Hold the line: Good news for disconnected couple

AN IPSWICH couple's phone and internet dramas could not have come at a worse time.

CALL OUT: Goodna residents Margaret and Robert Ross were left without a landline for seven weeks following an system error. Picture: Rob Williams

AN IPSWICH couple's phone and internet dramas could not have come at a worse time.

With a death in the family and a sick child to deal with, Margaret and Robert Ross say they missed out on important phone calls during the seven weeks their landline has been out of action.

Making matters worse, the Goodna pair had also lost the internet for the past fortnight.

Mrs Ross said the drama started about two months ago when Optus advised they would be sending out a new modem to replace the old superseded one.

"That was on July 6 when they send the new modem out,” she said.

"They told us the one we had was outdated and just hook the new one up the same way as the old one.

"It didn't work and we thought straight away it was our fault. After a couple of weeks of promising to send someone out they told us the problem was at their end.”

On Tuesday they were told the issue would be resolved in 72 hours.

"Every time you call they put you on hold for half an hour; it is a real muck around,” Mrs Ross said.

"We have just had a death in the family and a kid that was sick and we have missed out on calls from people who only had our landline number. They were not able to get onto us.”

There was finally some good news for the Goodna residents yesterday, with Optus confirming it had found the source of the problem and apologised to the Ross family for the delays.

The family's phone and internet were restored.

"We have apologised to Mr and Mrs Ross for their inconvenience,” an Optus spokesman said yesterday.

"We have been in regular contact with our customer since they alerted us to their issues and their services have now been restored.

"All customer issues are a priority for Optus.”

Optus found an isolated system error on the Ross line and supplied a pre-paid mobile broadband kit for them to use in the interim, the spokesman said.

The Ross family was also offered a credit to cover their bill during the outage.

After hearing the good news, Mrs Ross said she was grateful for the prompt action.

"It's amazing,” she said.

"Having my email back is great.”

Originally published as Hold the line: Good news for disconnected couple