Cashless society

[JohnDe]

Here we go again. Major banks use Optus, EFTPOS down, Commsec "We're unable to take your call at the moment due to a national Optus outage. We're sorry for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience as we work to have this resolved as soon as possible."

Chaos, anger as Optus network collapses

Banks, hospitals, and entire transport networks are impacted as the federal government demands answers from Optus about an outage across 10 million customers

 

[mullokintyre]

Here we go again. Major banks use Optus, EFTPOS down, Commsec "We're unable to take your call at the moment due to a national Optus outage. We're sorry for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience as we work to have this resolved as soon as possible."

EVIE electric charge stations down for the same reason.
So in the event of a war, you only need to cripple the telecomms services and you cripple the country.
mick

 

[JohnDe]

EVIE electric charge stations down for the same reason.
So in the event of a war, you only need to cripple the telecomms services and you cripple the country.
mick

The outage is putting a heavy load on the whole system. Most Eftpos systems down across the country. How will business get paid, how will customers get their goods, or their car after a repair or service?

"Commonwealth Bank has warned customers may not be able to access online banking services. More concerning is Melbourne hospital provider Northern Health saying the outage has shut down their phone lines, underscoring the seriousness of Optus’s blackout."​

Hack or not? Optus mobile outage explained
Millions of Optus customers could be without phone or internet for another 11 hours, as the reasons for the widespread blackout become more clear.

My business uses Telstra, in the last 15 minutes the network has slowed drastically. It's till usable but a definite slow down.

 

[Craton]

No a good look for going cashless is it?

FYI.
Here in far west NSW over the last weekend (Sat and Sun) TransGrid and Essential Energy were carrying out maintenance and upgrades to the power grid.
All the towns in the far west lost power at approx. 10:15 on Sunday morning with some of us getting power back on at 14:30 all to lost is again for over an hour at 17:45.
Other unfortunates lost power for over 12 hours!

One of the local clubs as per todays fish wrapper claim they lost over $35k due to food spoils, lost revenue, running costs etc.

Here's the kicker, TransGrid "suspects" that a sudden surge from 2MW to over 16MW thanks to rooftop solar, the solar and wind farms caused the outage.
NOTE: The investigation into the cause is still ongoing.

 

[JohnDe]

No a good look for going cashless is it?

FYI.
Here in far west NSW over the last weekend (Sat and Sun) TransGrid and Essential Energy were carrying out maintenance and upgrades to the power grid.
All the towns in the far west lost power at approx. 10:15 on Sunday morning with some of us getting power back on at 14:30 all to lost is again for over an hour at 17:45.
Other unfortunates lost power for over 12 hours!

One of the local clubs as per todays fish wrapper claim they lost over $35k due to food spoils, lost revenue, running costs etc.

Here's the kicker, TransGrid "suspects" that a sudden surge from 2MW to over 16MW thanks to rooftop solar, the solar and wind farms caused the outage.
NOTE: The investigation into the cause is still ongoing.

Sounds like incompetence.

 

[The Triangle]

This is why there's always a couple of hundred in my wallet...

How's it going for all the conspiracy doomsday preppers? Coles and Bunnings taking your gold bars as payment yet?

 

[JohnDe]

Here we go again. Major banks use Optus, EFTPOS down, Commsec "We're unable to take your call at the moment due to a national Optus outage. We're sorry for the inconvenience and we thank you for your patience as we work to have this resolved as soon as possible."

EFTPOS coming back online but in 3G only, 4G still not available.

 

[JohnDe]

This is why there's always a couple of hundred in my wallet...

How's it going for all the conspiracy doomsday preppers? Coles and Bunnings taking your gold bars as payment yet?

Same, and I have taught my kids to do the same.

Nows a good time to visit all the business that don't accept cash

 

[wayneL]

Great wake-up call for the plebeians.

I always carry cash, but has seriously @#$&ed my schedule for the day. Got internet now but texts still not working, can't contact anyone yet.

 

[againsthegrain]

China is laughing right now how easy it was

 

[divs4ever]

This is why there's always a couple of hundred in my wallet...

How's it going for all the conspiracy doomsday preppers? Coles and Bunnings taking your gold bars as payment yet?

heck i am a prepper , have something like 3 to 6 months food in the pantry , only the medications are something that needs updating monthly ( not counting whatever is on the fruit trees/vines and the freshly laid eggs )

maybe Coles and Bunning will swap eggs for stuff

 

[Craton]

Sounds like incompetence.

Apparently one of the two gas turbine generators failed so one would think, where's the backup/failover/redundancy contigency plan?

 

[Dona Ferentes]

the "institutional memory" probably got fired in the latest round of redundancies; outsourcing company took on a work-experience girl with a Certificate III in Facebook.

 

[sptrawler]

Apparently one of the two gas turbine generators failed so one would think, where's the backup/failover/redundancy contigency plan?

Depending on how well the Reflow batteries have been performing for Optus, we may see a massive order going in, a front line telco can't allow this sort of thing to repeat.
With regard a standby gas turbine failing, it must have been at the main hub, to take the whole system down I would guess.
But it will be interesting to hear the explanation, this is a perfect example of where large battery backup is required, now that batteries are a proven short term high load solution.

 

[Craton]

Depending on how well the Reflow batteries have been performing for Optus, we may see a massive order going in, a front line telco can't allow this sort of thing to repeat.
With regard a standby gas turbine failing, it must have been at the main hub, to take the whole system down I would guess.
But it will be interesting to hear the explanation, this is a perfect example of where large battery backup is required, now that batteries are a proven short term high load solution.

Yes, there was battery storage chatter from the solar and wind farms (AGL) whether the battery storage has been completed, am not sure on. Could have been the reason for the two day work allocation.

 

[wayneL]

Depending on how well the Reflow batteries have been performing for Optus, we may see a massive order going in, a front line telco can't allow this sort of thing to repeat.
With regard a standby gas turbine failing, it must have been at the main hub, to take the whole system down I would guess.
But it will be interesting to hear the explanation, this is a perfect example of where large battery backup is required, now that batteries are a proven short term high load solution.

Still won't be much chop in the event of an EMP attack.

 

[farmerge]

With Optus going down today just saw on the arvo TV news headlines signs in some shops CASH ONLY. It is alive and well So much for a cashless society. Cash is definitely king

 

[sptrawler]

Still won't be much chop in the event of an EMP attack.

Well one thing is for sure, they aren't going back to landlines and red phone boxes.

 

[sptrawler]

With Optus going down today just saw on the arvo TV news headlines signs in some shops CASH ONLY. It is alive and well So much for a cashless society. Cash is definitely king

Today, probably not tomorrow.
I was in the U.K last month, we took 5 X 20 pound notes with us, left over from a trip to the U.K in 2012. Well we got into Southampton at about 9pm as there was a stuff up with a transfer, so we went down to a local corner store to buy a couple of sandwiches and handed a 20 over.
Sorry we don't accept that anymore, pardon, we don't accept paper money anymore it is non tenderable. I go what I got this last time I was here, sorry you have to take it to the bank, but we do accept visa card.
Ok next day down to Barclays bank, excuse me can I swap these 20's for some plastic 20's, of course you can do you have an account?
No I'm from Auss, well sorry we can't accept them , WTF you gave me this crap 10 years ago now your telling me I can't use it FFS.
Well sir go to a money changer they can do it for you, o.k off to the money changer.
Hello can I swap my 5 X 20 pound paper notes for plastic ones, O my GOODNESSS yes of course you can, here is you 93 pounds, we take a 7% commission.

Cash is king, yep or as @IFocus would say NAH, it is all a scam.

 

[wayneL]

Well one thing is for sure, they aren't going back to landlines and red phone boxes.

No, but I can still buy an IPhone789 with cash, or whatever the hell number they are up to now.

For now.