Maclean Telstra mobile phone outage cause revealed

Telstra has revealed what caused a widespread outage that had mobile reception down for more than a day.

Telstra has revealed the cause of a widespread mobile phone outage that affected much of the Maclean area for the past two days.

Telstra Regional General Manager for Telstra NSW Mike Marom said that an underground fibre optic cable in Wharf Street was damaged on Wednesday morning.

“Telstra crews replaced and reconnected approximately 100 metres of fibre optic cable in a challenging location and worked as quickly as possible to bring back connectivity,” he said.

Fixed line and NBN internet services were not impact during this time he said.

“Telstra apologises to any residents inconvenienced during this time and encourages anyone undertaking excavations to contact Dial Before You Dig before beginning work,” he said.

EARLIER:

The issue was reported to Telstra around 9am Wednesday morning, affecting 3G, 4G and 5G services, stretching north to Chatsworth Island, and south to Tyndale.

A map showing a Telstra mobile outage throughout the Maclean and district region

Regional General Manager for Telstra NSW Mike Marom said that fixed line and NBN internet services were not impacted.

“A specialised fibre repair team has been dispatched to the site to commence repairs,” he said.

“The cause of the damage and a restoration time is unknown at this stage.”

Mr Marom said Telstra would look to complete repairs and return services as quickly as possible, and apologises to any impacted customers during this time.

A Mobile Phone Tower

For those with Wi-Fi at home or in the office, and a relatively new and popular phone, Wi-Fi calling was available to make and receive mobile calls. The setting is free, and to find out more Google Telstra Wi-Fi calling.

Maclean’s Telstra 5G service was recently turned on, and joined Grafton, Iluka and Yamba in the Clarence Valley to have the high-speed service.