I experienced a roller-coaster ride of emotions when I read this article in Australian IT: emotions like dismay, anger, frustration, a feeling of hopelessness for the future of Australian telecommunciations, as well as rage and then downright apathy.

But not so much apathy that I couldn’t write this blog post.

Optus have admitted that they are intentionally blocking numbers because they don’t have “commercial interconnect agreements” with some carriers.

This harks back to the bad, bad, bad old days.  Consider the following scenario.  I decide to ring a friend on his new mobile. I dial the number on my mobile, press send, get a strange ringtone, and that’s when the fun starts:

“Hello,” says an operator on behalf of my network, “thankyou for calling XYZ Telecomms, how can I help you?”

“Huh? I’m trying to reach 0418 xxx yyy.”

“Oh, I’m sorry sir.  To continue, I’ll have to get a credit card number, or a telecard number, as we don’t have a commercial arrangement with that company.”

“But you have a commercial arrangement with me.  I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation.  Just put the call on my account and connect me.”

“I’m afraid we can’t do that sir.  Calls are charged at 45c/minute to the number you are trying to reach and are not covered by your contract.  Do you have an alternate payment method?”

Grrrrrr. “Okay, my VISA card number is 4564 1234 xxxx xxxx.”

“Thankyou sir, and the card holder’s name? And the expiry date? And the CCV number?”

Arrgghhhhhhh. “Blah blah blah blah BLAH.”

“Thankyou for using XYZ Telecomms sir, connecting you now.”

(Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring.)

(Music on hold – Greensleeves –  Dum dum, dum dum, da-dum dum, dum dum…)

“Thankyou for calling TJF Telekom, this is Cindy, how can I help you?

“Cindy, I just want to talk to my friend on his mobile, the number’s 0418 xxx yyy.”

“Thankyou sir, you’ve reached your friend’s network, but we don’t have an arrangement to receive calls from your network.  If you agree to continue then the call will be billed at 48c/minute plus a 30c flagfall, please hold and I’ll transfer you to our intelligent voice response system which can…”

ARRRGGHGHGHGHHHHH.  I smash my phone into a million pieces, then curl-up in the corner of my study, rocking backwards and forwards, trying to find that elusive “safe place”.

Is this for real?  Surely not, Dr Ron.

This is what used to happen in parts of the United States, calling across carriers (especially mobile-to-mobile or payphone-to-mobile) and probably still does happen in some parts of the world, where telecommunications regulators completely fail to … well … regulate properly.

Here I was, thinking that Australia had moved into the 21st century, where I can pick up any phone and dial any number and speak to anyone I want.  And have my call connected automatically and get billed accordingly.

An Optus spokeswoman said, “Optus does not have a commercial agreement for the interconnect arrangements necessary for [certain classes of] calls, so we cannot continue to support them.”

Huh?!?!

I’m an Optus customer … I’m paying the bill aren’t I ?!?!?

Connect the bloody call!!!

Optus appear to have got the sulks because another company (Mediatel)  was routing local Optus calls internationally using VoIP, and Optus were missing out on the international tariffs.  Well … that’s a very brief synopsis … the details are being nutted-out in the Federal Court at the moment.

At least one customer, according to Australian IT, said he recently cancelled his contract with Optus over the decision, and said, “I’m not going to give my money to a company that arbitrarily thinks it can decide who I can and can’t do business with.”

Hear, hear.  I applaud you, sir.  The only way Optus can be discouraged from treating its customers with this level of contempt is to “vote with our feet”, as they say.

Let’s hope the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman gives Optus’s chain a very firm yank.  We don’t need this type of commercial stupidity in Australia at the expense of a basic, functional telephone network.