Telstra Announces Real-Time Data Alerts

Telstra Announces Real-Time Data Alerts

Using data can quickly becoming expensive.

To help its customers better manage their data usage, Telstra has announced improvements to the usage alerts sent to its customers.

In September last year, the Telecommunication Consumer Protection (TCP) required all Australian Telcos to alert consumers when they had used 50%, 85% and 100% of their monthly data usage, within 48hrs of reaching that usage amount. As a result, Australian carriers (including Telstra) rolled out SMS based data usage alerts to comply with these requirements from the TCP. However, there was the possibility that the alerts could be delayed up to 48 hours, by which time the user may have already gone over their data allowance.

To address this gap, Telstra has announced that its customers will soon receive real-time alerts via text message, allowing them to know “within seconds” how their usage is tracking. The messages will still be sent when the user reaches 50%, 85% and 100% of their data usage, but with less of a delay.

The real time alert announcement comes after Telstra purchased software from data service solution provider Matrixx.

Scott McGibbony, director of mass market mobile at Telstra said “We have worked with our partner Matrixx to deploy this new real-time rating solution… The solution is software-based and integrates into our network and existing infrastructure to rate data usage as it occurs and updates the billing system and customers’ usage meters.”

Telstra will be rolling this service out to all of their customers in time, however, personal customers with a 13 digit account number will be the first. Personal customers can expect to see this service implemented before the end of the month.

It is still unknown when, but Telstra confirms that its business customers will also receive this service in the future.

For more information, visit Telstra’s website here.