Heavy traffic loads delay Xtra customers' emails

By BRIDGET CARTER

Thousands of emails are being delayed for hours because of problems with New Zealand's biggest internet service provider, Xtra.

Xtra staff say the delays are caused by heavy traffic loads on the network and assure all customers that emails will not be lost.

But they cannot say when the problem will be sorted out.

Xtra spokeswoman Katrina King said the company was working hard on the problem and no customer should be losing mail.

She blamed heavy volumes of spam, and said the company was installing new servers to boost mail capacity.

One Xtra user, Northland motorcycle exporter Peter Gotzl, said he discovered problems yesterday.

He said it was "unprecedented" to have an internet service provider which could not pass emails on.

What was worse, Xtra was unable to tell customers when the problem would be resolved, he said.

"If you are a half-decent company, you shouldn't be off line for more than an hour."

Mr Gotzl said some companies could be waiting for a purchase order to come through because Xtra failed.

"You pay a lot of money for them to provide the service, and if suddenly you can't get email it just makes things awkward.

"It is the sort of mistake that should be pointed out."