Lantern Lane businesses thwarted by no internet connection
The boss of a new outlet in a Cairns shopping centre is frustrated at an extended wait for the supply of phone and internet services – and it is crushing his business.
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THE owner of a new eatery at the Stockland Cairns Shopping Centre dealing with an extended wait for supply of phone and internet services is pleading with telcos to deliver vital business connections so he can compete fairly in a highly-competitive industry.
In late September, the House of Bing, Kobe Dining, Korean Street, Aroy Jung and Yes Co Bar began trading at the Earlville centre’s new Lantern Lane Asian dining precinct, having no clue one of them would still be waiting for services six weeks later.
Owner of Aroy Jung, Brad Green, said he signed a contract for internet supply with the NBN Co in mid-September.
The owner of the Thai/Laos fusion restaurant said he had been given the run-around by Optus and the NBN Co, that were blaming each other for the problem.
“I have been on the phone countless times explaining that I have no signal and this is why my system will not work. Each time I get a different person to explain the problem, to only get the same result of them not being able to do anything,” he said.
Since contacting the Cairns Post, Mr Green said it was like “turning on a light” and he had been promised another technician would get the business connected today.
The business owner said a working landline was key to the success of the takeaway food arm of the eatery.
“We are a takeaway business and really rely on the landline to make a buck,” he said.
He estimated a 20 per cent loss in sales simply because the advertised number on promotional material didn’t work.
“It has been a frustrating ride, I can tell you. It has been an absolute comedy of errors. The only thing missing on these blokes was a red nose.”
Neighbouring business owner James Sing operates the House of Bing.
He said, given the problems faced by Mr Green, he had held off on trying to get connected. “The main thing for us that is a pain as we plan to do takeaway phone orders and we don’t want to give our mobile phones out,” he said.
Mr Sing had been relying on a Stockland Wi-Fi service for point-of-sale cashless transactions, while Mr Green said he had been forced to use a USB plug-in dongle to get an internet connection.
FAULT LINES
WHEN contacted by the Cairns Post, an Optus spokesman said “we have been in regular and frequent contact with this customer since we were alerted of his issues and can confirm a fix is under way”.
“We have offered an apology to this customer, along with a credit to cover his bill while the service is non-operational,” the spokesman said.
An NBN Co spokeswoman said there appeared to be no fault within the NBN network but rather an internal cabling issue at the Stockland Cairns Shopping Centre.
“Where a fault is determined to be in our network you have our commitment we will own and rectify the issue,” she said.
A Stockland spokeswoman indicated infrastructure at the centre was not at fault and she believed the problem was with the service provider.
Originally published as Lantern Lane businesses thwarted by no internet connection