Telstra apologises for outage with unlimited mobile data this Sunday

Telstra 4G

Telstra charges a premium for its mobile network, so when things go wrong and the service goes down, customers understandably get upset.

The good news is that Telstra is planning on making it up to its customers by offering a day of unlimited data this Sunday, Feb 14.

Customers don't need to do anything special to get the data – it will happen automatically for all Telstra Mobile Customers.

Erode the node

The error itself has also been explained. In a post on its Exchange blog, Telstra Operations COO Kate McKenzie explained that the error was caused by proper procedures not being followed.

"Our mobile network is set up with a number of major connection points (what we call nodes) around the country, which our customers connect to. These nodes are the equipment that essentially manage the flow of voice and data traffic across our mobile network," the post explains.

Ultimately, there was a fault at a node, and when it was taken offline to fix, the proper processes weren't followed to ensure services continued properly.

"Unfortunately on this occasion the right procedures were not followed and this resulted in customers being disconnected and consequent heavy congestion on other nodes as customers attempted to reconnect to the network," McKenzie explained.

Having spent the past decade editing some of Australia's leading technology publications, Nick's passion for the latest gadgetry is matched only by his love of watching Australia beat England in the rugby.