Yeah maintenance gone wrong was my though too based on timing. Looks like they recently went Juniper for their core:
https://www.crn.com.au/news/optus-uses-juniper-switches-in-core-network-upgrade-330452
internet in oz is fucked up, seriously.
when i first was getting dialup it was so expensive, even right next door to fortitude valley.
i hear from my mother about the state of the NBN and all that fuckin commie bullshit. at my prompting and to great satisfaction for over a decade she was using iiNet but they've been consumed by the Blob as well.
NBN is basically a lottery. Fibre to the home areas generally get a good consistent service but HFC, FTTC & FTTN areas can have a lot of issues. iiNet was bought out by TPG and their service gradually became worse after that, although they are probably still better than Telstra and Optus. Superloop/Exetel & Aussie Broadband are the better mid-sized ISPs these days in my opinion.
