It’s how Telstra connects (unless you put the phone on hold)
Now correct Dr Mumbo if he’s wrong, but Australia’s biggest telco Telstra organising a conference call for the media should be no trickier than the proverbial brewery putting on a few drinks.
Of course, events do happen which throw the best laid plans into chaos. A wild storm bringing down power lines would, quite understandably, wreck a phone link up, and, well, he can’t actually think of anything that would ruin a brewery piss up.
So the reasons behind the collapse of a conference call this morning, when Telstra unveiled details of its new health initiative, came as something of a surprise to Dr Mumbo.
Forget workmen slicing through cables or high winds destroying lines, Telstra encountered a slightly more mundane problem.
Someone – as yet unidentified – made the cardinal mistake of putting their phone on hold, rather than mute, preventing any of the eager journos gathered on the line from listening in.
Maybe it’s just as well they’re looking to diversify their revenue streams.
A healh initiative? For god’s sake Telstra, learn to one thing right before diversifying your ability to drive us all nuts. I went ten weeks without a phone line (with a child under 2, another one sick, a wife with cancer and me trying to run a small business) because we made the made the mistake of asking why we hadn’t received a phone bill in 6 months! They immediately cut off landline, mobiles and by extension, our internet. No pro activity by Telstra, no compensation, just ten weeks of them passing the buck. Trust you with my health? No thanks.
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As a former employee of said Telco, I did find it bizarre that setting up the WEEKLY video call between the Sydney and Melbourne offices often took longer than the meeting itself…
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Journalist has time wasted by screwed up concall. Gnash teeth and have a crai. This column is clearly trying to outdo Media Watch for triviality.
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whoops. oh well, there’s always the Optus Health initiative, although I wouldn’t rely on the Vodafone Health Initiative or you’d already be dead.
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Telstra ruin my life………….
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It make sense for Telstra to move into healthcare.
Chronic conditions, diabetes, obesity and heart disease are going to cripple Australia’s health budget. We need tele-health. And they can connect us to it.
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