Botched Telstra upgrade downs Cabcharge network

Taxi passengers across Australia were forced to pay their fares in cash or with old-fashioned credit card facilities after a Telstra network outage took Cabcharge EFTPOS terminals offline this morning.

A spokesperson for Cabcharge told iTnews the problem arose after a network upgrade being performed by its telecommunications supplier Telstra last night “didn’t work”.

“We are aware that there have been some issues with the Cabcharge terminals this morning but this has been resolved now,” she said.

“Our network is up and running at the present time.”

Telstra accepted responsibility for the fault.

"An overnight network upgrade caused an issue with the platform that supports the Cabcharge service. This issue was resolved this morning by 8.30am," a spokesman for the telco said.

"We understand that there may have been some short-term congestion issues after this time as a result of the taxis terminals re-connecting to the system."

The spokesperson did not detail the cause of fault.

Great start to the first day of new taxi reforms. I've just been told cab charge system is down. Can only pay cash. #frustrating

— Lauren Hilbert (@laurenhilbert) June 30, 2014

Being told that @cabcharge has crashed in Sydney and Adelaide due to change to new operating system. Was asked to use credit card.

— Ian Mannix (@sedvitae) June 30, 2014

Bloody eftpos is out this morning. Think it's a fleet wide problem. Awesome for a #cashless society

— Sir Tiny of Uriarra (@TinyTheCabbie) June 30, 2014