By MICHAEL FOREMAN
Compass Communications became the victim of its own success when users trying to access its recently launched freenet service encountered line-busy signals.
Customers were told in an e-mail from the "freenet support team" that the company had become aware of the problems, which it initially blamed on Telecom.
"There are
hundreds of lines available but Telecom is not forwarding the calls to these lines," the company complained in the e-mail.
It said freenet was investigating the problem but in the meantime, users could "dial our modems directly and bypass the 0867 service."
But Telecom spokesman Glen Sowry said that the 0867 system limited the internet service provider to 63 simultaneous calls on one telephone number.
He added that freenet had also been attempting to route calls through the Clear network, which were being rejected as Clear did not have an 0867 interconnection agreement with Telecom.
Compass chief executive Karim Hussona said that despite arranging hundreds of lines, the company had specified only two 0867 access numbers. Traffic was load-balanced between the two but a maximum of 126 calls could be handled at any one time.
"We weren't aware of the restriction of 63 calls per number," he said. "Now that we are aware of it we can do something about it."
As freenet's customer base had increased to nearly 7000 users last week the 126-caller maximum was clearly insufficient. Compass had arranged for three more access numbers to be provided, giving a maximum capacity of 315 simultaneous calls.
Mr Hussona said that it was natural for the company to try to use Clear, as both Telecom and Clear serviced Compass's national network.
"There was nothing restricting [this] in the agreement," he said, adding that he was unaware of the lack of an 0867 interconnection agreement between Telecom and Clear.
Compass hoped the service would be fully operational from tomorrow, following help from both the telecommunications companies.
Meanwhile, direct-access numbers for Compass modems were included in the original e-mail to customers.
When it was pointed out that dialling the modems directly would incur a charge of 2c a minute after 10 hours' internet usage a month, Mr Hussona suggested users should approach Telecom for a rebate.
"I'm sure Telecom will be quite amenable."
