Bloody Telstra

I am typing this from my hotel room in Japan. I'm here for work. I have meetings all week, some of them with rather significant organisations in Japan that I am hoping to do business with.

I've spent the last several weeks organising this, which probably deserved several blog entries but time did not permit. While I was organising all this, I realised that I would need a mobile number in Japan so that my customers could contact me. I've always had trouble with phones in Japan and have never been able to get my mobile to work here. One of my colleagues assured me that this trouble was all behind me as I now have a 3G phone which will work just fine.

Needless to say, when I arrived in Hong Kong this morning, my phone didn't work. I borrowed my colleague's phone and called Telstra and was told that my mobile did not have international roaming switched on. No matter, I was told, they can switch it on now and it will be working in 5 or 10 minutes. I just needed to switch off the phone and switch it back on again.

For the next hour and a half I periodically switched my phone on and off to no avail. Slightly panicked, I borrowed the phone once more. I called Telstra again and explained my problem. I need to speak to the international roaming department they said. You are the international roaming department I said. No, we just turn it on they said and put me through to the international roaming department. The international roaming department seemed to be a very unhelpful young man who told me that the international roaming would be turned on at 10:45. Why 10:45 I asked? Because it takes 2 hours he said. But the other person said it would only be 5 or 10 minutes and all you have to do is reboot your phone. Dunno why they would say that, he said, it takes 2 hours and you don't have to turn your phone on and off.

At 10:45, as I was boarding the plane to Japan, it still wasn't working. Just to be sure, I rebooted but no good.

Once I got to Tokyo I called Telstra again. I got the usual inane voice menus and messages and told that I need to talk to the international roaming department (thanks for that) before speaking to a woman who told me that she could see what the problem was and now it's fixed. What was the problem I asked. Well it's fixed now she said, it will be working in about 5 or 10 minutes, you just have to reboot your phone.

With very little hope in my heart, I have since been rebooting my phone periodically without any luck. I now think it might be easiest if I just redirect the phone.

Bloody Telstra.