More than 10 million Optus customers were fraught with frustration today by a network-wide outage that impacted both personal and business customers.
The nationwide tech collapse was first reported about 4am, affecting mobile, landline and broadband services.
Service was restored to some Optus customers about 1pm but was not fully restored until hours later.
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Mystery continues to surround the cause of the outage, but the telco has described it as a “technical network fault”.
Small business owner Kristie Bannister relies on the network carrier to run her doughnut shop.
Speaking with A Current Affair host Ally Langdon, Bannister said she felt angry about the outage.
“First of all, there was incredible loss of revenue because without our customers having any mechanism to order with us, that was one loss,” Bannister said.
“And then, on the other hand, the orders we had already booked to be delivered, we had our delivery drivers without GPS, not knowing their delivery routes for the day or able to make deliveries.
“It is really disappointing … and in an instant, the trust we build with the customer is gone and through no fault of our own.”
Taxi driver Ian Martin-Brown has been driving cabs for 30 years and an Optus customer for as long as he can remember.
Today’s network meltdown brought his business to a standstill, which he claimed has happened “several times” in the past due to similar network faults.
“This is just terrible and I think Optus has to be held accountable nationally for this,” he said.
“A lot of cab drivers I’ve spoken to are really really disgusted and really upset.
“These multibillion-dollar companies are ripping us off.”
Rachael Falk is one of Australia’s foremost cybersecurity experts and current chief executive of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre.
She spoke to Langdon about “deep fault” that led to the outage and recommended customers keep proof of their losses.
“I think customers should keep evidence of their losses today,” she said.
“Whether they incurred unexpected charges, and consider sending it to Optus.”
Falk also criticised the time it took Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin to front the media about the service meltdown, speaking on radio seven hours after initial reports of a disruption to the network.
“What I will say to a brand that goes through an outage or breach: no matter what it is, you cannot over communicate the situation,” Falk said.
“We need the spokesperson or the CEO out in front literally the minute it hits the socials, which is where it started, the story.
“You cannot communicate enough and be front and centre, and more importantly, customers need to be front and centre of communication and you cannot get it out quickly enough.”
Bayer Rosmarin said she was “very, very sorry” for the outage, which also impacted train services and landline customers attempting to call triple zero.
“We are aware of some mobile phones having issues connecting to triple zero. If Optus customers need to call emergency services, we suggest finding a family member or neighbour with an alternative device,” Bayer Rosmarin said.
Optus released a statement at about 5.30pm thanking customers for their patience and notifying them that service had been restored.
“Optus sincerely apologises to customers for today’s outage,” the spokesperson said.
“We know that customers rely on our services, which is why the whole team at Optus has been working hard to fix this.
“Services have now been restored, and customers should now be able to be back online.”
Watch the full video in the player above.
