Yahoo Finance Optus outage has customers seeing red
Optus customers were fuming last night as the major mobile network continued to experience outages to its services.
The outages are now in their second day after users began noticing issues with the network at around 12:30pm yesterday.
Since then, affected users have struggled to access Netflix, Xbox Live, online PlayStation and other international websites and gaming services.
Optus responding to the issue yesterday evening, saying it was aware of the issue and that its tech team was working to resolve it.
“Our tech team is working through an issue currently impacting access to some websites. Please DM us with more info if you’re experiencing difficulties and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience,” Optus said.
UPDATE: our tech team is working through an issue currently impacting access to some websites. Please DM us with more info if you’re experiencing difficulties and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience.
— Optus (@Optus) May 22, 2019
But for many customers, the apology was too little, too late.
“Any update? Still not working and no response to DM… we’ve got businesses to run,” said one annoyed customer.
Any update? Still not working and no response to DM... we’ve got businesses to run. pic.twitter.com/aIlcz0gOKD
— Amber Barnes (@AmberBa55336750) May 22, 2019
“Unbelievable that a “top tier” provider is unable to resolve this quickly. Businesses are suffering immensely under this outage,” added another.
Unbelievable that a "top tier" provider is unable to resolve this quickly. Businesses are suffering immensely under this outage.
Not to mention, those of us missing opportunities.
Compensation needs to be considered. Radio silence is not acceptable imo.— YZHQ (@YZHQCrew) May 22, 2019
Others forecast a mass exit from the telco.
So nothing has changed with the @optus outage overnight. Still can't access anything other than social media & banking.
Brilliant customer service with NO update, No explanation, just A LOT of angry, frustrated customers.
I can see a mass exodus rivaling the Titanic coming— Laura (@SportySpud) May 22, 2019
And others still wondered why Optus hadn’t told customers about the outage.
“Optus - would have been nice if you informed your customers of this outage. Took me a while to figure out that it wasn’t my devices but the Optus service itself that was screwing my business,” one user commented.
This is excellent advice. Thank you @bdrinkwater . @optus - would have been nice if you informed your customers of this outage. Took me a while to figure out that it wasn’t my devices but the Optus service itself that was screwing my business.
— James Willson (@jameswill357) May 22, 2019
At time of writing, Optus’ webpage designed to show customers where there are outages is also listed as having “moved”.
Users also complained of Optus’ 24-hour-chat service being offline or dropping out.
While there be compensation?
Compensation will be determined on a “case by case” basis, an Optus spokesperson said.
However, many customers and business owners have argued they have lost money as a result of the outage.
Will you be compensating customers for this outage? It's been hours with no service and no update from Optus about when it will be fixed.
— Jill Stark (@jillastark) May 22, 2019
“This is literally costing my money because I can’t work,” reporter Jenna Guillaume said.
Yeah this is literally costing me money because I can’t complete my work 💀
— Jenna Guillaume (@JennaGuillaume) May 22, 2019
“Wouldn’t be impressed if you were a small business owner relying on internet access to make a living,” added another.
Optus made headlines last month when it announced 440 employees would be made redundant as the business shifts its focus to “digitisation and automation”.
That announcement came two weeks after Optus announced a 2018 quarterly profit of $154 million.
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