Hello all - I am new to this forum but have been an 0500 customer since
its inception.

I have a few general questions for those in the know and some
observations regarding the cancellation of the 0500 service...

1. Does anybody have any idea how many actual users there are of this
service (someone earlier posted 30,000). If Telstra takes into account
the fact that ALL users of the 0500 service have been required to
maintain at least one Telstra landline, and my case I have opted to
keep my entire phone service and mobiles with them, what if ALL 0500
customers abandoned Telstra completely??? Without the 0500 service I
have no reason to stay with them at all. If 30,000 customers are paying
$29 per month for a landline rental plus $5 for their 0500 number the
annual revenue is over $12M. If those customers have more services with
Telstra then lost revenue could exceed $50M!!! Maybe THAT is a number
worth their consideration.

2. Is there anything in our telecommunications legislation regarding
provision of service which might require Telstra to continue the
service or offer a real alternative?

3. When the Onenumber service was launched it was marketed as Onenumber
for life. Does this also require Telstra to offer some way of
transitioning the 0500 phone numbers to a new system?

4. We have built our entire business model around the 0500 system -
mobile offices and staff with an easy, user friendly way for clients to
contact us anywhere. Not to mention the fact that we use a relatively
small amount of stationery and that which we have already printed with
our 0500 numbers will last us a couple of years at least. There are
often stories of businesses seeking compensation from Telstra for
stuff-ups with 1300 numbers (usually clumsy allocation of numbers
resulting in hundreds of unwanted calls). Surely there is a good
argument for substantial compensation to be awarded to businesses which
will be severely affected by the cancellation of the 0500 service
(regardless of the 12 month advance warning). Again, 30,000 people are
hard to ignore.

I am keen to hear others' views on these topics and whether there is
any likeliness of an action group forming to petition Telstra to come
up with an real alternative or continue the system.


--
solmanic