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Year View| Summary| Highlights| Month View| Tuesday 7 March 2006 (Day View)

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07.03.2006 – Tuesday 7 March – Telstra Technicians & Cables

Morning

• A loud knock-knock woke me, and, answering the door in a towel, I found a Telstra technician, come to have a look at the phone line and needing access to the distribution box, located under the next unit. I performed the world’s fastest perhaps-not-entirely-legal-extension-cable removal and returned Telstra’s wall socket to its normal state, no mean feat while still asleep. The Telstra man followed the fault back through a few waterlogged pits, eventually finding one leg broken where it exited the cable, and switching to a new pair of copper. He then connected the new pair at the exchange, made another trip back here to verify that, and found that the new pair he’d used had high resistance at the exchange end, so ended up using the original pair up to its break, the new pair up to its break, and then the original pair again. Hopefully all the problems are now gone. I’d been told Telstra would take forever, but in my experience up north, they’re really quite impressive, and I can’t complain about the turnaround time with this callout either—I only reported the fault this time yesterday morning. I also managed to get a free modular fly lead and inline phone and modem filter.

1:52pm

• Someone from Exetel rang me to tell me Telstra’s initial checks appeared to indicate a minor fault with the line, and that someone would attend between eight o’clock and midday tomorrow.

Night

• I put in the new cat5 cable, ran video over one pair—which, to my surprise, sort of worked—and the phone to the modem and back again from the VoIP box over another two pairs. Maz dropped around with his expensive crimpers, making the job of putting plugs on a lot easier. Clint came around a little later and he and I drove to Maz’s. Just before midnight, I walked to the supermarket, bought some bread, and had baked beans on toast for dinner.

Comment by Mum – Thursday 16 March 2006, 7:32 PM

  Yes, Telstra are good mob. If one could see the jungle in which we live up here, and the amount of problems we all of us have with phones in the wet season, and much haranguing re Telstra, and the swiftness with which they come out. .... Well, and um, I really mean SWIFTNESS, as in they would have to be the fastest and scariest drivers on this goat track (and this after 10 inches of rain yesterday), but they earn every penny they get and hopefully cups of tea and what have you.) Whenever I have had a problem, they have been swift to help, and I mean, I am out here in the jungle. Also, Ergon. Which I refuse to call Powergon as some folks call them, who are missing their soapie fix for the night. YOU try climbing a power pole in the middle of a cyclone with a torch, from a helicopt

Comment by Mum – Thursday 16 March 2006, 7:38 PM

  Helicopter. (thought you had got rid of me, ha ha). I mean these mob have to access the powerlines via helicopter. And the Telstra mob access via mud blog and rushing/gushing creeks and puny bridges, etc. I mean, this is a large part of Queensland, and not many people in it so not much re rates, so not much money for local council to do stuff. So we all just put up with it. We wouldnt live here if we didnt like it. Okay, shall away lest son divorces me. Ma.