Well I thought I would update events.
So the technician came and went ...took about 5 minutes.
So the problem that multiple calls to technical assistance was that the co-axial wall socket I was plugged into was an Optus wall socket. On the face of it a little amusing, but there are some communication lessons that could be learned by Telstra I think.
Firstly, I followed the instructions in the Telstra Gateway Max leaflet to the letter, and it instructions actually led me to the Optus (unbranded) wall socket. The next peice of deception was that all the connection lights behaved normally.
As mentioned previously, several hours of conversations with Telstra support and testing didn't resolve the issue either.
HOVEWER, the techie suspected what the problem was before he even saw the modem. I was always under the impression that Telstra had a monopoly on cable ...but apparantly not.
Just shor tof time for now ...but I will continue this discussion in the next few days.
Cheers,
SJH