Telstra customers fuming over widespread mobile phone outages

Telstra has blamed flooding for widespread outages that have left hundreds of customers without mobile coverage since 3am.

Telstra services are now coming back online after floods caused widespread outages left hundreds of customers without any mobile phone reception for more than five hours.

Around 500 clients of the national telco reported losing mobile coverage in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Taking to Twitter to air their grievances, Telstra users near the border of NSW and Victoria said they had been without mobile service since 3am.

@Telstra why is there no 3G or 4G mobile signal on the VIC/NSW Border area of Albury Wodonga? I'm using wi fi to send this. I've turned my phone off, on. No change.

— Linda 🇦🇺😎 (@greenmonkey7007) October 31, 2022

Residents in the border towns of Wagga Wagga and Albury-Wodonga said there was still no coverage in the areas at 8am.

There are more than 100,000 people living in the border towns and surrounding areas.

As one Victorian resident pointed out, the timing couldn’t be worse as the state gears up for a public holiday on Melbourne Cup day.

Any chance of fixing the phone reception in Albury @Telstra. It’s Melbourne cup day and no one can use their phones!

— Ash Beer (@BeerAshlee) October 31, 2022

More than five and a half hours after the widespread outage was reported, a Telstra spokesperson said the issue has been fixed.

Despite flooded roads, a Telstra technician was able to access the affected site in southern NSW and connect a generator.

A spokesperson for the telco said the issues had been caused by flooding.

“A power outage in Boorowa and a cable cut near Adelong are disrupting Telstra services across southern New South Wales and northern Victoria,” a spokesperson said early on Tuesday morning.

“Both are believed to be flood related.”

A backup battery at Boorowa in southern NSW kept services active throughout the night, but the Telstra spokesperson said it unfortunately ran out around 3am.

“We’re working with the power company to get services back online and we have technicians urgently trying to find a way into the area, but a number of roads are flooded,” read a statement to NCA NewsWire on Tuesday morning.

Telstra customers have been told to monitor for updates. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Naomi Jellicoe

As the services start to come back online after the outage, the Telstra representative apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers.

“We know how important being able to stay in touch is during this time,” they said.

“We worked to get everything back online as quickly as possible and we’re sorry for any stress this caused this morning.”

The outage comes as Victorian residents are battling ongoing flood emergencies and most residents are monitoring for constant State Emergency Services updates.

Southern NSW is also on flood watch after it experienced a drenching on Monday night.