Update 20/08/2025
Bigpond have actioned the changes they stated they would, and the recommended changes to our email sending Bigpond recommended have also been completed as stated in the last update. Monitoring a number of large runs of emails being issued is showing good results. We are seeing a huge increase in the number of emails opened when sent to Bigpond. This is sitting in the 85%-95% region. We will continue to monitor these results and are hopeful this issue is now resolved. It remains a reactive item, as there is no way to predict changes in mail servers systems, however to date we see this as a promising result.
Update 23/07/2025
There has been headway with this issue.
Bigpond has made contact to take positive steps to ensure more accurate delivery moving forwards. They have made some adjustments to the rules used to manage inbound emails, and have reported test emails are now being presented in inboxes as expected. They have also recommended a few changes to the data behind the emails, and these have been put into place for all emails issued from our new Dashboard moving forwards. We are hopeful these changes will resolve this slowly growing issue. We are mindful that we can only see results of these changes after we actually issue notices, so it does remain a reactive process as testing a handful of emails is different from sending a few thousand. We will continue to update this page as we move forwards.
Ongoing Bigpond Email Delivery Challenges
Summary
Forms Express is continu investigate and respond to intermittent delivery issues impacting Bigpond email addresses. This affects the reliability of eNotices distribution to a small subset of ratepayers using @bigpond.com or @bigpond.net.au.
This issue has been intermittent, and only impacting notices at sporadic times. but still remains a priority for resolution, particularly in advance of the 2025/26 annual notice cycle. This advisory outlines the issue, its causes, recent platform improvements, and recommended council actions.
What’s Happening?
Across multiple billing cycles, some councils have reported:
- Ratepayers with Bigpond emails not receiving original rate notices
- However, reminder notices are often delivered
- Forms Express delivery logs show notices were successfully accepted by Bigpond
- No bounce notifications are received, leaving no technical trigger to flag delivery failure
While it is often a reminder notice that prompts the customer to enquire about the original, we believe it is luck of the draw as to which are not getting through.
Root Cause: Bigpond Mail Handling
Despite confirmation that our notices are being sent and accepted:
- Bigpond’s internal mail filtering may be delaying, redirecting, or suppressing emails
- Lack of bounce messages means Forms Express cannot automatically detect failed delivery
- Intermittency complicates troubleshooting — delivery works for most, fails silently for some
- Other service providers have also reported similar issues with Bigpond delivery
Previously, Bigpond was expected to be decommissioned. Telstra has since reversed that plan, but support and technical transparency remain limited.
To address this, we have:
- Appointed a dedicated Product Owner to escalate internally and liaise with Telstra
- Confirmed that other email senders are experiencing similar Bigpond issues
- Started to collect feedback on email changes that may improve this matter
- Provided councils with access to dashboards for delivery status and open rates
- Begun exploring fallback delivery solutions for councils (e.g., automated reprint triggers)
We acknowledge the impact this issue has on council operations and ratepayer trust. While the delivery environment (especially with Telstra/Bigpond) is partially outside of our control, we are committed to:
- Transparent reporting
- Continuous platform improvement
- Proactive communication
- Mitigation strategies to avoid recurrence