Links—service & equipment faults

Equipment links

• Guarantees, warranties & refunds (ACCC FAQs)
• Your consumer rights: mobile phone handsets (ACCC PDF)
• State & Territory offices of Fair Trading/Consumer Affairs (to lodge a complaint about equipment not supplied with a telephone or internet service contract)
• Look on ACMA's factsheets page for:
  • Labelling of telecommunications equipment and cabling
  • The A-tick
  • Telephones and power failure
  • Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) equipment regulation
  • Phone, data or alarm cabling? Play it safe – only use a registered cabler
  • Compliance requirements for an IT product fitted with a spread spectrum or digital modulation device
  • Mobile phone handsets
  • Mobile phone boosters banned
  • Bringing telecommunications equipment into Australia
• See also disability services links

Payphone faults

• Telstra payphone pages & payphone enquiry line: 18 02244 (free call)
• Payphone complaints (ACMA factsheet)
• Payphone FAQs (ACMA)
• Using Telstra payphones (ACMA factsheet)
• Payphones in indigenous communities (Australian Government archive)
  • Community telephones - telephone element of Backing Indigenous Ability Government initiative

Landline service faults

• Customer Service Guarantee (CSG) Standard for phone users (ACMA FAQs)
• TIO position statements on the compensation for service faults including:
  • Compensation for business loss
  • Introduction to Customer Service Guarantee Standard
  • Repair delays
  • Intermittent faults and the CSG
  • Mass Service Disruptions - about service areas and times exempt from payment of compensation for delays in connecting or repairing services
• ACMA has factsheets on:
  • CSG Standard
  • Your rights to an interim or alternative phone service under the Universal Service Obligation
  • Priority assistance - a rapid telephone repair and connection service
  • Monitoring telephone service quality
• Service provider lists of Mass Service Disruption notices
  • Optus
  • Telstra
• TIO position statements on the Priority Assistance Scheme - a rapid telephone repair service
  • Introductory note about priority services
  • Application for priority assistance rejected
  • Failure to notify customers of priority assistance program
  • Response timeframes not met
• Cabling beyond first socket or main distribution frame (MDF) (TIO position statement)

Mobile service faults

• Changing to Next G - process & problems (Department of Broadband & Communications)
• Your consumer rights: mobile phone handsets (ACCC PDF)
• Mobile dropouts and poor coverage (TIO position statement)
• Compensation for business loss (TIO position statement)
• See links to information about mobile technology
• Mobile carriers' faults & coverage pages
  • 3 (Hutchison)
    • technical difficulties FAQs
    • coverage
  • Optus
    • mobile troubleshooting
    • coverage
  • Telstra
    • Next G coverage hotline - 1800 888 888
    • online coverage reporting
    • troubleshooting mobile phone problems
    • mobile service commitment
  • Vodafone
    • call difficulties FAQs
    • coverage
  • Another provider?
    • coverage: unless it is a satellite mobile provider, any other provider will be using one of the mobile networks owned by the above carriers. Call your provider for assistance.
    • handset problem: call your service provider and/or search its website ("faults" "troubleshooting" "customer help" "customer care")

Internet service faults

• Getting the best connection (ACMA)
• The Internet Assistance Program has general tips and self-help kits for:
  • testing your Internet speed
  • keeping your line free of noise and interference, including environmental factors
  • setting up your modem and your browser to reach maximum possible speed
• Digital data service obligation (ACMA on minimum internet speeds)
• Telstra's Digital Data Service Plans
• Broadband internet speed claims and the Trade Practices Act (ACCC information paper)
• Internet speed (TIO position statement)
• Internet Outages (TIO position statement)

VOIP service faults

• Internet calls (ACMA factsheet)
• VOIP equipment (ACMA factsheet)
• Communications Alliance VoIP factsheets include:
  • So you want a VoIP service (VoIP customer booklet)
  • A basic guide to VoIP technical terms and issues
  • Access to emergency services for users of VoIPand Internet Telephony
  • VoIP service provider guide

Regulations about network performance & fault management

• Quality of service overview information (Department of Communications, Information Technology & the Arts)
• Monitoring service quality (ACMA factsheet)
• Network reliability framework (ACMA factsheet)
• Universal Service Obligation (USO) & register of USO plans/determinations (ACMA factsheets)
• Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) codes:
  • Customer and network fault management (ACIF C513:2004)
  • End to end network performance for the standard telephone service (ACIF C519:3004)
  • Unconditioned local loop service (ULLS) network deployment (ACIF C559:2006)
  • Deployment of mobile phone network infrastructure (ACIF C564:2004)
• See also ACIF standards, specifications & guidelines

Last updated: February 2008