donations

Techsploder is floating an idea that Telecom enables customers donate their $3.25 credit from the broadband outages to the Indonesian earthquake relief effort.

From a PR standpoint, it isn't really a good move for Telecom. While people should donate to the relief effort, it'd be a bit rich for Telecom to effectively guilt people into parting with their money. A much better action is to make a large donation as a response to the idea and encourage people to donate money through the usual channels.

According to the DomPost, the total refund to customers isn't likely to exceed $300000, and given that a fraction of the people who haven't already signed up for the credit will likely a) clam the credit or b) decide to give it away. A donation of $500000, for example, direct from Telecom would be a win-win for the company and the relief effort.

Donations can be made through the Red Cross here.