Calls for new Dial Before You Dig mandate in wake of internet outage
A local company is calling on the state government to implement a new mandate that would help “protect services and people’s lives” following Tuesday’s internet outage. MANDATE + HAVE YOUR SAY >>
Tasmania
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Dial Before You Dig has called for the Tasmanian government to mandate use of its services prior to all digs, in the wake of Tuesday’s major internet outages.
DBYD CEO Ben Howell said mandates were in place in some Australian states, but not Tasmania and Victoria where the two Telstra fibre optic cables were damaged in two separate incidents that led to the outage.
“NSW has a DBYD mandate that is working in helping reduce asset strikes,” he said.
“We see this as a logical move for Tasmania and Victoria to really protect these services and people’s lives.”
A government spokesperson could not confirm if the introduction of a Dial Before You Dig mandate would be considered.
“Businesses are required to take all reasonable steps to obtain current underground essential services information about areas where they are going to undertake work before excavation work starts,” the spokesperson said.
“The Dial Before You Dig service is one way of getting that information.
“Private sector projects are aware of their responsibility to protect underground services and face significant legal (civil) liability where they fail to do so.”
The cause of the second damaged Telstra fibre optic cable was revealed to the Mercury on Wednesday as the result of roadworks near North-West Tasmania.
The first damaged cable was caused by civil construction work in Melbourne’s South-Eastern suburbs.
A Telstra spokesman said it was a “very rare” occurrence that two of the state’s three cables were struck just hours apart.
An Optus spokeswoman said many of their Tasmanian customers were also affected by the outage, as Telstra provides the network connection between the mainland of Australia and Tasmania.
Optus customers reported issues with service from 1pm Tuesday, some network restoration by 5:37pm and full network restoration by around 9:22pm “once the second cable was replaced”.
The Telstra spokesman said during the outage the ability to make phone calls including essential triple 0 calls was always available, so it “wasn’t an entire outage”.
Around one kilometre of fibre optic cable was restored to make the internet fully accessible to Tasmanians, and these repairs are not expected to have significant financial effects for Telstra.
“We have fibre repair crews for this very reason,” the Telstra spokesman said.
Meanwhile the Basslink telecoms cable was running at a reduced capacity due to a third party fault in Victoria.
A Basslink spokesman said the capacity was reduced to allow other sections of the network, which are not owned by Basslink, to be repaired.
There wass no impact on electricity transmission or the electricity interconnector.
Shop keepers scrambled for Plan B in internet chaos
Savvy shop keepers were left flummoxed and formulating a plan B on the spot when the internet outage unexpectedly took down key services on Tuesday.
Katinka Dineen of Hobart’s Lily & Dot resorted to analog documentation of her sales which she then spent all Wednesday morning painstakingly entering into the system, but admitted she fared better than some.
“We were really lucky as our EFTPOS continued to work and we had a really strong day of trade,” she said.
“I did pull out the exercise book and calculator as our cloud-based POS system was down, so we had to write everything down in the book.
“It’s amazing how much we rely on technology, its great when it works.”
Manager of merchant.hobart Mayte Tarazona said their internet based promotions and sales were temporarily halted by the outage and the EFTPOS machine proved temperamental.
“We couldn’t do many things here at the shop like updating our Instagram or purchases through our website,” she said,
“Then the EFTPOS machine was only working for some cards and not for others, depending on the bank people were with.
“We were able to accept cash for some sales, so many people had to go to the bank to withdraw money.”
In what would seem like a miracle, CWA Hobart Gift Shop manager Johanna Warren said there were no disruptions to their EFTPOS services, but the outage made her think of the importance of cash.
“We really encourage cash because its times like these when you are going to need it, I just don’t like this whole talk of a cashless society,” she said.
“Plus, with all the fees you pay (as a shop operator) with EFTPOS purchases, I say let’s go back to cash.”
Navigating an “intermittent” EFTPOS and busy day of trade, The Spotted Quoll owner Tamika Bannister said the day proved a bit of a “nightmare” in logistics.
“All of our POS (systems) run through the internet so it was a very difficult, very stressful and very hot day,” she said.
“We didn’t know what was happening and we couldn’t jump online and find out, it was a bit overwhelming until we found out it was bigger than just our store.”
Reports of Basslink outage after internet is cut statewide
Wednesday, 6pm: The Basslink telecoms cable is running at a reduced capacity due to a third party fault in Victoria.
A Basslink spokesman said the capacity was reduced to allow other sections of the network, which are not owned by Basslink, to be repaired.
There is no impact on electricity transmission or the electricity interconnector.
‘Very rare’: Telstra reveals what sent Tassie offline
In a “very rare” occurrence and happening “just hours apart” the internet was all but brought to a standstill in Tasmania yesterday due to roadworks and dial-before-you-dig mishaps.
A Telstra spokesman confirmed on Wednesday morning that two separate and unrelated incidents had occurred to two of the major Telstra fibre network cables connecting the state with mainland Australia.
“On one end of the cable in Melbourne’s South-Eastern suburbs, it was damaged by civil construction work in that location,” he said.
“On the other end of the cable, on the North-West Coast of Tasmania, it was damaged by road works.”
The spokesman said the repairs were completed by 7pm Tuesday evening and the internet was fully restored by that time with no further delays expected today, following the restoration of one kilometre of fibre optic cable.
“It’s a very rare instance that two main cables were broken or damaged at same time,” he said.
“It was a significant impact and we worked very quickly to make sure it was fixed as soon as possible.
“There was always voice traffic ability to make calls and phone triple triple-0, so it wasn’t an entire outage in Tasmania as we were still able to use telecommunications.”
The repairs from the damage were not expected to have significant financial effects for Telstra.
“We have fibre repair crews for this very reason,” the spokesman said.
It is business as usual for Telstra today.
“Everything is back up and running so we are pretty happy with everything,” the spokesman said.
EARLIER: A “major statewide internet outage” has struck Tasmania, leaving almost the entirety of its population without connection to any data services.
The disaster unfolded about 1pm local time on Tuesday after an outage affected two of three Telstra fibre cables that connected the island state with mainland Australia.
Internet providers, mobile companies and some television channels were affected by the outage, which had a ripple effect for businesses, consumers and a huge number of employees.
Technicians have scrambled to restore the state’s connection to the rest of the world, which – at the time of publishing – had already been lost for several hours.
The first cable was damaged during civil works in Frankston, Victoria about 11am before a second cable was damaged about 1pm on the Tasmanian side of the Bass Strait.
According to an ABC report, the fault on the Victorian side was caused by drilling which ruptured the cable.
Telstra is reportedly in discussions with the contractors who are believed to have caused the outage.
A Dial Before You Dig campaigner is expected to address media with more details on Wednesday.
âš ï¸ Confirmed: The island state of #Tasmania in #Australia has fallen largely offline, with internet, phone lines and TV services down after an incident affecting fibre cables to the mainland; real-time network data show connectivity at 30% of ordinary levels; incident ongoing 📉 pic.twitter.com/fRNOFVbons
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 1, 2022
Some services were being restored throughout the afternoon, with TasNetworks reporting some connectivity had been returned, despite a host of ISPs stayed down.
“We are experiencing a major statewide internet outage caused by upstream provider issues,” a post to its Facebook page read.
“TasNetworks external website has been impacted and is currently unavailable as a result.”
The company urged residents to continue checking Facebook for updates.
Work continued to reconnect residents with the internet, however a time on estimated completion was not announced.
At about 2.30pm, real-time network data showed connectivity at 30 per cent of normal levels, according to NetBlocks.
Locals have reported a series of “dire” effects of the outage, with some speculating Russia could be behind the crash.
“Tasmania has been cyber attacked by Russia. We have precious little internet. People aren’t allowed inside banks. Eftpos isn’t working at retail businesses. We can’t tweet. Use Instagram. Digital TV. Facebook. It’s dire,” one person tweeted.
A spokesperson for Telstra says the operator is urgently investigating two separate cable cuts on the main routes into #Tasmania that have largely disconnected the island from mainland Australia and the rest of the world. https://t.co/f5Zb7qEWEk
— Alp Toker (@atoker) March 1, 2022
Another said being cut off from the world was “disconcerting”.
“Testing, testing … hello world this is Tasmania. Can you hear me? Having internet, phone & TV suddenly go down with everything that’s going on in the world was a bit … disconcerting,” they wrote just after 3.30pm.
One man joked the outage made the internet a safe place to say risky things about Tasmania, because residents weren’t around to defend it like they normally would.
“If anyone has anything mean to say about Tasmania this is now a safe space,” he said in a tweet.
In welcome news for the Island State, Telstra confirmed the services were fully restored just after 7pm.
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