The Mozilla Foundation is celebrating Firefox browser’s 20th anniversary this year, including special wallpapers.
This has been a bit of stuff up with the 3G shutdown.
I think the main issue is that Telstra, Optus and ACMA didn’t consider that many mobile phones were bought overseas in the past three years or so because they cost lower than when they were available in Australia. And they were not tied to a particular telco.
For example, my parents still prefer to buy new models in their hometown of Hong Kong rather than in Melbourne.
The telcos have long held that only phones bought in Australia were guaranteed to work on their networks (especially Telstra who have done some weird Telstra-only shit in their network deployments). There has always been a risk to the consumer that grey importing a mobile phone may mean that there are things the device could not do.
Restricting devices that are unable to do something as fundamental as make an emergency call is reasonable IMO
Labor has announced it will be backing a ban on social media for those under 16
https://forums.mediaspy.org/t/federal-politics/1123/9767?u=jpa
More than 50 categories were given out last night. Among the winners were Fetch (best TV entertainment for Mini Gen 5), Stan (best TV streaming), and Hyundai IONIQ 5 N (Best of the Best).
Not sure if anyone here remembers Sony’s Vaio laptop brand, but an acquisition is coming for the spun-off manufacturer:
New telco industry rules for major outages
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has made new rules for the telecommunications industry, requiring companies to prioritise customer communications in the event of a major network outage impacting 100,000 or more services.
Under the new industry standard, which comes into effect on 31 December 2024, telcos must put information on their website so customers know what has happened, use a variety of other communications channels—such as their telco call centres and the media—to keep customers up-to-date, and make arrangements to respond quickly to people who need immediate assistance during an outage.
Customers can expect to be notified by the telco soon after a major outage occurs, and then at least once every six hours for the first 24 hours, but more often if circumstances change.
The information telcos will need to communicate includes the geographic areas impacted, the likely cause of the outage, the types of services impacted and an estimated timeframe for the issue to be resolved.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the new industry standard was a big win for consumers.
“Recent examples have shown that telcos are not always as responsive with information during a major outage as they should be,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
“Communications services are vital to our everyday lives, so when there’s a disruption to services it can cause significant inconvenience or even harm for those affected.
“These new rules will ensure that telcos keep the lines of communication open, and that people impacted by a major outage aren’t left in the dark about what’s going on and when their service might be back.”
The Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages) Industry Standard 2024 was made in response to the Telecommunications (Customer Communications for Outages Industry Standards) Direction 2024 issued by the Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP. The direction was part of the government’s response to recommendations made in the review of the Optus network outage of 8 November 2023.
“This is the first tranche of reform to improve communication with consumers. We will make further rules in relation to significant local outages by 30 April 2025. We are also looking at how best to extend rules to cover outages caused by natural disasters without interfering with time critical communications from emergency service agencies.
“In the meantime, the ACMA encourages telcos to prioritise keeping their customers updated when unplanned outages occur, regardless of how many people are affected by the outage,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
Google’s vice president of global network infrastructure, Brian Quigley, said in a statement the Bosun cable will link Darwin to Christmas Island, while another subsea cable will connect Melbourne on Australia’s east coast to the west coast city of Perth, then on to Christmas Island and Singapore.
A subsea cable from Melbourne to Perth? Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to do that leg over land?
i suspect negotiating for rights to run the cable could be painful and long, and it wouldn’t be a direct cable route. with melbourne to perth they could run it south out of melbourne for an ample distance and than turn and run a straight line (depending on subsea conditions) before turning north to perth
Possibly not. It’s very complex and expensive to run cables across land because there’s a relatively small number of routes available, meaning that the cable has a high chance of being next to existing cables, which is bad for redundancy because it makes it easier for multiple cables to get taken out at once. Land access is also a problem - there’s so many different owners - state governments, local councils, private land owners, owners of existing cables in the area - that need to be consulted and give permission that running such a long cable becomes a very large job.
ACMA invites comments on Australia’s telecommunications numbering plan and other instruments
Key changes in the draft Numbering Plan include:
- the introduction of new number ranges for internet of things services;
- mobile numbers classified as their own number type due to use and popularity;
- the removal of redundant or low use number types and ranges; and
- the addition of a provision to cancel the enhanced rights of use for smartnumbers if the number is used for scam calls.
https://www.acma.gov.au/consultations/2024-11/proposed-changes-numbering-plan-and-other-instruments
Does anyone have any tips for the latest filter lists for Adblock… I’m talking overseas and Local VOD.
Shoot me a PM 
Telstra pays $3 million penalty for Triple Zero outage
Telstra Limited (Telstra) has paid a penalty of more than $3 million for failing to comply with emergency call rules during a technical disruption at its Triple Zero emergency call centre.
An Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) investigation found 473 breaches of the rules relating to an incident on 1 March 2024, during which Telstra’s Triple Zero call centre was hampered in transferring calls to emergency services for 90 minutes.
The investigation found Telstra initiated a contingency process to transfer calls received during the disruption, using a list of backup phone numbers. However, several of the phone numbers in the list were incorrect, resulting in 127 calls not being transferred to emergency services. Telstra managed those calls by providing the callers’ details to the relevant emergency service organisations via email messages and phone calls.
While Telstra successfully managed to transfer the remaining 346 calls using the backup phone list, Telstra could not provide the caller’s digital location information to the emergency service organisations due to the disruption.
ACMA member and consumer lead Samantha Yorke said it was concerning that breaches occurred because Telstra neglected to update its backup phone data.
“Telstra, as the emergency call provider, is at the centre of this critical public safety service. As such, it must have fail-safe systems and processes in place at all times. In this circumstance its systems and contingency plans failed people in real need,” Ms Yorke said.
Ms Yorke acknowledged that Telstra has historically had a strong record of compliance in its role as the national Triple Zero operator and made considerable efforts to keep the public informed during the outage.
“Telstra has been open and apologetic about the outage, communicated effectively to the public and took a variety of immediate actions when problems were identified. These actions go a long way to restoring the community’s trust in this critical service,” Ms Yorke said.
The ACMA also notes the action Telstra has taken to rectify its processes following the incident, including updating its backup phone number list and appointing an independent consultant to conduct an incident review.
As Australia’s national operator of the Triple Zero service, Telstra is required to comply with obligations set out in the Telecommunications (Emergency Call Service) Determination 2019. The Determination imposes requirements in relation to the handling and transfer of calls made to emergency service numbers.