Telstra's airport network fails to fly

In late June, Telstra officials told ZDNet Australia  that wireless hotspot services were now available at the international terminal, following "gruelling" negotiations with airport officials.

Despite those claims, recent tests by ZDNet Australia  show that the wireless Telstra network is not visible at Sydney's main international terminal on a standardly-configured Windows XP machine. As well, there is no mention of the Telstra service on the official Sydney Airport site; only rival Optus gets a guernsey.

A Telstra spokesperson said that a restriction with the Cisco 350 access points used by Sydney Airport administration meant that the network SSID was not automatically broadcast to potential users, but had to be entered manually. Even users who have previously accessed Telstra hotspots from other locations need to re-enter the details.

That problem would be rectified in the future, the spokesperson said, and details of Telstra's offering added to the airport's Web site.