MOBILE phone customers of Optus – and third-party telcos using their network – have been left without services in Hamilton over the last five days after a major upgrade to a local tower required a temporary outage, with full service not set to be restored until the weekend.
According to the Optus map, impacted service areas extended from Tarrington through to Casterton, although service at Wannon appeared to be operational.
Cavendish, Dunkeld and Penshurst appear to have not been impacted.
Hamilton Regional Business Association (HRBA) president, Michael Byrne said he had been personally impacted by the outage.
“I personally am frustrated by the lack of information and consultation from Optus prior to this outage or upgrade,” he said.
“I can undertake business when in Wi-Fi internet range but the moment I’m out of the office I have no communication.
“Personally, I’ll be looking at other carriers in the future.”
Mr Byrne said he had been contacted by other HRBA members complaining about the mobile switch-off.
“Lots of people personally have no internet, phones, or messages if they have their phone and internet with Optus,” he said.
Mr Byrne said Gen Health reported that, “in general we have had patients missing appointment reminders, hard to contact for changes and notifications regarding appointments”.
Active Feet also reported that they had little to no service on their main phone line since it went down.
“As an Optus user we also have had no communication from them at all,” Mr Byrne said.
“Often you get a courtesy message but not this time.”
Wannon MP Dan Tehan said his office had also received several complaints from constituents about the outage.
“We have had complaints about Optus and have made representations to Optus,” he said.
“Disappointingly they have been incredibly slow to respond, and they need to improve their customer service dramatically.
“They have been incredibly frustrating to deal with.”
Western District Health Service corporate services director, Nick Starkie said fortunately the health service’s landlines had not been impacted by the outage, however, staff Optus mobiles were experiencing patchy service in recent days.
“(WDHS) has put in place contingencies and diversions to ensure that the mobile phone issue is having minimal impact on staff and the community,” he said.
In a statement, Optus said its mobile services may be interrupted, however, said all services should be operating normally again by 7pm on Sunday, February 25 and will let customers know when everything is back in working order.
