Contact News

Newsletter April 2012
The state of our Telecommunications Industry is, to say the least, woeful. Every day I hear from clients who have problems with their carriers. It appears that a very high proportion of carriers have extreme difficulty in keeping accounts straight, and clients are always fighting for correct accounts. When one client of ours insisted on copy invoices for supposedly outstanding charges, the carrier was unable to furnish such. Surely, if you have not received an invoice, you are within your rights to receive such, for accounting and taxation records. This is especially true of companies who employ auditors. In fact, business owners are required by Companies Legislation to have sufficient records to allow a proper investigation into their company’s affairs, and supplier invoices are a part of any such records. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman received approximately 22,000 complaints in 2011, and has admitted in media interviews that 13,000 new complaints have been lodged in the first half of this financial year, many of which are from small businesses.
We have heard of many cases where carriers apply Late Payment Charges, whilst complaints are being handled by another area of the carrier’s staff, resulting in further complaints to the carrier, and sometimes, a very strong refusal to credit such charges, in addition to waiting in interminable queues. Once again, the hapless business owner is forced to waste productive time in fighting the carrier.
There are also many complaints relating to poor signal levels with various Mobile Carriers. In our case, we have two Apple I-phones used by staff, both on different networks, and one has lower signal strength, and consequently poorer reliability than the other! This is unacceptable, especially as we are within 1km of both carriers’ transmitters! Carriers show coverage maps which seem to indicate excellent coverage. In fact, poor coverage is one of the more common complaints made to the ombudsman. I know of cases where the client has cancelled contracts because the coverage and signal level are not as stated when the mobile was purchased, using these shortcomings as grounds for breach of contract, only to find the carrier insists on the contract being paid out. Clients should be aware that any phones bought are purchased from the phone company, so that the phone company is one of the parties in the contract of sale, and is the party to look to for compensation and/or cancellation of the contract for failure to supply goods and services as specified in the contract. Refusal to deal with this problem on the part of the phone company is unacceptable, and such insistence should be immediately passed to the TIO, as it would seem that the carrier in question is guilty of misrepresentation, and/or misleading conduct.
Wired services also show serious problems. We attended a client’s premises because the alarm could not signal to our Control Room. The carrier stated that testing revealed no abnormality in the service, and blamed the alarm panel. Because of the security risk at this premises, we provided a new panel, which signaled correctly. We tested the “defective” alarm panel at our office, and it worked perfectly. Despite the carrier’s comments, the problem was the phone line. I have advised the client to demand the carrier pay the costs of the changeover, and if they refuse, to refer the matter to the TIO for adjudication. We are happy to provide any evidence required by the TIO.
Further investigation revealed that the carrier in question is reputed to be supplying VOIP Lines from the exchange. There was a possibility that the line impedance is not the same as the original alarm panel. The carrier perhaps needs to pay attention to maintenance of correct impedance. Interestingly enough, the carrier in question was unable to tell us the impedance of the line in question, and was not prepared to discuss any testing of such by the carrier’s staff. Service Techs need to be aware of these problems, since so many are self employed, and stand to lose out when carriers refuse to deal with the costs incurred in providing a proper level of service to the client. Worse still, it is almost impossible to obtain payment from the carriers for unnecessary alarm service calls requested by the client at the insistence of the carriers. In the end, either the customer pays, or the technician accepts the loss in an attempt to retain a customer. Neither alternative is fair or just!
On another service call, the client advised us that the carrier’s technician stated to her that the alarm was faulty, after testing at her residence. We simply asked her to turn off her router, and the alarm signaled cleanly. The carrier was again advised that the problem appeared to be with the ADSL filter supplied by the carrier. This filter was replaced, but the problem persisted. When she insisted that the alarm appeared to perform satisfactorily when the Router was turned off, and insisted that the matter was their problem, the technician returning her call advised her that he had made an adjustment in the exchange. The alarm was immediately tested, and sent clear signals, even though the router was turned on. Once again, the alarm was blamed for the shortcomings of their system! Quite possibly, this was also an impedance problem, as the line was adjusted within a few minutes. This may have been as simple as adjusting the capacitance of the supply network to the client’s premises. In this case, we have had a repetition of the problem, since the alarm is now exhibiting the same problem as before. We are advising the client to contact the TIO regarding this, since it is grossly unfair that the client should be forced to pay for continual unnecessary service calls, when the problem is not the alarm, but the carrier’s line. After all, the impedance of the alarm does not usually vary, but the line impedance can and does vary.
I admit that I am heartily sick of carriers who blame the alarm when ever possible. I suggest that, on service calls where it is necessary to have the line tested, that you disconnect the alarm, and then advise the carrier that an alarm uses that line, and ask for the tests to be done. When the carrier says that the problem is within the alarm, you may happily advise them “How can that be? I have disconnected the alarm from the line! You are simply testing your line!”
In an interview with ABC News, the Telecommunications Ombudsman stated “There remain very substantial opportunities for service providers to do a much better job in dealing with complaints, a much better job in understanding the issues that consumers are coming to them with and offering them solutions that work for them”(Quoted from ABC News 29th Feb 2012)
I am prepared to admit that there are some instances, as in any class of equipment, where the alarm is at fault, but, in general, the problems are in the line supplied. The lack of understanding and/or training of the carriers’ technicians makes life far more difficult when trouble shooting equipment. As a person involved in training Alarm Technicians to Trade Level, I am aware of the generally poor knowledge regarding ADSL and its problems. It seems however, that the carriers are not interested in upskilling their service staff, and take the line that they are only required to provide a service which allows you to speak on the line. Noticeably they will still sell these other products, particularly ADSL, but appear to be unwilling to maintain and service them, and most certainly do not advise prospective customers of the lack of standards in ADSL Supply, and simply do not wish to know, even though they were the original suppliers. It requires an amazing amount of insistence and persistence to obtain service. I have seen a carriers’ serviceman arrive on an ADSL call, with only an analogue butt, and maintain the line tests as perfectly clear! When I pointed out that the problems with ADSL are in inaudible frequencies, he then advised that the carrier’s legal liability ends with the supply of an analogue that is clear to speech!
On the other hand, we, as an industry are expected to service and back up our products, as well as having an ethical and moral duty to supply service to our customers. Our customers have a right to expect the same level of service and assistance from the carriers for the carrier’s products as well as our industry.
The lack of consideration for customers of the carriers makes me wonder, do ethics change according to the size of the business?
Should any of our readers have problems with carriers, we would be happy to advise them on their options. E-mails to john@contactservices.com.au with a contact phone number.

Newsletter November 2011
Our newsletter this month is a real mix of problems we have seen occur.
The first one is a nasty piece of malware which jams up your computer if it is loaded. It generally arrives in an email, addressed to okinfo@ your site. It suggests that you have been wrongly charged for an item on your credit card, and requests that you go to the attached form and fill out a refund voucher. If you do, the “payload” of malware is loaded onto your computer. It is often a program called “Personal Shield Pro” and masquerades as a virus checker. It will read your address book and eventually disable all safeguards in Windows, and lock up your computer, so that it becomes unusable, all within a period of 20 minutes. It can be removed with care and knowledge. In the interim, you should consider disconnecting your router connection to the computer, and also disconnect any LAN cables from the affected computer, to stop spread of the infection, and shut down the computer. Remedial efforts should include the installation of a Bastion Computer, which is not connected to your LAN, so that it can be quickly wiped, and the operating system re-loaded.
Beware of any e-mail which is addressed to you as okinfo.yourname.com or obvious derivatives. We have received attempts to con us into opening a malware file, for various excuses, such as Uncollected Parcel from Australia Post, a threat to sue for sending spam and enclosing a document with details of the offending spam, and a request to claim a refund due on your credit card. In all cases, you are asked to open the attached file. The most obvious warning sign is the file containing the malware is compressed, which should be unnecessary for a document comprising several sheets of paper!
We are still receiving complaints from clients who are being contacted by an “employee” of Microsoft, who states that they have remotely checked the persons computer. They often match phone numbers with electoral records, so they address the victim by their full name, which attempts to show that they are genuine Microsoft Staff, and they will often ask for the serial number of your Windows Disc, which is used for the sale of illegal copies of Windows Systems. They may also often attempt to sell their “Virus Checker”, trying to extract a Credit Card payment at that time. The purchased disc never arrives, and they have not only taken your money, but they will almost certainly use the information to either purchase goods by fraud, or place your credit card number on a bogus credit card which they then sell to other scammers. We received such a call supposedly from Microsoft, we asked where their head office was, and they said Dubbo!
We are receiving many comments from clients regarding the length of time taken to repair street cable faults. One client of ours has had a line out for over a week, after we advised them of this, and still have no information as to when the cable should be repaired. Possibly contacting your carrier and requesting a loan of an Ericsson W35 Unit complete with sim card to replace the faulty phone may be an incentive for the carrier to repair the cable, since such an arrangement will pay for call diversions! Failure to either repair the cable within a reasonable time, and/or failure to supply the Radio Phone unit should be grounds for a complaint to the Telecommunications Ombudsman, stating that you have requested a loan unit from the carrier because of fault on the line.
Electricity is also in the news. The electricity companies are supplying smart meters, which allow them to selectively switch off power at the consumer’s house. They blame our love affair with air conditioners, completely neglecting the fact that some people require temperature control for medical reasons, during the day. Are they also going to selectively shut down power to offices and factories? Since computers require temperature control, this would mean that factories would need to stop operations during such shutdowns. Perhaps the answer is to install your own generators in commercial premises and tell the supply companies “Goodbye!” Perhaps some of the larger companies will attempt to sue for damages as the result of losses or damaged stock caused by such blackouts.
This sort of behaviour by suppliers, resulting from the complete neglect of maintenance and forward planning makes us appear like 3rd world countries, and is not acceptable. Couple this with the government’s reduction in solar energy payments and inducements is a complete disgrace. If proper forward planning had occurred, we would not be facing a return to the bad old days of blackouts because we have insufficient capacity to provide for our energy needs. Green energy is being throttled by shortsighted and indifferent planners at a time we should be seeking to expand the amount of power generated by green initiatives, which will reduce the cost of expanding the generation capacity, as well as ongoing maintenance costs, since the equipment will be maintained by the user, and not the supplier. So much for so-called green attitudes in government! Other initiatives have been a waste of our money and government time, and they continue to reduce the money being spent on real initiatives.

Newsletter July 2011- The ADSL War Continues
Our continuing investigations into the problems of ADSL Supply continue. Telstra seems to have dropped the ball in this area. I spoke recently with some residents in a new Housing Development near my residence. One person, from her comments, has been waiting for over 6 months for ADSL to be connected. There were apparently no spare pairs in the area, and no spare ports in the DSLAM for her chosen supplier. Wireless ADSL is ineffective and patchy where she lives, and she has been forced to rely on her mobile phone for any e-mail etc. Other people in the development state that they have been waiting even longer for ADSL Services. This bears out the contention of one of the Techs who attended our office that there are no spare pairs in the street cable from the exchange.
Worse still, I crossed swords with a Telstra Technician who stated that “So long as you can make and receive phone calls on the line, Telstra’s obligations are satisfied!”
Checking with the Telecommunications Ombudsman revealed that there are no relevant standards for ADSL Supply, and accordingly they are unable to demand that Telstra remedy the problem! Worse still, almost all ADSL is transmitted over Telstra owned copper cables, except for the Optus Cable Network. However, with the Optus Cable Network you cannot obtain a Static IP Address, and are forced to use Telstra Cable if you require a Static IP Address. No matter who the ADSL Supplier is, Telstra effectively has a monopoly on delivering ADSL, and we have no real choice. It would appear that Telstra are not catering to new customers, and waiting until the NBN is finally installed. The continuing delays in the NBN mean that nobody has any accurate idea of when the burgeoning problems will be fixed. In the meantime, customers are suffering because of lack of essential facilities for home offices, and for contact with employers’ offices.
The general problems caused by lack of maintenance and lack of planned expansion continue to plague those of us who are so silly as to actually expect a satisfactory level of service for our hard earned money. I note also that there is no difference between Domestic and Commercial ADSL Service, except the price, as all ADSL comes over the same cable! Why then are we being charged extra cost for a “Business Service”, even when the data allowances are no different? No one will answer that question, or even speculate on how the service for Business users can be improved!
Wireless ADSL is extremely expensive, for minute data levels, and is often subject to problems and unreliability due to geographical features. In one area of Liverpool alone, there is a need to supply new phones to over 1000 new homes, and over 100 new Commercial Units, and this equates to approximately 1600 new customers, and an extra 1000 lines available at the exchange, to allow the usual loading of about 3 lines to 5 customers. It appears that Telstra has used every artifice in technology to provide phone services, but what are called Value Added Services such as ADSL do not appear to be capable of being supplied in the volume required. This is probably due to the lack of pairs of wires from the exchange, and the use of local mini-exchanges called “rims”, which is short for remote intermediate multiplexer, where multiple lines are supplied to the rim via considerably less pairs than for conventional lines. Multiply these problems (apparently the result of poor planning and maintenance) by the number of exchanges in Sydney, and we are set for even more serious problems in supplying business and domestic services demanded by customers today.
Worse still, I have written to the Minister’s Office, Australian Cabling and Media Authority, Australian Telephone Users Group, Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, the State Fair Trading Dept., and the Telecommunications Ombudsman, all with no real answer. In fact, everyone except the Telecommunications Ombudsman really did not want to be involved! So much for the Government wishing to assist the poor consumer, and the small business owner. The Ombudsman even admitted in writing that there were no standards relevant to complaints of poor ADSL Service and Servicemen. In other Associations, only ACCAN went to the trouble of advising me that they required a large amount of complaints about a matter, so that they can respond at Policy Making Level in interviews with Government officials.
The only way we will get effective action is to deluge all the various organisations with demands that they assist in getting the matter pushed under Government noses, and not to let up until we get effective action. The situation must be bad, since the Telecommunications Ombudsman is receiving approximately 14,000 complaints per month. Consider how much more effective our protests would be if we each sent a copy of our complaints to the Ministers Office, as well as to the TIO. Even better, imagine the media interest if we were able to deliver several bags of complaint mail at once. Ah well, we can all dream! Even better, if we all write to the media, we may even get a hearing on one of the current affairs shows, and really publicise the problems we are experiencing. The answer is in our hands, if we are prepared to try and force a decision!
During our ongoing battle over ADSL, we noticed that the suppliers we have spoken to seem to assume that, if the SYNC light does not flash or go out on a router, the session has not been interrupted. This is not so. We have mentioned this in the past, and we have been able to demonstrate within our office, to Technical Staff from suppliers, that we can lose the ADSL Service, without the sync light showing any alteration. In fact one of the Techs noticed that our equipment detected the loss of the ADSL even though the sync light was stable. He was so impressed that he asked whether he could buy the same equipment from us. I suggested he refer it to his management, but nothing happened! We have since found that this problem seems to extend to other suppliers we have looked at on behalf of clients, so it appears to be industry wide, as we also have mentioned in the past. We can only warn you to be aware of this problem when discussing poor service from a supplier.
Another problem appears to be that many Service Technicians are not well trained in ADSL Service. The lack of training results in even some of the more simple problems becoming, at first glance. A far more serious problem I had occasion to discuss noise generated by an excess of In-Line Filters on equipment at a site, and the Technician should have been aware of this, but did not
understand that this was so. He further did not seem to understand the use of filters on lines, particularly in circuitry within In-line Filters and Central Filters. This was unbelievable, since the person in question was involved in training of staff within his employer’s company! In fact, it is extremely difficult to source a decent text-book on this type of training, and there is so much misinformation and lack of knowledge that the whole industry is affected.
As I said last month, the only answer is to place so many complaints in front of the Government that they recognise that there is a large group of very unhappy and dissatisfied electors who demand real answers.
Feel free to write or email me regarding these problems, and I will be happy to assist in this minefield.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Green Corner
I recently attended a meeting on Local Council Zoning, and in conversation prior to the meeting, someone mentioned that they had been advised that Gas heating was the cheapest to run. Despite the cost of electricity, the cheapest heating to use is still a reverse cycle Air Conditioner.
Consider that with Electrical and Gas Heaters, you are using them to actually heat the air, as well as move it by the use of a fan in some cases. The use of energy to heat the air is expensive in fuel or electricity costs, as well as contaminants released into the air by the manufacture of electricity or supplying Gas as a fuel.
Using a Reverse Cycle Air conditioner simply removes heat from the outside air (there is heat in air, even if it is at low temperature) and pump it into the area to be heated. It is much cheaper to pump existing heat than to supply energy to heat the air. This exactly how an Auto Defrost Refrigerator works, using heat pumped in from outside to melt the ice and frost.
As a matter of interest, there is also available a reverse cycle Hot Water Service, which heats the water by pumping heat in from outside into the water, in the same manner. This is the next alternative to Solar Hot Water, when, for any reason, Solar Heating is not effective at a site, and is cheaper to operate than a standard Hot Water Service.
I recently received a notice from the National Electronics and Communication Association that they are preparing a list of qualified Electricians to investigate and check Solar Generation Systems due to the safety problems occurring in so many installations. This is a serious problem, and has the potential to become another major scandal as the low standard of workmanship in so many installations is being uncovered. If you have any doubts regarding your installation, you should have a qualified person check it for you.

Newsletter June 2010
Firstly, my apologies for the break in Newsletters. I have been extremely busy with alterations in product updating and design work, as well as updating our web page. Add to this, the fact that I have completely updated and expanded my Technical Training Manual for Student Alarm Technicians, and spent time on fighting the ADSL War, and I have simply run out of time. However, the major projects are finished, and we resume our Newsletters.
THE ADSL WAR
The war with ADSL Suppliers intensifies. Our problems with ADSL Supply have caused us to look further into the industry. Our suppliers have been extremely helpful in attempting to solve our continuing problems and the situation has now moved to examination of the transmission network.
From information received in interviews with Techs working in the field, it would appear that, over the past few years, a very limited amount of work was done on forecasting future requirements, for whatever reason.
For example, when we look at the Liverpool Area, we are advised that in some street cables there are no spare wires available, so cable faults cannot simply be repaired using wiring shortcuts. Worse still, there are areas where cables have been damaged by corrosion, and need reterminating and/or replacement. Cable replacement will be expensive and result in long waiting times for the work as the street cables often have to be made to order, and repair work will only proceed when the manufacturer has the capacity to make the necessary cable.
Discussions with field technicians seem to indicate that this is symptomatic of many areas, and that such was the result of reliance on the new NBN Network being installed, (which still has not been completely enabled by Legislation) This neglect is partially masked by the fact that many ADSL Subscribers are totally unaware of the level of loss and restore occurring, since their only intimation is delay in sending documents, or in obtaining a webpage on their computer. Both of our suppliers were surprised that we were able to accurately map outages and restorals, as most customers are flying blind in this type of problem.
The lack of pre-planning of Network Future Demand is a disgusting mess, since in the Liverpool Area we have 1000 homes being constructed within a new estate, and over 100 new commercial units and factories, requiring possibly 1000 extra lines. Since many of this 1000 lines will require ADSL, the network cannot supply sufficient new lines, particularly as ADSL requires certain specific wiring techniques. I have to ask why we are paying such high service fees when the Network appears not to have been properly maintained, and has apparently consistently been allowed to deteriorate without future planning.
After all, this problem must stem from some years back, and pre-dates the NBN proposal. Worse still, there are other symptoms of cable breakdown. Some of these are whether your alarm is having problems in signalling to your security company, and your alarm does not hear the computer tone to indicate it had successfully communicated, or has multiple attempts to contact the security company. These symptoms are all indicative of probable phone line cabling faults, and need correction.
Further, we still see technicians arriving at a site with only a Linesman’s Telephone, and pronouncing the line clear, without even checking signal levels at the client’s site.
If you are experiencing the result of this disregard of customer needs, then you need to take action NOW. In fact, if you are having any problem with your phones, advise your supplier once, and then refer the complaint to the TIO if not fixed. Also contact your local Federal Member, and demand that this situation be brought up in Parliament. The Government is washing its hands of any assistance for complaints in the Telecommunications Industry, despite the fact that they are one of the largest shareholders in Telstra, and could, as a shareholder demand that Telstra lead the way with enlightened service for clients (a totally new concept?!). Telstra relies on the fact that there is no current standard for ADSL delivery, and that they are only required to provide a phone line which will transmit conversation. I have received written advice from the TIO that this is the position. Since almost all ADSL customers are serviced via Telstra owned cabling, customers have no alternative for large data usage, since wireless ADSL is expensive and unreliable, particularly as at least one wireless company uses a standard cell-phone network for transmission.
I suggest that, on every occasion you have an ADSL problem, you submit a TIO complaint. This will force the TIO to note in annual reports, the level of continuing complaints regarding ADSL Further, I suggest that you write to Australian Standards, asking why there is no available standard, and when is there any action being taken to remedy this, to the Minister responsible, and to your local member.
A deluge of complaint letters may be the only way to accomplish any real action.
PHONE SCAMS
There also appears to be a number of Telemarketers who are offering phone deals which will not be delivered, no matter what is said or promised, and is conduct which I consider to be nothing but a scam.
We had one such caller, who said that she was calling about our Telstra Account, and that we were eligible for certain benefits. I asked if she was a Telstra employee, and she said no. I then stated that I wanted to know what company was contacting us, before proceeding with any discussions. Her answer was “I’ll stop right now!” and then hung up! Other advertisers have been fined by ACCC, ACMA and the TIO for scamming customers or misrepresenting deals, and the unfortunate part of this
particular call is that we have no company name to forward for action. Should you be contacted in this
manner, obtain a name and advise ACCC, CMA, or the TIO, and possibly Fair Trading. These scammers need to be found and penalized.
Apart from wasting your time, their “deals” need to be carefully investigated before you commit, as they
usually cost more money than less. Bluntly, these callers are committing a criminal act of misrepresentation or fraud, and need to be dealt with by law.
Our policy is never to buy from Cold Callers unless they represent companies with whom we currently transact business.

Green Corner

We note that, more and more, the evidence of who was responsible for the Great Insulation Scam was not the Minister, who appears to have been the author of a number of notes to the then Prime Minister, and his Deputy. These safety notes appear to have been totally ignored, resulting in aMassive Numbers of Problem Installations, with a number of Safety Incidents and Deaths resulting from unsatisfactory training of installers.

The Government has blamed the Business Owners for the shortfall in training, even though business owners sent staff to the Government Sponsored Training Course! This course was a pre-condition for installers and business owners to allow participation in the Government Grant System, so why is the Government complaining about abuses not detected because of ineptitude or lack of
supervision of installer staff by their employers? Why did the government not also check for the rorts which occurred while the program was in force?

Worse still, we will all pay for the cost of the necessary cleanup up of bad installations. Further, there are many business owners who, in good faith, bought stock, and were left with no customers and no income when the government finally recognized its poor administration of the scheme and cancelled it.
Some unfortunate customers may be waiting some years for restitution, or making good any faults in their installation, and all at our expense. One estimate is in the region of over $3000.00 per installation, all out of our pocket.
We are also faced with the spectre of the same sort of problems with Solar Generation Systems, and the State Government is now wrestling with possible blow out in costs for the provision and operation of an Inspection scheme to safeguard system owners who bought in good faith, and appear to have been left with poorly engineered and installed systems for which we will all pay. It is rather a pity that we cannot sue the government and its members for their negligence, in the way in which we can sue trades and commercial organisations.

I have recently been advised that there appears to be some dumbing down of technical courses. The latest curriculum for the Open Cabling Licence now does not require the student to undertake study in Electrical Principles. I find this most disconcerting, since knowledge of Electrical Principles, and the use of meters is a necessary part of a cabler’s job, and most certainly, that of the working Alarm Technician. Reducing the level of knowledge will only result in poorly trained cablers, without the necessary knowledge to fault find problem networks. This does not surprise me, since, as a part time lecturer, I find a large number of electricians who have little or no knowledge of DC electrical behaviour. It would appear that there is no DC Theory taught, on the premise that electricians only work with AC electricity. Unfortunately, DC control equipment is used in many areas of industry, including electroplating. Lack of DC Knowledge would seriously hamper any electrician working in electroplating, as almost all machinery is DC Powered, including the plating tanks.
All of us working within a trade environment should be aware of these problems, and perhaps contact VETAB about the relevant standard of knowledge. I regularly lecture at a Registered Training Organisation, and refuse to accept students in Technical Security unless they have completed Electrical Principles. Notably, all alarm technicians are required to hold Cabler’s Licences, and many Cablers wish to undertake the Technical Security Courses, and the lack of any formal electrical study means that they are often untrained and inexperienced in meter usage. Dumbing down of courses affect us all. It affects the lecturers who are trying to upgrade the skills of Alarm Technicians. We are who are slowly coming out of the dark ages where an ape with a multimeter clasped in a paw was the norm for alarm technicians and this was reflected in the quality of their work. It costs the client money, as imperfectly trained technicians take longer to diagnose problems and/or make correct diagnoses. It costs our industry a good name, while we all know that equipment is so much better than it was, and more reliable. It results in low cost, low quality work, as clients refuse to pay for what is seen as an annoyance rather than a service. It costs, especially in safety, both with trades staff, and the general public. We should all be striving to improve the qualifications of tradespeople. In fact, if this continues, it may be necessary for employers to request that job applicants display a knowledge of Electrical Principles, in addition to any Cabling Qualifications. None of us are doing any favours to the community in accepting lower standards of training, and risking the safety and wellbeing of us all.
The war between the customers and ADSL Suppliers is still on. Some of our clients are having further dramas with ADSL, including water in the pits, and mysterious dropouts of service which are not registered on the supplier’s equipment. I am advising all our clients that they should place a single call to their supplier, and if the matter is not fixed within 10 working days, place a TIO complaint. In fact, we even had a Technician from a supplier attend our premises, and he stated that his company was not registering our dropouts, and we were able to demonstrate that the ADSL was not present, which agreed with our detection equipment, even though his office had not registered a loss of service at that time!. The supplier’s technician stated that his company’s equipment would register even a dropout for one second, but for some reason was not registering our dropouts. Interesting, isn’t it?
If you are having problems with your ADSL Service, please e-mail us, include your consent to our attempting to make either a ministerial complaint to the Government, or to the TIO regarding the problems being experienced by users of this service. We intend to print the e-mails out and submit them in a batch to Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) who specialize in raising serious problems with Government Authorities. To do this successfully, they require documented evidence of many cases, so that the matter can be raised at policy making level in government, as well as publicizing such problems in the media. Hopefully, such action will result in some answers. Our e-mail address is service@contactservices.com.au
The poor level of training and the off-handed and disinterested attitude of carriers is something we, as a company will no longer tolerate, and we will take every opportunity to publicise these problems in the community, as well as advising our readers to do the same. The only way we will gain an improvement is when the community, as a whole, says “enough is enough!”
Apart from the Telecommunications Ombudsman, you can make a written complaint to the Federal Minister responsible, write about your problems on a website called notgoodenough.org , complain to your professional association, if you are a member of one, complain in writing to your Federal Member in your area, and be generally pro-active in advising your clients not to accept what appears to be a deliberate and intentional lack of interest in the client’s satisfaction with the level of services rendered.
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The Green Corner
Having given up on Solar Electricity, I am now looking at other “green” alternatives.
Harvesting wind power is the next possibility. The familiar towers with large fan blades come immediately to mind. These units are reputed to emit noise, and need to be sited in areas where the wind currents are strong and regular, or continuous Since most of us do not have a wide open hillside to provide access to wind currents, this would not be a viable alternative. Worse still, it would be difficult to obtain Council Building Approvals for such units in the built-up areas of Sydney.
There are also available different designs of wind turbine, using a curved, long blade. These are less visually obtrusive, which may allow Council Approval. Quite possibly, these applications will be considered on a case by case basis. You would be well advised to check with your council before expending money on purchase.
The advantage of such systems will be that shade should not affect power generation levels, since wind currents will continue even in shaded areas and at night,, provided the site of the wind generators is correctly chosen, and your neighbour does not alter his premises and reduce wind flow. Potentially, such a system could provide more power than solar. Do your own sums, on this, and do not believe what slea people tell you!
Operating cost may, in the long run, be more expensive than Solar Generation, as bearings will probably need replacement well before Solar Panels require replacement. You will also need mechanical skills, or engage a tradesman to undertake maintenance. It would be worthwhile to check whether replacement bearings are readily available. Specialised bearings may not be available from suppliers and you would be well advised to ensure supply now.
You will need to watch power prices, as further upward movement is expected, and the time may well come when wind generation costs are lower than grid supply prices. You will also need to watch tariff rebate levels, since there appears to be a move to reduce or eliminate new subscribers to the system, on the premise that the rebate offers were only “a carrot to encourage sales of systems”, and reducing the load on the commercial grid. However, if electricity costs continue to soar, then the reduction in grid usage will still become attractive.
Our next subject will be the possibility of Fuel Cells as a power source.

Newsletter July 2010
Since our last newsletter, I have continued to interview various business owners about the state of the economy. One business owner mentioned that tradies in Wollongong are so short of work that they are chasing work in Sydney. One of our Sydney clients has said that things are so slow that he has considered selling the group of shops he owns. Trade is so quiet in his shop, and those of his tenants. In fact, his comment was that we are close to recession.
Election time will most definitely result in reduced sales, as nobody is certain of the outcome in government, and the party forming government. People are trying to preserve their liquidity, retaining cash, and spending only on essentials. Businesses which depend on disposable income are feeling the pinch. Worse still, it would appear that the election will effectively be fought on emotional grounds, rather than what is good for the country.
A good indication of this was a reported comment by one voter that she would not vote for Tony Abbott because she doesn’t like the “budgie smugglers”. The silly part of that was that Tony Abbott was a serving Lifesaver, and their ”working uniform” was red bathers and the red/gold skullcap! So much for Voluntary Service as a Lifesaver. On the other side of the fence, one woman voter is reported to have said that she would vote for Julia Gillard because she was a woman and that women should stick together. It seems that neither voter is really looking at who can salvage the country, and pay off massive debts. After all, sensible management is what we need, rather than a vote for or against someone’s wardrobe or gender! We don’t want to be the world fashion capitol, we only need to become solvent again, as a country. Make your vote count. Vote for the person or party whom you feel has the skills to dig this country out of the morass we are in now.
On another note, I am advised that the NBN Committee have finalised the installation standards required for the Optical Network Terminations to be installed within the community. We now have a set of standards which installers are to work to when installing Optical Network Terminations. These standards have not, as yet, been published, but are soon to be available.
One consequence of the lack of standards was an installation our staff tripped over. The Installer set up the unit, removed the alarm plugpack from the power point, and plugged the phone into the power point. Worse still, the installer failed to advise the client of what he had done, and/or any need for a power point for his equipment. In cases like this, the client should have been advised to have the power point changed to a triple outlet. The reason for this is that many plug packs are wider than an ordinary single plug, so the provision of a triple outlet point will allow both plug packs to fit comfortably on the power point. Alternatively, the client should have been advised to have a second single power point fitted for the phone. Luckily for the client, we arrived to connect the alarm to the phone, and before the alarm battery was damaged by being flattened as a result of no charge power. This sort of conduct may continue with some installers, especially as some of the installing companies are far from generous in what they pay their contract installers.
We have finally gotten some sense in the on-going fight over our ADSL problems. The blame game between the suppliers involved became unbelievable, and the fallout resulted in two complaints being made to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is efficient and effective, and deserves our thanks for the service given. It is unbelievable that a relatively simple problem required such complaints to obtain action. I feel for those who are not trained within this industry, and are not aware of the way in which they are denied reasonable service and common sense treatment. I often wonder why they call it common sense, since it is not so common, especially in the telecommunications industry.
Unfortunately, we have the problem of non-technical customers attempting to explain a technical problem to a Call-Centre whose staff are also non-technical, and who are passing misunderstood problems to service personnel who are also not trained in ADSL Servicing Problems. This was painfully obvious when service personnel called at our office, and proceeded to test phone lines for voice frequencies, and pronounced the line to be clear. In fact, one of the servicemen tried to tell me that the line was clear for phone calls, and that that was all the supplying company was required to do! He maintained his attitude on this, despite being told that ADSL operated on far higher, inaudible frequencies. It is all too clear that the problems with Phone Companies are far too high, as the serial numbers of my 2 complaints were 20,000 apart, over a period of about 5 weeks!
It seems that the only way to deal with these problems is to make one phone call. If the problem is not fixed, then complain to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. They will give the supplier 10 working days to fix the problem, which allows little or no time to do other than get correct details and fix the problem. It is sad that such brute force is necessary, but it appears the only way out of the blame game on the part of the ADSL Supplier, and the network owner.
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The Green Corner
I shall finish off my series about Solar Power and its pitfalls by noting some of the “gems” that have been included in the terms and conditions of supply of various installation companies and their implications as under:-
1) “All care is taken by us in selecting Installers of the Goods, but no responsibility is taken for any loss, cost or damage incurred by any act or omission of the installer”. This tries to remove all liability of any kind resulting from poorly trained, uncaring, or clumsy installers. Would you really allow trades people on a site working under such a clause?
2) “Time will not be of the essence for any supply and installation and any times or periods quoted for Supply and Installation of the goods are estimates only ,imposing no contractual obligations”
This is a great one! They can take your money, and do nothing for so long as they wish, and you supposedly have no recourse.
3) “This agreement constitutes the entire agreement between us. Any oral representation, warranty or promise whatsoever (other than those contained in this agreement) made by any employee, contractor or agent of Ours to You does not form any part of the Agreement nor the consideration for or basis of any contract”. This little gem means that the company or any level of staff may promise the earth, inducing you to sign up, but attempts to ensure that there is no possibility that misrepresentation by staff can affect the contract. You must be kidding, Mr Installer!
Those 3 little gems indicate how much care must be taken to avoid being taken in by companies who appear to have only one ethic, which is” make sales- who cares about the aftermath”!

Newsletter May 2010
Discussions with various business owners seem to indicate a slowing down of business, and a lowering of business confidence. Some of this is normal, since the run-up to a budget is normally a time when everyone waits for the bad news, and will not commit until they know what is to happen. Worse still, there appears to be a drop in jobs, despite any figures presented, as the Tobacco Duty, the Supertax, and the mess that has been made of any commitment to Green Policies by the government continues to bite. The upcoming election is the third element reducing business confidence, and investment. The Tobacco Duties problem will continue to damage business turnover, since no-one has mentioned the CPI Increase (affecting tobacco products again, as well as many others) due in August!
The Tobacco Duty increase will be largely ineffective, since the Government has sought to change the habits of addicts. If criminal experience is any guide, raising prices will simply result in more anti-social behaviour to gain money to pay for the addiction. Addicts of tobacco appear to be simply changing to “rollies” which are cheaper, leaving the price hike largely ineffective! However, the unintended consequences of this extra duty is that many addicts have changed their buying habits by patronising discounters, resulting in a major drop in impulse sales at Service Stations and corner stores. These impulse sales are the life blood of most Service Stations, and their key to profitability, so once again a regressive tax threatens jobs. Even our newspapers are commenting on the damage done to business by unthinking, supposedly well meaning politicians! Heaven preserve us from unthinking amateurs.
The euphoria of the stimulus payments has worn off, as this money is now spent, wisely or not. We are now seeing the let-down following the end of the free money, even though many taxpayers were denied the payment on all sorts of grounds. (Ask self employed people about this and how few of them actually received any payment even though the government stated that everyone would be given the payment!) Companies involved with green initiatives are asking themselves whether the Government is really interested in Greening Australia. Many companies who have undertaken work in Insulation still have not been paid. Even the Insulation Inspections appear to have ceased, as personnel contracting to do the inspections have been told to stop immediately! Solar Hot Water Installations are proceeding at less than a snails pace, and Solar Electricity System Installations appear at a standstill. It is hard not to come to the conclusion that the Green Initiative the Government espouses is only a sham, as they continue to strangle installation companies with extremely slow payment. This failure to properly process payments has resulted in a continuing poor record of service by installing companies, with possible problems for people who have already signed up for such systems (see below in the Green Corner).
However, this is a great time to look at replacing equipment and plant, since there is always the possibility of bargains being found as traders try to reduce stocks and maintain liquidity. Remember that whatever our problems, Australia is still a fairly stable economy, and dumping shares and other assets will only get you bargain prices as others snap up what is being sold. Unless your shares and assets are overseas and their performance is being threatened, there is no need to divest yourself of your shares, since, if they were worth buying before the Global Financial Crisis, they will be so again as confidence returns.
We recently made a Public Submission in writing, regarding the National Broadband Network Standards and Regulations. This network is the most important change to how phones will work since the world started with Alexander Graham Bell’s copper wired telephone. The change to Optic Fibre will be massive, with all subscribers being fitted into the new system via units powered from the subscriber’s mains power. This is the plus side, as the features available will be amazing, such as Cable TV including Pay TV, High Speed Data Link, possible multiple phone lines and multiple service providers to the client, in addition to all services currently available to the premises being provided on the single Optic Fibre Cable.
On the down side, we have companies installing these connections to new houses before the standards and regulations are complete. It is essential to provide a standard set of rules, since the system must be capable of accepting connection to any carrier. Lack of current standards may result in retrofitting any currently fitted Optic Fibre Terminations to comply with the standards, and at whose cost?
On the technical side, the system will not recognize pulse dialling (the familiar clicking noise heard from round dial phones) and accordingly will not recognize alarms which are only capable of pulse dialling. Such will need to be replaced. However, many alarms will only need to be reprogrammed to Tone Dialling, to continue signalling. Clients will also need to check that the Fax Machine also uses tone dialling, and any other device which dials out automatically. Check with your security company, or if unsure, contact us for advice.
Another down side is the neglect of the copper network, because the Optic Fibre is coming. The result of such neglect fuels the problems many people are experiencing with ADSL Connections dropping out and in at random intervals and not noticed by the suppliers, high noise on phone lines, problems with data transfer, and low volume on phone audio. If you are experiencing these symptoms, it may be that the cables are leaking to earth, resulting in a low resistance grounding much of the signal. There is at least one area in Sydney where these problems arise from the condition of street cables, so you need to be aware that such may be occurring. Australia is currently the worst country in the world for network performance, because of limitations in existing network capability and poor maintenance of the copper network. Worse still, the high number of complaints reaching the Telecommunication Industry Ombudsman suggests that the Customer Service Levels are almost as bad over all the carriers.
Another interesting whisper reached our ears a week ago. We were told that a client of a larger monitoring company was handed a bill for upwards of $15,000.00 for calls made by the Cellphone on his alarm. He rightly queried this and was advised that the account was over a 3 month period! Worse still, the matter had been brought to light by the Telco because of the size of the Cellphone account, not by the monitoring company, and the Telco advised that the account was for a 3 month period! How can a monitoring company not realize that a client has a runaway alarm continually signalling for 3 months? I would consider that such would surely be grounds for changing to another company and discussing options for recourse. Behaviour such as this on the part of a monitoring company, which was receiving the calls, leaves a very bad taste in the mouths of all of us who are professionals in this industry.




The Green Corner
Our investigations into Solar Power System Installation have revealed a long litany of questionable sales tactics and complaints regarding installations that still have not been commenced 6 months or more after the order was placed and the deposit paid. The worrying thing about this is that probably all deposits have been paid to the installing companies and banked in their general account. This means that they are treated as general income. Since we have no idea when and if the Credits Scheme will remain available, and the Government is delaying paying companies for systems already installed, there is a very real risk that some of the installing companies will become insolvent and close. At that stage, the Liquidator of any insolvent company will not return any deposits, treating the deposits as revenue from debtors, and will consider the depositor as one of the creditors owed money by the company, and only pay a proportion in the dollar, spread equally amongst all creditors after the sale of the company’s asset, leaving no recourse available to the unlucky client who then loses the balance of his deposit. By rights, these deposits should be paid into a trust account, which means that, in the event of the company ceasing to trade they are not treated as general revenue, and the company is required by law to repay any deposit in full. Failure to maintain separation of Trust Monies, or the Illegal use of them by the company is a Trust Account Offence and may then result in fines and/or imprisonment of the company officers guilty of such offences. The Official Receiver’s attitude in this type of event was clearly shown in the recent problems with Clive Peters Shops, where customers had paid a deposit, and were unable to claim goods partially paid for, or gain a refund of monies paid. They were effectively faced with buying the same goods again at full price, with no allowance for their deposits paid.
In all the solar installation companies I have contacted, none have a Trust Fund, and one company simply forgot to get back to me (after2 reminders!) when I questioned whether they had a trust fund. Accordingly, any purchase of a Solar Power System should be on the basis of Payment on Completion. A company unwilling to accept payment only on completion should not be dealt with. It is possible to place a payment in a Trust Fund with a Solicitor which would safeguard the Installer, if the installing company is willing to pay any fees required out of their own revenue, and not at the client’s cost. On our results, good luck in trying to find a company so equipped!
However, full marks to AGL. Of the five companies I approached, they were the only one to advise me that they would not accept an order from me because of the trees on my property providing too much shade. Although all 5 companies assessed my property from Google Maps, in the first instance, they were the only company which assessed my property, and advised me of the shade problem. How come the others did not see the problem? Were they insufficiently trained, or simply after sales commission, no matter what? There appears to be some very questionable tactics being used to gain sales, particularly where Terms and Conditions of Sale are so drawn as to remove any chance the consumer nay have to effectively complain if his or her system does not produce the amount of electricity suggested by their literature.
The ridiculous part of this whole mess is that the Installing Companies should be able to purchase and install a system, and still make a profit by being paid the government rebates within normal trading terms, leaving the customer with a system supplied for free! It amazes me that such ineptitude within Government has spoiled Green Initiatives by seeking maximum credentials for being Green, but not being prepared to spend the money necessary to make this work. In fact, it appears to me that this whole Green Initiative has been useless to the community in general, useful in painting the Government as Green, but with the poor old taxpayer footing the bill for unnecessary and ineffective publicity, as usual!

Newsletter April 2010
I recently attended a product launch by Ness, and I was very impressed with their new touch-screen codepad, and the functions it will handle, particularly as it is only slightly dearer than a conventional code pad. Alarms are certainly far different to when we started installing and monitoring all those years ago. Look at what is on offer, as the capabilities and services offered are far wider than those offered even only 10 years ago. Talk to your security provider or us about the advantages of upgrading your alarm.
We are acceptance testing a new ADSL Based Monitoring System. This will be one of the lowest priced systems available, but will still default to a dialer upon loss of ADSL, unlike some of the other systems available, which leave you with no signaling capability if your ADSL is not available.
Remember that, some 12 months ago, we had a situation where a Provider went bankrupt, and the Official Receiver would not release the codes required to change the ADSL link to another Provider. This situation went on for about 6 weeks, which meant that the ADSL System was unavailable for that period. It is essential that your alarm will, at least, operate as dialer if the ADSL is not functioning. Worse still, as the Official Receiver is duty bound to sell up the company and its assets to pay creditors, there was no requirement for arrangement of a replacement service.
We have had a number of queries from people with VOIP, about operating their alarm over VOIP Phone Lines. This can be done, but the router, or modem and switcher should be powered by an Uninterruptible Power Supply, which will keep the router or the modem and switcher operating in the event of a power outage. This is essential, since loss of power to the router, or modem and switcher will result in the alarm being unable to signal. Remember that all Landline Phones are covered by emergency power supplies including generators which will keep them operating during a power outage.
Wearing my other hat, as a lecturer for a Registered Training Organisation, I am pleased to see the number of people who are becoming aware that Burglar Alarm Installation and Service has been gazetted, a few years ago, as a Trade, and are undertaking training for their Certificate lll in Technical Security. Better trained personnel means better service to the client. As a lecturer, I find that many trainees need to undertake the course, since I have met quite a number of trainees with totally incorrect information given them by “Senior” Technicians. Even older service personnel are learning that alarm installation and service is not merely a matter of stringing wire from A to B. Surprisingly, many working technicians still do not understand the correct usage of electrical meters. Learning why (the theory) makes it easier Io understand how (the practice) to do a job correctly.
Is your current Security Provider ensuring that Service Technicians are properly trained? In the ACT, technicians are no longer allowed to work on alarms unsupervised unless they hold a Certificate lll in Technical Security as a minimum. After all, we wouldn’t want an untrained person acting as an electrician or plumber, and the body of knowledge for Alarm Technicians is rapidly drawing away from that of electricians. In fact, I was surprised to learn that electricians currently receive little or no training in DC Electrical Theory during their apprenticeship, since they are generally only involved in AC Electrical work. Simple concepts such as how voltage drop along a wire can affect alarm equipment do not seem to be considered. I am also surprised at the number of technicians who are not licenced as security installers. A person who does not hold the requisite Security Licence may not be paid for security work undertaken. Very few clients are aware of this, but it is written into the NSW Statute, and even if paid, the unlicenced technician can be compelled by court order to return any monies paid. This means that Electricians and Telephone Cablers can not be paid for any security work done.
To gain a security licence, there is a strict character check made by Police, and the applicant must be either an Australian Citizen or hold a long-term residence visa. Further, the Police require the fingerprints of the applicant to be on file. You should always query a Security Technician who does not wear his Security Licence in a visible manner, so that you can check that he is the person on the photo, and that he does hold a Class 2f Security Licence. This protects you and your assets, since the Technician is expected to observe confidentiality of all information gained at your premises. There is a strict standard of behaviour required under the relevant Act, with loss of Security Licence being the minimum penalty if an offence is proven in court.
Following my newsletters regarding poor service from telephone companies, I noticed that the Australian Communications and Media Authority is commencing an inquiry into why they are experiencing such a high level of complaints about carriers. I think the figure was in the area of 900 complaints per day to the Telecommunications Ombudsman, which is frighteningly high. For Australians, who are usually fairly laid back, something is very wrong for such a level of complaints. Finally, someone is trying to stem the tide of complaint. We may even be treated like human beings in the future, instead of annoyances.
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The Green Corner.
This month, I bring to your notice the dodgy tactics used in the sale of Solar Hot Water Systems. Following the collapse of the Insulation Scam, and the problems with Solar Hot Water, I looked seriously at Solar Power Systems.
The engineering and componentry is excellent. The same cannot be said for the Sales Tactics used. I approached one company, and received a quote. When I suggested that I was interested, they sent a copy of their Terms and Conditions, which almost completely removed any rights I may have had, and promised nothing.
The second company “quoted” me, and then when I showed interest, sent their Terms and Conditions of Supply, which amongst other things, stated that time was not of the essence (allowing almost any delay to installation that they wished to impose), and that they relied on my representations (which were confined to my name and address!) and effectively also left me with no rights. I wrote back, commenting on the Terms and Conditions and that the “quote” was a thinly disguised estimate and mentioned a number of matters which I felt were unfair conditions. They acknowledged my e-mail, and a further e-mail, but these were simply formal acknowledgements, and there appears to be no progress regarding my refusal to accept their conditions. Obviously they do not wish to deal with a client that insists on reasonable conditions, or is commercially involved in contract administration in telecommunications engineering! Perhaps they only seek to deal with “mobile packets of money”, for the least amount of risk and work, rather than clients.
I suggest that any of you who have had this type of treatment complain to the Federal Minister, the State Consumer Affairs, possibly also to notgoodenough.net.au which is a very effective complaints site. This site will carry complaints for any product, and will allow naming of the offenders which will almost certainly upset the companies concerned.
It is a pity to see a good green product being marketed in such an unfair manner. Worse still, it is not the little players, but mostly big name companies using these tactics to fleece the unwary, who are not aware of their rights and the unfair provisions used in marketing.
Notably the Government has also signaled the end of the Insulation Fiasco. This now leaves many traders in financial trouble, since people were only buying because of Government Credits. This is a terrible result engendered by Government ineptitude and poor supervison all the way from financial woes to people being killed because of lack of effective supervision of installers. For quite some length of time, the Government ignored pleas for safety inspections, rumours of scams and dodgy tactics, and allowed another green product to come to an ignoble end. Maybe someone will learn that there are sharks out in the world, and undertake a realistic program to control such bad behaviour.
Interestingly enough, Not Good Enough has joined the battle, seeking members who are prepared to appear in a current affairs show on TV, regarding the delays in installation of Solar Power Systems. Whether these delays are the result of slow payment by the Federal Government or not, I have no idea. However, the luckless clients who have paid their deposit, and any bank fees or interest on the deposit are well behind the Eight-Ball, even if the system is installed at the “quoted” price

Newsletter March 2010
The ADSL War Continues
Since the last newsletter, the saga of poor service continues. One of our carriers has had our Website marked as not available, in fact, not known, resulting in delays to updates planned. On the first occasion this occurred, we rang the Supplier, whose Customer Service Operator had to be told 4 times what the problem was, and she still started on Customer Standard Excuses Volume 2. She was unable to convince us that the problem was our fault, and we patiently explained that the Website, and the Hosting Company were both accessible via another carrier, and via a second link to the problem carrier, proving that the Hosting Company’s equipment was operating correctly. The next excuse was that the Hosting Company was blocking their server, since she also was unable to access the website. She was offered the opportunity to put such a claim in writing, but refused to answer our request. Naturally, no blocking had been done. Worse still, another site, on which one of our staff was doing updates simply vanished from the screen, and was also became unreachable via this link. Luckily, we were able to access this other site on a different supplier’s link, and check that no damage had been done to files by the abrupt loss of contact with the site.
I visited the carrier’s office, and had a very blunt interview with the Supervisor of Customer Service, pointing out that the next call in person would be to see a member of management, and that I would come prepared for a long wait, but that I would see management. During the very blunt interview as above, I was told that Filters do not usually fail, and that the operator who said so was wrong. Further the operator who blamed our hosting service “was new, and at fault for making accusations.” Worse still, it appears that their operator was in Manilla, and her thick accent added to a probable imperfect understanding of English, added to the problems. These all sound like the same tired old excuses offered again! I, like you, the reader, pay for service that works, and this “service” certainly did not work. After all, to obtain service, one must be able to supply information needed by the service person to do his or her job. If one party is unable to properly understand the other, then what hope is there of proper service? A check later revealed that the probable faulty server in the supplier’s premises appeared to have been fixed.
That night, I was advised by our staff that the 2 websites previously uncontactable, had again vanished off the face of the server(s)! We were able to ping the host servers without a problem. A Carrier Support Staff member was rung again, and did not even understand when I stated that it appeared that the carrier had a lame server. I had to spell the word “lame” and the support person admitted that he didn’t know what function a lame server performed! Admittedly, there was an accent, so obviously English was not his mother tongue, but we pay for staff to understand and converse regarding fault problems. I contacted the carrier’s NSW office, and demanded that a member of management contact me, adding that failure to contact me would result in a further call at the carrier’s office. On 07/01/2010, the missing sites reappeared. Despite all evidence to the contrary, the carrier still wishes to send a technician out to check the line!
I am allowing the technician to attend our office, under our supervision to carry out whatever line checks he may wish. On 08/01/2010, the carrier’s technician arrived. For once, we actually got a technician who understood our description of problems, and set about performing his tests. With all devices disconnected, he found a very high level of noise on our line, and came to the conclusion that the problem is in the outside cable, and he will lodge a report on this. It has taken 12 months of patient and impatient waiting to be finally proven right. He also agreed that the problem of the disappearing sites appeared to be a faulty server in the carrier’s equipment! How satisfying it is o talk technician to technician, and be able to sensibly describe and test for the problem. I am not holding my breath for the street cable repairs to be undertaken!
To add insult to injury, it appears that other phone lines are being affected by the noise we are experiencing. Since ADSL< and other line signaling devices, such as modems, are seriously affected by line noise, and this shows in repeated attempts for equipment to signal and be recognized.
I am now preparing a complaint letter to the Minister, with copies to ACMA and the Telecommunications Ombudsman.
Green Corner
It is great to see that the Government has finally acted in the matter of dodgy insulation installers. Notably, the cut-off of the insulation scheme has also led to a halt in dodgy sales tactics. Interestingly enough, the Solar Hot Water Scheme has also been discontinued for the present. There has been a suggestion that the “Off-Peak” power charges may be discontinued in the relatively near future. This would effectively mean that the cost of booster power for dull days would be charged at the normal rate, and quickly overtake any savings on solar heated hot water, particularly during a dull winter, and lengthening the break even period on such systems.
I have looked at the various solar generation schemes, and the most effective appears to be a grid connected system, which provides solar generated power to the grid, and for which the customer is paid. On the face of it, the cost of purchase will be equaled by amounts credited from power provided to the grid in about 7 years. It may also be possible to reduce the cost of electricity by connecting solar panels to batteries and invertors, and directly powering some of the household requirements off the system. Since there is a limit to the electricity you are allowed to feed into the grid, some careful thought may allow a second batter/inverter system to handle directly a part of the load imposed on the network, which may further reduce your costs for electricity.

The ADSL Story (contd)
Well, Christmas celebrations are finished, and we start a New Year, fresh and untouched by human hands! I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year.
Once again, we will all do battle with equipment that needs repairing, and we will all do our utmost to keep our clients happy. Christmas was reasonably restrained, but we found a steady influx of work, all new clients during the period. Certainly, we found the run-up to the Holiday Period less stressful, but, in the long run, just as satisfying. However, we will continue our war against bad service, and unfair “Customer Support” from carriers and manufacturers.
At year end, we had an instance of one of our ADSL Links going in and out continuously about 1900 pm on Monday 21/12/2009. We rang the “Customer Support”, and once again we were subjected to the usual spiel, inferring that it was our equipment or internal network at fault, despite my explaining to the person that we had been through all of this 2 months ago. However, after further routine “testing” with the assistance of our staff at this end of the phone, the Customer Service Person decided that the matter needed to be referred higher, and that someone from the company’s senior service staff would contact me within the next 48 hours. The problem cleared, and has been stable for 24 hours. I can only draw my own conclusions. Perhaps it also had something to do with threatening to complain to ACMA or a Ministerial Complaint!
Wonder of Wonders! The “Senior Customer Service Person” got back to me at 1630 pm 22/12/2009. He undertook further testing, and then advised me that the Central Filter on that line was faulty, as also was a phone on the Line. Funny this was not found on any prior service checks, with exactly the same equipment. Further, he was unable to explain why the system stabilized after the call made on 21/12/09, and that the other supplier also had stabilized. I have agreed to replace the phone and the new filter, and have also advised that I will send them the bill if this does not cure the fault! Interestingly enough, he did admit that there may be some problems with the Street Cabling from the exchange. I might add that another client had a supposedly faulty filter, according to their ADSL Supplier’s Support Staff. We changed the filter, and were forced to use this “faulty” filter in another installation in a late night emergency call, being the only filter we had in stock. The client’s problem was solved, and the client refused a recall later with a new filter. His system is still running, with the “faulty” filter! So much for Customer Service Personnel.
Overall, it is grossly unfair and distasteful that being so confrontational is the only means of obtaining effective action. We deserve better than what is being handed out so cavalierly by the carriers. Their treatment of customers is particularly annoying, considering that most clients have no means of identifying the loss and restore of their ADSL except when they find that the system will not work, and are therefore ignorant of the disgustingly bad “service” being supplied. We are better served at our office, since our software detects loss and restoral of ADSL Links which gives us far more negotiating power when discussing service outages. The ordinary person does not possess these facilities, and is effectively ”flying blind.”
Remember, even a rock will wear from drops of water continually hitting it, and we need to provide the same continual abrasion with the carriers, who consistently appear to ignore their client’s requirements for a dependable service.
Unfair Telco Charges
On a different note, I tripped over an interesting website, accan.org.au, which is raising a storm over unfair charges levied by Telco’s for making payments. These charges are unfair, as they are extracting money for the privilege of accepting your payment. One company is even charging for a paper account! This website is run by the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, and I urge you to visit their site and get aboard their campaign for removal of unfair charges. More on this subject in our next Newsletter.
We have also commenced a green corner. There are all sorts of deals going on for supposedly green motives, and some appear to be plainly scams, whilst others appear to be simply a means of selling equipment to customers, with little or no real green effect. We will highlight what is occurring, as a service to both clients and the community generally. As part of the community, we should be ethical and good corporate citizens, and be prepared to comment on the shortfalls of supposedly helpful green initiatives. See us below.
The Green Corner
The Talkfest at Copenhagen has come and gone, with no real result. Whatever your feelings about the Planet, we can still undertake something which will, in a small way, help us all, without sneaky extra charges!
This Month, we are making a concerted effort to deliver our Invoices by e-mail, and receive suppliers invoices the same way. This effectively saves the trees which would be needed for mail envelopes, and the electricity necessary to manufacture the envelopes. It also will reduce our carbon footprint. The same initiative from other businesses will ensure a real reduction in the pollution experienced in the ecology, (not to mention the time saved in not addressing and franking envelopes. One small step for business and a large stride for Community Advancement!