Why phone outages have become normal

Last week, millions of Australians were reminded that their phone and data service is only as reliable as one company’s software, when Telstra experienced its third major outage in under a year.

Today, we’ll unpack why these outages keep happening, what regulators want to do about it, and a question that’s been the subject of a decade-long debate: If a telco experiences an outage, why can't your phone jump onto a competitor’s network instead?

Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Billi FitzSimons
Producer: Orla Maher
Video Editor: Rosa Bowden

Want to support The Daily Aus? That's so kind! The best way to do that is to click ‘follow’ on Spotify or Apple and to leave us a five-star review. We would be so grateful.

The Daily Aus is a media company focused on delivering accessible and digestible news to young people. We are completely independent.

Want more from TDA?
Subscribe to The Daily Aus newsletter
Subscribe to The Daily Aus’ YouTube Channel

Have feedback for us?
We’re always looking for new ways to improve what we do. If you’ve got feedback, we’re all ears. Tell us here.

Shot on Fujifilm.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.