Optus urged to compensate Qld customers for network failure
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Optus says the network problems were caused by a software bug. (AFP: William West, file photo)
The Queensland Consumers Association (QCA) says Optus should compensate mobile phone and internet customers affected by yesterday's network disruptions.
The network went down in the morning, was restored temporarily, but crashed again in the afternoon, disrupting services to customers in Brisbane and the Gold Coast in state's south-east.
Optus says it was caused by a software bug but it was the third day of disruptions to services in as many weeks.
QCA president Sherrie Dalley says thousands of people are paying for a service that is not up to scratch.
"In the ordinary world, [if] a consumer has purchased a product that doesn't function, refunds happen," she said.
"So in the telecommunications world that shouldn't be any different - perhaps even a small discount to all of their customers because each of them must have been disadvantaged at some stage."
Ms Dalley says she is concerned the company is taking the outages too lightly.
"Consumers are paying for this service, they're paying quite a lot of money and it is time we had a really good service," she said.
"There are certain parts of the country where you still - I mean even certain parts of my city - where you can't get coverage at all and that needs to be resolved."
Optus says services were restored last night and does not want to comment on calls for compensation.
