Optus has announced its customers have been offered 200GB of free data as compensation for the network outage that rocked the nation.
Millions of Australians were affected on Wednesday when they were hit by the 14-hour outage and Optus has moved to make amends.
More information on how customers can claim the bonus data will be on Optus’ website from Monday, November 13.
Customers hoping for a monetary refund were left disappointed when the telco revealed compensation was available in the form of additional data.
“From Monday, 13 November, eligible postpaid customers, both small businesses and consumers will be able to access 200GB of extra data, and customers have until the end of the year to activate,” it said.
“Eligible prepaid customers will be able to access unlimited data on weekends until the end of the year.
Customers however have been left frustrated by the offer, arguing the extra data will make no difference to their lives.
Furious users have also claimed Optus’s compensation failed to make it up to essential infrastructure and people who were significantly affected throughout the day as a result.
“Optus offers data to commercial, citizen users as compensation. What about damages to infrastructure uperations- hospitals schools transport? Inadequate response- connectivity is essential infrastructure,” one posted to social media platform X.
“Dear Optus, your offer of bonus data as compensation for no coverage is not “meaningful”. Many people don’t use the data they already have. It’s tokenism, and frankly, a bit insulting. What we want is to use the service we already have without data leaks or outages. Love, Australia,” another added.
“Optus your compensation offer is a slap in the face to businesses who lost money due to your system failure. Most don’t go anywhere near their limit or are limitless anyway. Shame on you,” a third added.
Communications minister Michelle Rowland told the Today Show this morning “it would seem very reasonable for Optus to look at how they can attempt to recompense people for this.”
“Accountability is of the utmost importance here,” she told Today.
“I haven’t seen a definitive announcement in this respect yet, but again that does not obviate their obligation under existing Australian Consumer Law, under contracts and also the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) scheme.”
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman said shortly after the outage was reported customers could seek a refund if they had contacted the telco and were “unhappy with the response”.
“If you have not contacted Optus, or you have been unable to contact them, we can forward your complaint to Optus on your behalf,” it said.
“We can help you with refunds for the time you have been unable to use your service, compensation claims and disputes about your contract.”
The issue of compensation is set to come up in a public Senate inquiry that the government has confirmed will take place to review the major outage.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is also set to investigate Optus’ outage for the barrier it presented for those trying to access Triple Zero services.
With its network restored, Optus is now required to conduct welfare checks on all people who tried calling Triple Zero during the outage.
