Gold Coast nbn issues: Why you should expect more internet outages during La Nina

Have you lost internet after a storm? Here’s why it is happening more often around the Gold Coast. DETAILS

GOLD Coast residents are being warned to expect more internet outages as the La Nina weather event continues to cause wild storms.

Over the past several months, hundreds of residents have complained about NBN outages following lighting strikes, including after Wednesday’s storm.

An NBN spokesman said there were 773 incidents reported across the Coast following this event.

He said there was an issue identified with a component in some of NBN’s fibre to the curb network connection devices.

“The issue causes some devices to fail under certain conditions in areas prone to lightning and which have high resistance to earth due to the local geology,” the spokesman said.

“The affected devices meet the relevant Australian standards associated with this equipment and testing by NBN’s supplier confirms that the devices fail in a safe way.

“However, it does cause the home broadband connection to be lost, which is leading to a poor customer experience for some people in these areas.”

Hundreds of residents have complained about internet outages. Picture: iStock

NBN identified the issue earlier this year and began rolling out strengthened network connection devices which were less likely to fail, the spokesman said.

Customers who experience outages are urged to contact their internet provider so their device can be replaced if needed.

Parkwood resident Craig King said many people in his suburb had complained of internet outages following wild weather.

“I have seen it on community (Facebook) group posts where there’s been a lot of other people affected,” Mr King said.

“Our NBN modem blew up during (Wednesday’s) storm - It just started ticking.

“Every couple of seconds it was making a loud tick.

“It didn’t sound safe so we just unplugged it.”

A wild storm hits Coolangatta. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Another Coast resident said they lost their third NBN modem this week, while others have resorted to unplugging their modem before a storm hits.

Some reported waiting up to two weeks for their service to be restored.

But there’s more bad news on the way, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning La Nina will continue to drench the Coast throughout the summer. The weather phenomenon occurs when strong winds push warm water west across the Pacific Ocean, cooling temperatures and increasing rainfall.

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