Telstra is having problems with their smart modems failing, and unlike Amazon, who can deliver the same day or the next, Telstra has not bothered to work out how to ship a product a week later, after an NBN connection goes down leaving consumers with no Internet connection and no way of using a 5G emergency SIM that is built into their so called Smart Modem which when the power supply fails is useless.

But it gets better with Telstra relationship managers such as a so called “Angelo’ claiming that after multiple calls to identify the problem and then days waiting for a modem customer one has to “Stay calm” “don’t get angry” or else as I was told the order for the modem would be cancelled.

This is an organisation that now has total control of businesses and people working from home and rely on a working NBN connection.

And on top of that Telstra who was recently fined $1.5m for failing to safely authenticate the identity of users who swapped SIM cards, is taking days to address support calls with Telstra ‘Wally’s’ in foreign Countries, who call themselves Customer Relationship Managers, and who are powerless struggling to come up with solutions.

Eight days ago, my Telstra NBN service failed, several calls to Telstra support that appears to be based in India failed to deliver a consultant who could actually do something about it.

My own investigations revealed that the cause of the failure was a dead Telstra Smart Modem and despite swapping out power supply and multiple checks this model was totally dead.

Finally, I was put in touch with a real technician in Australia after refusing to take another call back call.

They were able to ping the connection on the Telstra network and they agreed it was a ‘dead modem’.

Six days on Telstra has still not delivered the modem, their latest claim is that “‘s StarTrack’s fault”.

Really, how about legislation that forces carriers to use same day or next day courier services for essential services, as millions of businesses today rely on a broadband connection to run their business. Then there are the millions now working from home including hundreds of Telstra staff.

This is the same carrier that screwed up the original installation of the now failed service (See story here).

Recently the communications watchdog claimed that the nation’s largest telco left more than 100,000 people vulnerable to scams.

ACMA found Telstra had failed to authenticate customer IDs on 168,000 high-risk customer interactions including SIM-swap requests and password resets.

This is also the same network that is this week sending out notifications of significant mobile price rises.

Back in 2018 the Federal Court ruled that Telstra must pay a $10 million penalty after finding it misled 100,000 customers with its premium direct billing.

In 2021 the Federal Court has hit Telstra with a $50 million fine for its “unconscionable conduct” towards Indigenous customers.

The company admitted selling up to 108 remote Indigenous customers mobile plans they didn’t understand and couldn’t afford between 2016 and 2018.

Telstra has not commented over the failure of their  not very good ‘Smart Modems’.