That means you don't have to use Telstra.com webmail interface! You can check your emails using other email programs (like Mailbird, Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird). Using desktop email programs will make you more productive and your email will always be available, even offline. Setup...
It is not true in every case but sometimes the server of Bigpond or Telstra might go down and to check the status of this, you may go to “https://downdetector.com/”. If it is down, nothing can be done from your side as only the server administrator has the access to it. But ...