Telecon's XT system goes bung again

Telecon/m's very appropriate 'haywire' logo

Telecon/m's infamous XT mobile phone network today suffered "a degradation of voice services'' according to a company spokeswoman. Some customers had experienced "intermittent call congestion issues", but services were restored progressively from around midday, she said. The voice issues were caused by a software fault.

Telecon believed only North Island customers had been affected, but XT customers in the South Island also reported problems. Businessman Peter Gale said he was in Dunedin and calls had been dropping off without warning, since the beginning of the day. "I know that others in our organisation are also experiencing significant connection issues. So, it is just not the North Island," Gale said. The network began experiencing difficulties at about 8am.

Vodafone customer Michael Bailey said a friend in Bluff had called him from a Telecom mobile saying he was unable to call other Telecom phones. "Any calls to Telecom mobiles get a 'network busy' message," he said.

Contractor Colin Limmer, from Te Puke, said he had been a loyal supporter of Telecom for 16 years but the coverage and service was now a "disgrace".

Has Telecon's "service" ever been anything else?