Computer glitch blamed for regional phone problems

Telstra says a computer software problem caused mobile phone telecommunication systems to crash in regional New South Wales over the Christmas and Boxing Day break.

Telstra's Katherine Payne says the code divisional multiple access (CDMA) system was blacked out across a wide area on Christmas Day and the problem became progressively worse yesterday.

It was brought back online overnight after staff tracked the problem to malfunctioning software.

Ms Payne says people may have been diverted to a message bank, or simply received a busy signal if they tried to call using their mobile phones.

"The network was degrading over the day, late Monday, and we believe it affected all our customers in regional areas."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/nat/newsnat-27dec2000-34.htm

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), December 26, 2000