17 year old Telstra Webmail email address suspended and cannot be found to reactivate

[vl_smith]

I have had a Telstra webmail address for 17 years with no problem. It;s never been linked to a billing account (I was 15 when I signed up for it on telstra.com webmail like a hotmail or gmail.

It worked perfectly fine last night, then this morning, it was gone. Everything deleted off my iphone, and when I try to log into the email.telstra.com to access it via a desktop, it takes me to a support page telling me that it's suspended.

I called the support number, was told they can't help me and sent to the live chat. The guy I spoke to on the livechat tried to help, but was unable to find my account. Apparently there is no database or way of finding webmail address that aren't linked to a Telstra or Bigpond paid billing account.

I've been told that the only email address that I have used for 17 years for EVERYTHING in my life is no longer accessible to me - i can no longer get emails, send emails, or access my archives or contact list. It's like it never existed, except that it is linked to my whole world.

I can go onto telstra.com and log into the 'my account' section and it comes up with my name, username and password and profile etc - but when I then click the webmail button - nothing....

Surely there is a way to find Webmail addresses in their system - there has to be a host or server somewhere - someone was able to suspend the account, so it must exist somewhere...

I need it back!!! Can anyone help me, I'm desperate???

[Kalak · Accepted solution]

There was an announcement made some time ago that free email addresses such as @telstra.com addresses would require either a paid email subscription or to be linked up to a paid Telstra broadband service - or they would be discontinued.

If you can't get assistance with tech support on 133933 then I would suggest asking the rep to lodge a complaint on your behalf and have a case manager assigned to you. They can liaise with folks in the background to find the right person to get you a final answer.