‘Vandalism’ behind Fraser Coast’s ongoing service disruptions

Police are investigating after an act of vandalism brought down Optus services across the Fraser Coast.

Fraser Coast Optus customers are frustrated by service disruptions.

Police have been called in after an act of vandalism brought down Optus services across the Fraser Coast.

An Optus spokesman said Optus was working with the police, who were investigating the matter.

The region’s Optus customers have continued to vent their frustrations online after services went down overnight on Wednesday night.

The outage follows similar service issues on the weekend, and Optus has pointed the finger squarely at vandals.

A statement from Optus acknowledged the ongoing issues for Fraser Coast customers.

“We are aware that some customers in the Maryborough and Hervey Bay areas are again experiencing disruption to their mobile services after fibre cables were damaged by another case of vandalism following an initial incident on the weekend,” the statement said.

“Our teams are working to restore service to the area as soon as possible.

“We apologise to affected customers and thank them for their patience.”

On Thursday morning, Maryborough Optus customers were discussing the ongoing issues on social media.

Many also attended Maryborough’s Optus store to raise concerns about the service disruption.

Brooklyn Tucker said they’d had no network since about 6.30pm on Wednesday.

A sign outside Maryborough's Optus store.

Will Ski said someone had cut a cable joining several Optus towers last Friday.

“Service in the centre of the city has been extremely patchy since then,” he said.

“When I checked with Optus they said it was being repaired now.

“As a former technician, I know that if the cable was 1000 or 10,000 fibre cable, it will easily take two weeks to repair,” he said.

Thai’la Goodson said there should be more communication from the service provider.

“They should have sent out emails or texts to let us all know, it’s really inconvenient when people need their phones for work,” she wrote.

“Can’t even call triple-0 because got no service.”

Lisa Maree said because her phone’s internet went down it ended up costing her money in fees as she couldn’t access internet banking.

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