Daylights savings confusion could hit mobile phones

Confused about daylight saving? How about your mobile phone? The decision to start daylight saving at the same time in participating states could cause problems for mobile phones.

Confused about daylight saving? How about your mobile phone?

The decision to start daylight saving at the same time in participating states could cause problems for mobile phones.

Clocks in NSW, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania and South Australia will be wound forward an hour at 2am on Sunday, 5 October. In WA, the clocks will be wound forward in three weeks time. However Queensland refuses to introduce a daylight saving program – or even a trial program.

The early introduction of daylight saving for four states and a territory is expected to cause problems for communications devices.

Telstra has warned that while most phones, PDAs and BlackBerrys would update the time they displayed automatically, the software on some newer mobile handsets and PDAs may change the time to reflect the traditional beginning of daylight saving.

Optus says that customers using the latest BlackBerry models such as Bold or BB 8100 will find the time automatically updated. For earlier models, the user may need to manually update their handset.

For those customers with a more basic non-smartphone handset it is best to check with the handset manufacturer’s website for the various models. In some cases they will need to manually update the time by visiting the “settings” option in their mobile phone, says an Optus spokesperson.

Don’t forget daylight savings starts this Sunday!

If you are in NSW, Victoria, ACT, Tasmania and South Australia, move your one hour at 2:00am.