newy.com.au – Telstra says an attempted copper cable theft has damaged adjacent fibre optic cables and disrupted some of its services in the Stockton area. Reports of phone and internet outages through Fern Bay and Fullerton Cove raise concerns for older residents relying on emergency pendants.
The outage began about 10:15am today (Thursday 12 November). Early information provided to newy.com.au points to fibre optic cable damage inside Stockton Bridge where there is “no slack left” to re-splice the cable, so a new cable might have to be hauled through the structure of the bridge.
The reported disruption extends from northern Stockton through Fern Bay and Fullerton Cove to about one kilometre south of McDonald’s Williamtown. Hundreds of elderly Fern Bay residents are understood to have lost fixed line internet services in some estates.
Reports received by newy.com.au say residents are unable to contact family members and some 4G emergency pendants used by older people are no longer connecting.
Telstra did not give a restoration time in its statement. A spokesperson said: “We’ve engaged specialist crews who are working to carry out repairs as quickly and safely as possible. Repairs like this can be complex, and we’ll provide further updates as work progresses.”
A telecommunications industry specialist who asked not to be named told newy.com.au that customers of local internet providers using Telstra fibre infrastructure, including some business customers, had also lost connectivity.
The specialist, said the damaged fibre cable ran through the centre of Stockton Bridge’s structure and replacing it would require confined space work. He said lane and bridge closures may be needed, subject to Transport for NSW approval, and he estimated the access requirements could mean repairs may take 3 days or more to complete. We have also been told that Telstra will re-attend tomorrow morning to see if something can be done in the meantime.
The specialist said some services might return sooner if data could be temporarily diverted along another fibre route via Williamtown. Telstra has not confirmed whether that option is available or planned.
Local internet providers who operate their own network, separate from NBN, are understood to have established temporary point to point wireless backhaul connections to work around the damaged infrastructure.
NBN infrastructure serving the area is understood to be unaffected because NBN previously set up a backup fibre path via Williamtown. Households whose NBN services are still working may be able to use Wi-Fi calling to make calls if their mobile has no signal.
A mobile phone displaying “SOS Only” may still be able to dial 000 through another available mobile network.
Some medical alarms and personal safety devices may not support that fallback. Telstra advises people relying on emergency pendants which are offline to call 000 via a mobile phone instead.
newy.com.au will seek a further update from Telstra on Friday.
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