect and couldn't even get her head off the pillow

This was the 2nd time in 8 weeks that we have had no internet, 8 weeks ago we were without internet for 32 hours. Wasn't given a reason , only that it was 6 streets in my area and it was urgent repairs .
To me I'm paying $120 amounts for a service I expect to keep running. I understand if it's through mother nature eg a storm or flood but other than that we are paying well and it should be kept running including maintenance

 

[Veggiepatch]

Are you with optus ? People don't have the choice but to have internet

I'm with Optus and the only inconvenience I had was the inability to access this site during my 45 minute bus trip to TAFE on the morning in question. So it was time wasted looking out of the bus window at the glorious south east Melbourne landscape.

The upside is the 200 Gb of "free" data until Christmas. Spent yesterday researching free movie streaming sites for my favourite obscure sci-fi shows and movies.

 

[darrellh]

People running businesses and clearly unable to shouldnbe compensated for liss of earnings for the day. It is a huge impact in todays cost of living and mortgage increases. That should be non negotiable. Everyone else should get at the very least a credit on their account to cover the day and inconvenience. Otherwise Optus is going to lose many, many customers. I realise it can happen to other telecommunications but the same will apply. It is too essential now.

 

[Veggiepatch]

People running businesses and clearly unable to shouldnbe compensated for liss of earnings for the day. It is a huge impact in todays cost of living and mortgage increases. That should be non negotiable. Everyone else should get at the very least a credit on their account to cover the day and inconvenience. Otherwise Optus is going to lose many, many customers. I realise it can happen to other telecommunications but the same will apply. It is too essential now.

Welcome to the world of litigation. Everybody wants to sue everybody else for the most miniscule reasons.

"I'm suing Optus because I couldn't make a waxing appointment for a Brazilian at Baldy's Beauty Boutique. Shine Lawyers think I'll get $1.2 billion for the inconvenience...." Fair dinkum - this is what it coming to.

 

[Lizzie1149]

Last Wednesday, over 10 million Optus customers across Australia were left without mobile or home internet access in an unprecedented outage that impacted the telco's entire network.

Now, Optus is offering those affected customers a one-time reimbursement of 200GB of bonus data.

Customers impacted by the outage will receive 200GB of bonus data. From Monday, 13 November, eligible postpaid customers, including small businesses and consumers, can access the extra data. The offer can be activated until the end of the year.

For eligible prepaid customers, unlimited data on weekends is available until the end of the year. To learn more and add the offer to your plans, visit optus.com.au from Monday onwards.

View attachment 34332

In response to the outage, Optus has offered affected customers 200GB of extra data. Credit: Pexels.

However, not everyone is thrilled with this data compensation.

For example, Rachel from Sydney, who missed a crucial call from a hospital due to the outage, wasn't too pleased, as it cost her a chance to say a final farewell to her mother.

'You can't get those final moments back,' she said, arguing that no compensation from Optus can make up for missing the chance to say goodbye to her mother in those final moments.

'We can never, ever get that time back with our mum.'

Michael, a Sydney funeral celebrant impacted by the outage, also agreed that the compensation wasn't enough. He said, 'This compensation is no compensation.'

'You pay for a plan with a suitable amount of data in it, so you never go over it, so offering an extra 200GB costs (Optus) nothing, and we won't use it.'

Experts also say the compensation simply doesn't cut it.

Tech expert Trevor Long pointed out that the offer falls short due to the way people use their phones nowadays. 'If only data had that kind of value. It doesn't,' he said.

He mentioned that the average mobile user in Australia typically uses around 15 gigabytes of data, so 200GB doesn't provide much-added value.

Long also argued that Optus seemed to forget about small businesses and the impact of the outage on those working from home.

'They have essentially overlooked the businesses that aren't big enough to be on their business radar.'



So, what would be a more appropriate compensation?

Long suggested that a more suitable compensation from Optus could involve adding credit directly to users' mobile accounts. He also recommended keeping receipts during this period, as industry regulators and the ombudsman might investigate the compensation issue further.

Another thing to watch out for is scammers using the outage frustration to trick Optus customers with a new phishing scam.

Officials are advising all Optus users to be cautious of a text message claiming compensation for the disruption. This deceptive text message pretends to be from Optus and addresses recipients as existing customers.

Read more about it here.

Key Takeaways

• Optus has offered 200 gigabytes of free data as compensation for a significant outage affecting 10.2 million users across Australia.
• Tech expert Trevor Long has criticised the offer as 'meaningless' due to the nature of modern phone usage and the relatively small data needs of the average user.
• Long also claims Optus has overlooked the serious impact of the outage on small businesses and those working from home, so he suggested better compensation could involve credit on mobile accounts.

Members, what are your thoughts on this? Do you believe the data compensation is adequate? If not, what would you consider fair compensation? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

We changed to Optus when we found we could not get uninterrupted service from Telstar in our area. We got good deals for our two phones and eventually moved the internet to them as well. Whilst I don't think the added data is all that good as some have unlimited anyway, something needs to be done to the system. I personally believe that we have the attitude that because they are a big business they should have done better. Well tell that to the hackers who learn how to do it in university as part of their course so they can see how things go. Also in a lot of cases it isn't the fault of the supplier it is the fault of the hacker or the part in the system that just died and probably would not have been found on a normal scheduled service. In my opinion we have the attitude that no matter what happens it is always the fault of the company. Lately we seem to see big business as the baddie who is out to get as much as they can. But are we not doing that too. Perhaps it might be better to deal with individual cases for compensation than just do a blanket offer. Small business which is the life blood of the country needs to be offered any compensation first. Than those on fixed low incomes. Forget the data offer. Offer a couple of months free on the plan, give dollar compensation to the businesses. Yes they can do better, but so can we with our attitudes to things that may not be the fault of the company just the fault of a part failure or a hacker

 

[Lizzie1149]

Welcome to the world of litigation. Everybody wants to sue everybody else for the most miniscule reasons.

"I'm suing Optus because I couldn't make a waxing appointment for a Brazilian at Baldy's Beauty Boutique. Shine Lawyers think I'll get $1.2 billion for the inconvenience...." Fair dinkum - this is what it coming to.

yeah totally agree. Blame the company for something they had no control over (hacker or a part failure) and then sue them for everything. Attitude of most people lately is crazy

 

[Lizzie1149]

Compensating by giving extra data !!! What about home internet service?

My home internet is with optus so couldn't use computer, TV ect my problem was my son had a uni exam, online so panick sunk in, then he worked out to hotspot from his phone, our mobiles are with Vodafone.

My daughter who's phone is with optus and lives 15 minutes away was and still is sick with a really bad flu and needed us to get her 2 year old daughter but unfortunately she couldn't call or message out. She had a very high fever, shaking , body ache , head ache ect and couldn't even get her head off the pillow

This was the 2nd time in 8 weeks that we have had no internet, 8 weeks ago we were without internet for 32 hours. Wasn't given a reason , only that it was 6 streets in my area and it was urgent repairs .
To me I'm paying $120 amounts for a service I expect to keep running. I understand if it's through mother nature eg a storm or flood but other than that we are paying well and it should be kept running including maintenance

So there is still emergency on most mobile phones. Think they use satellite. Also if you knew she was sick and phones were out why not go over and check. We seem to have this entitled sense of you must supply. No things go wrong. Nothing is infallible. It's about time people started to organise themselves to have things in place when this sort of shit happens not just whinge about it when it's over. We live 60kms from the nearest hospital. We have neighbours. If something goes wrong and the phones aren't working easy to just go to the neighbour for help. We have forgotten how to care, about anyone

 

[Veggiepatch]

Lots of finger pointing and blame gaming goes on with these types of incidents and people love kicking the guts out of the company involved. You don't know - I don't know what caused this outage. Optus themselves don't seem to have much clue in their public disclosure. Hackers? Who knows?

 

[Suzanne rose]

So there is still emergency on most mobile phones. Think they use satellite. Also if you knew she was sick and phones were out why not go over and check. We seem to have this entitled sense of you must supply. No things go wrong. Nothing is infallible. It's about time people started to organise themselves to have things in place when this sort of shit happens not just whinge about it when it's over. We live 60kms from the nearest hospital. We have neighbours. If something goes wrong and the phones aren't working easy to just go to the neighbour for help. We have forgotten how to care, about anyone

I didn't know she was sick she lives in an apartment and doesn't know neighbours.

Sorry but when companies are charging so much for a service then they should make sure it's functioning.
Do you work for Optus ??

 

[Suzanne rose]

Lots of finger pointing and blame gaming goes on with these types of incidents and people love kicking the guts out of the company involved. You don't know - I don't know what caused this outage. Optus themselves don't seem to have much clue in their public disclosure. Hackers? Who knows?

My first thought was hackers and who knows might still be but apparently they are saying itwas old equipment not serviced properly .

I only had a 32 hour optus outage on the 17th September and I have had numerous emails about my optus account being compromised.

I think optus is doing something wrong

 

[Veggiepatch]

My first thought was hackers and who knows might still be but apparently they are saying itwas old equipment not serviced properly .

I only had a 32 hour optus outage on the 17th September and I have had numerous emails about my optus account being compromised.

I think optus is doing something wrong

Old infrastructure that is poorly maintained is a possible cause as well.

 

[Sheryl 58]

i

Last Wednesday, over 10 million Optus customers across Australia were left without mobile or home internet access in an unprecedented outage that impacted the telco's entire network.

Now, Optus is offering those affected customers a one-time reimbursement of 200GB of bonus data.

Customers impacted by the outage will receive 200GB of bonus data. From Monday, 13 November, eligible postpaid customers, including small businesses and consumers, can access the extra data. The offer can be activated until the end of the year.

For eligible prepaid customers, unlimited data on weekends is available until the end of the year. To learn more and add the offer to your plans, visit optus.com.au from Monday onwards.

View attachment 34332

In response to the outage, Optus has offered affected customers 200GB of extra data. Credit: Pexels.

However, not everyone is thrilled with this data compensation.

For example, Rachel from Sydney, who missed a crucial call from a hospital due to the outage, wasn't too pleased, as it cost her a chance to say a final farewell to her mother.

'You can't get those final moments back,' she said, arguing that no compensation from Optus can make up for missing the chance to say goodbye to her mother in those final moments.

'We can never, ever get that time back with our mum.'

Michael, a Sydney funeral celebrant impacted by the outage, also agreed that the compensation wasn't enough. He said, 'This compensation is no compensation.'

'You pay for a plan with a suitable amount of data in it, so you never go over it, so offering an extra 200GB costs (Optus) nothing, and we won't use it.'

Experts also say the compensation simply doesn't cut it.

Tech expert Trevor Long pointed out that the offer falls short due to the way people use their phones nowadays. 'If only data had that kind of value. It doesn't,' he said.

He mentioned that the average mobile user in Australia typically uses around 15 gigabytes of data, so 200GB doesn't provide much-added value.

Long also argued that Optus seemed to forget about small businesses and the impact of the outage on those working from home.

'They have essentially overlooked the businesses that aren't big enough to be on their business radar.'



So, what would be a more appropriate compensation?

Long suggested that a more suitable compensation from Optus could involve adding credit directly to users' mobile accounts. He also recommended keeping receipts during this period, as industry regulators and the ombudsman might investigate the compensation issue further.

Another thing to watch out for is scammers using the outage frustration to trick Optus customers with a new phishing scam.

Officials are advising all Optus users to be cautious of a text message claiming compensation for the disruption. This deceptive text message pretends to be from Optus and addresses recipients as existing customers.

Read more about it here.

Key Takeaways

• Optus has offered 200 gigabytes of free data as compensation for a significant outage affecting 10.2 million users across Australia.
• Tech expert Trevor Long has criticised the offer as 'meaningless' due to the nature of modern phone usage and the relatively small data needs of the average user.
• Long also claims Optus has overlooked the serious impact of the outage on small businesses and those working from home, so he suggested better compensation could involve credit on mobile accounts.

Members, what are your thoughts on this? Do you believe the data compensation is adequate? If not, what would you consider fair compensation? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

I am with Optus. About a month or so I was automatically upgraded to a new plan as my old plan was no longer used by Optus. A lot of the data I don't use and the price was significantly higher was not impressed with this and more so to think I am paying significantly more for my phone plan and to see the pathetic service. I feel for people who have been impacted by this in a way bigger way than I was but the extra data certainly not acceptable Optus needs to do better

 

[magpie1]

Maybe the Communication/Technology Industry should be consulting with this new wonder of the 21st Century that is called AI in order to come up with an answer to protect us all from scammers and hackers...if AI can't find a solution then you may ask yourself who CAN. ?

 

[Veggiepatch]

Maybe the Communication/Technology Industry should be consulting with this new wonder of the 21st Century that is called AI in order to come up with an answer to protect us all from scammers and hackers...if AI can't find a solution then you may ask yourself who CAN. ?

ChatGPT is your friend....

 

[PeterAUS53]

Totally agree. Compensation Shiuld Abe, one months free access. In other words they pay your account fully for 1 month. Businesses need to be addressed differently.

I sympathise with the lady not being able to day goodbye to her mum. I couldn't say goodbye to mine either as the as the Nuns running the St Vincent's Hospice in Darl8nghurst never even called me back in March 1981, to say her condition had worsened. They called me at work instead to tell me she had passed away around 6.30am. She died totally alone. I'll never forgive them for that and have regretted not tak8ng her home and looking after her myself. I'm a fully trained nurse now retired but had bills to pay so at that time ot wasn't an option.

My wife and I never said goodbye to her father or mother, though her father had cancer that turned into Peritonitis I was the one who had to give him the bad news. Fortunately he was being cared for by friends of intensive care and he was kept in ICU until he passed away. The head Doctor said it was out of respect for my wife and I and to repay me for the shocking way I was treated by the Ditector of Nursing who sacked me from my position as the Charge Nurse of the Medical Ward of the hospital. The medical Drs all bar one didn't like that I was removed. The 1 Dr who made a complaint, I never even had any warning, just called to her office and told I was no longer the Charge Nurse I was relegated back to an ordinary position. There was another nurse who was good friends with the Director of Nursong and I suspect she was reporting back to her about everything I did each day. Unfortunately for me I injured my back and had to give up everything I had worked for. I left a better job for this Cjathe Nurse position as the Evening Duty Supervisor of Greenich Hospital to go there. I had a terrible time for3 yrs trying to keep our heads above water. I did eventually secure a full time paid position with the ATO where I worked for 10 yrs.

I left the ATO did a ursong refresher course for 3 months, low and behold 3 of the trainers were 1st year fresh from the University trained nurses and couldn't believe I needed a refresher course to get my working licence back. I completed the course which included 2 weeks working unpaid in a hospital but that's a long story I won't bore you with that unless people are interested. I got a position working as a Scrub Nurse in a 10 room operating rooms. 2 and a half years and I reinjured my back and ended up on a disability Support Pension which I'm still on which is a terrible way to live. My health has deteriorated a lot since then
That was in 2000. Pension simply isn't enough to live on.

 

[Suzanne rose]

Totally agree. Compensation Shiuld Abe, one months free access. In other words they pay your account fully for 1 month. Businesses need to be addressed differently.

I sympathise with the lady not being able to day goodbye to her mum. I couldn't say goodbye to mine either as the as the Nuns running the St Vincent's Hospice in Darl8nghurst never even called me back in March 1981, to say her condition had worsened. They called me at work instead to tell me she had passed away around 6.30am. She died totally alone. I'll never forgive them for that and have regretted not tak8ng her home and looking after her myself. I'm a fully trained nurse now retired but had bills to pay so at that time ot wasn't an option.

My wife and I never said goodbye to her father or mother, though her father had cancer that turned into Peritonitis I was the one who had to give him the bad news. Fortunately he was being cared for by friends of intensive care and he was kept in ICU until he passed away. The head Doctor said it was out of respect for my wife and I and to repay me for the shocking way I was treated by the Ditector of Nursing who sacked me from my position as the Charge Nurse of the Medical Ward of the hospital. The medical Drs all bar one didn't like that I was removed. The 1 Dr who made a complaint, I never even had any warning, just called to her office and told I was no longer the Charge Nurse I was relegated back to an ordinary position. There was another nurse who was good friends with the Director of Nursong and I suspect she was reporting back to her about everything I did each day. Unfortunately for me I injured my back and had to give up everything I had worked for. I left a better job for this Cjathe Nurse position as the Evening Duty Supervisor of Greenich Hospital to go there. I had a terrible time for3 yrs trying to keep our heads above water. I did eventually secure a full time paid position with the ATO where I worked for 10 yrs.

I left the ATO did a ursong refresher course for 3 months, low and behold 3 of the trainers were 1st year fresh from the University trained nurses and couldn't believe I needed a refresher course to get my working licence back. I completed the course which included 2 weeks working unpaid in a hospital but that's a long story I won't bore you with that unless people are interested. I got a position working as a Scrub Nurse in a 10 room operating rooms. 2 and a half years and I reinjured my back and ended up on a disability Support Pension which I'm still on which is a terrible way to live. My health has deteriorated a lot since then
That was in 2000. Pension simply isn't enough to live on.

What a sad story