Cairns northern beaches residents endure ongoing internet outages with no end in sight

Hundreds within Cairns’ northern beaches have endured days-long internet outages since March last year, with the frequency and duration of outages only getting worse.

Trinity Park coupe Beau and Jess Whykes have had 34 days of major internet outages since March 2024.

Hundreds within Cairns’ northern beaches have endured days-long internet outages since March last year, with the frequency and duration of outages only getting worse.

Since internet wholesaler Velocity merged with Opticomm at the start of 2024, residents across Trinity Park, Trinity Beach, Smithfield and Palm Cove have been without reliable internet despite paying full price for their services.

Palm Cove resident Adam Jacobson has had outages for nearly a year and said the issue might seem small but people’s lives revolve around the internet.

“It feels like a first-world problem,” Mr Jacobson said.

“But the issue is that you’re paying for something you’re not getting and nobody knows how to fix it.”

Fed up Palm Cove resident Adam Jacobson gathered signatures from 93 residents experiencing the same issues before sending them off to state and federal representatives. He said the current business model splinters and dilutes customer complaints making it impossible to hold anyone to account. Photo Tim Little.

VELOCITY ESTATES

Like the NBN, Opticomm provides the physical fibre cables that transport data to communities, which is then rented by companies like Telstra, Dodo or AUS Internet.

Originally laid by Telstra’s Velocity network, Opticomm bought the infrastructure and network in early 2024.

In the 2010s many housing developers signed agreements with Velocity to be the sole supplier of internet infrastructure in their new estates.

The service was touted as faster and ready to roll out ahead of the NBN, which made it a no-brainer for developers.

But as the NBN came around, communities deemed to have sufficient internet infrastructure were excluded from the roll out.

Since Velocity’s sale, at least 35 residents within Cairns’ northern beaches have made submissions to the Ombudsman due to constant outages.

Housing estates engaged Velocity to provide quick and ready to roll out internet infrastructure. The catch for residents meant they would not receive the NBN as an option in later years.

Opticomm’s parent company is Uniti Group.

Uniti Group chief of infrastructure networks and technology Geoff Aldridge said despite the frustration, vandalism, power outages and reliability issues with Telstra’s infrastructure had hamstrung the company.

“It is important to understand Opticomm owns and controls the fibre access network but is dependent on Telstra long haul backhaul networks to complete the delivery of services,” Mr Aldridge said.

“There have been 15 unplanned outages since April 2024 ... 11 of these outages were due to fibre optic cable cuts within the Telstra network, several of which are due to vandalism, mainly copper theft impacting the adjacent fibre cables.

“Opticomm has been investigating for some months options to provide backhaul diversity to the region, given the ongoing issues... at present we are awaiting a feasibility result from Telstra to confirm how much of the existing Telstra path is diverse from Cairns to Brisbane.”

Opticomm does use Telstra’s backhaul infrastructure to deliver its service, but how diverse Opticomm wants that service to be is negotiated with Telstra.

Mr Aldridge said discussions were ongoing, but Opticomm were trying to make their service less vulnerable.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any ETA (on the) reference feasibility result for backhaul diversity yet, but we expect to get updates over the next few weeks from our backhaul suppliers,” Mr Aldridge said.

“When we have a completed feasibility report from our backhaul supplier, we expect a further 10-12 weeks to complete upgrade/installation works of diverse routes from Cairns to Brisbane.”

Telstra would not comment on the diversity of Opticomm’s network but acknowledged copper thefts had caused considerable outages.

“Copper theft is an ongoing issue across Australia for many industries, including telecommunications companies,” a Testra spokesman said.

“Copper cables still play an important part in our network and the impact on customers can be significant if they are unable to contact assistance in the case of an emergency.

“It also requires Telstra to divert work crews to restore services, delaying us from resolving other customer service issues.”

For Trinity Park couple Jess and Beau Whykes, whether the issue lies with Telstra or Opticomm, the reality remains the same.

“I deliver training online to people across the state so when I don’t have internet… I’ve got 20 or 30 people lined up to sit through a training session…that’s not just me and my work it’s the wider organisation that is impacted,” Ms Whykes said.

“Even today with the two dropouts, I was on a call with one of my team... I’ve just got to wait for it to come back on and then restart that conversation.

“For me, it’s about what tomorrow is going to bring, am I going to have what I need there ready to go to do my job.”

Jess Whykes said major internet outages had disrupted her work and online study making it almost impossible to do her job effectively. Despite meticulously documenting each outage since March 2024 Ms Whykes had been offered no fix to the current situation. Photo Tim Little.

After requesting data from his provider Lawntel, Mr Jacobson found there had been 200 hours of unplanned outages since March 2024 and still no accountability.

“There’s this arm’s length between the end users and the accountability of the infrastructure provider,” Mr Jacobson said.

“When you look at something like Starlink… if a service doesn’t work you complain to Starlink.

“But we all have to go through our little internet service providers and it’s the job of them to hassle the infrastructure provider.”

Beau and Jess tried everything to fix the issue at the source but their complaints just got passed around.

“You can email them [Opticomm] and that’s it, you pretty much get a generic response back,” Mr Whykes said.

“You’re just told to go to your service provider.

“But they [Telstra] look at these outages as one home or one incident and then once that’s cleared… case closed,” Ms Whykes said.

Beau and Jess Whykes investigated leaving their current internet provider but doubts over Starlinks reliability, a jump in price and principle made the couple want to stay and improve their current experience. Photo Tim Little.

Federal member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch said the issue had been raised with his office multiple times prompting him to write to the Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland on November 18.

“Since the service transition eight months ago, residents have experienced numerous Opticomm outages, ranging from a few hours to several days,” the letter stated.

“These are not remote or isolated locations, they are suburbs of Cairns, only 15 minutes from an international airport.

“Residents here should not be expected to tolerate a level of service that would be unacceptable in other cities of Australia.”

To date, Mr Entsch has not received a reply.

PULLING OUT:

As internet outages continue, some in the community fear their providers will simply stop servicing the area.

In November 2024, AUS Internet withdrew their services from the northern beaches citing issues with Opticomm reliability.

In a statement posted on January 1, AUSIinternet acknowledged the frustration of their customers and suggested they contact their representatives.

“For customers switching to another Opticomm provider, we hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel for Opticomm reliability,” the statement read.

“We cannot stress enough that banding together as a community and making these issues brought to the attention of the Federal Telecommunications Minister via MP Warren Entsch, as well as the ACCC is what needs to be done.”

When asked about the withdrawal, Mr Jacobson said he was surprised more hadn’t already left.

“Can you blame them?” Mr Jacobson said.

“They have to take the complaints from the customer, they have to follow up with Opticomm to get all that sorted, and they have to reimburse the customers, provide answers to the customer about the frequency.

“Why bother.”

Data obtained from internet provider Lawntel showed Mr Jacobson there had been 200 hours of unplanned outages since March 2024. Photo Tim Little.

In recent months, frustrated residents have flocked to alternatives like Starlink that provides wireless internet coverage via low flying satellites.

The Whykes’ said they had looked into the option but the price of the product and concerns surrounding its reliability made them reluctant to switch.

“On special, you can get them [Starlink] for about $400 but it’s a $600 outlay and the monthly plans are more expensive as well,” Mr Whykes said.

“Why should we have to pay extra… to do what the rest of the country does and pull power through our cable?

“The infrastructure is there, the service is there, why can’t we use what we’re paying for?”

Originally published as Cairns northern beaches residents endure ongoing internet outages with no end in sight