On October 4, 2023, Optus, one in every of Australia’s largest telecommunications suppliers, skilled a widespread community outage that affected thousands and thousands of shoppers throughout the nation.
The outage induced widespread disruption, affecting cell phone calls, textual content messages, web entry, and even emergency companies.
Whereas we do not know what induced Optus outage, there are indications that it could be associated to the identical situation that introduced Fb down in 2021.
Optus Help Twitter/X account has shared this proper after the outage:
We’re conscious of a problem impacting Optus cellular and nbn companies and are working to revive companies as shortly as doable. We perceive connectivity is necessary and apologise for any inconvenience induced.
— Optus Assist (@optus_help) November 7, 2023
What induced Optus outage?
The 2021 Fb outage was attributable to a configuration change that disrupted the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), which is accountable for routing web visitors between completely different networks. This disruption induced Fb’s servers to change into unreachable, leading to a world outage that lasted for a number of hours.
Based on preliminary stories, the Optus outage might have additionally been attributable to a BGP routing situation. This implies that the 2 outages might have shared a typical root trigger.
Nonetheless, it is very important word that Optus has not but confirmed this hyperlink, and additional investigation is required to find out what induced Optus outage.
Optus compensation and eligibility
Optus has introduced that it’s going to compensate affected prospects for the outage. The corporate has not but launched particulars of the compensation package deal, however it’s anticipated to incorporate credit on prospects’ payments.
Optus chief govt Kelly Bayer Rosmarin stated the telco would look into the difficulty of compensation for thousands and thousands of shoppers as soon as companies had been restored.
Prospects who’re eligible for compensation embrace those that skilled the next through the outage:
- Lack of cell phone service
- Lack of web service
- Incapacity to make or obtain calls
- Incapacity to ship or obtain textual content messages
- Incapacity to entry the web
To file an Optus compensation:
- Collect proof: Earlier than contacting Optus, collect proof of the outage. This might embrace copies of cell phone payments, screenshots of error messages, or notes recording the length and extent of the outage
- Contact Optus customer support: Contact Optus customer support by their web site, stay chat, or telephone name. Be ready to offer your account particulars, together with your identify, telephone quantity, and account quantity
- Clarify the outage: Not relying on what induced Optus outage, clearly clarify the extent of the outage you skilled. Point out the particular companies affected, the length of the outage, and any impression it had in your capacity to speak or entry important companies
- Present proof: Share the proof you gathered in step 1 with the customer support consultant. It will assist help your declare and make sure you obtain the suitable compensation
- Await compensation: The customer support consultant will course of your declare and inform you of the compensation you’re eligible for. This may occasionally embrace invoice credit, service plan extensions, or different types of compensation
Learn additionally: Equifax information breach claims are prolonged.
Whereas we nonetheless do not know what induced Optus outage precisely, there may be one factor sure: telecommunications suppliers have to take steps to guard their networks from cyberattacks, reminiscent of BGP hijackings. Prospects also needs to concentrate on the potential for outages and take steps to organize, reminiscent of having a backup plan for communication and web entry.
Featured picture credit score: Optus.
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