The NBN rollout continues to accidentally rip through phone lines, leaving homes and business without internet or a dial tone for up to weeks at a time, as the broadband network extends across the country.
Craigieburn Taxation Services was left without telephone lines or fixed-line internet access for a total of six weeks across May and June after the Melbourne suburb's fibre to the node rollout accidentally disconnected the phone service and later severed the copper line.
"We had seen the NBN installers working in a telephone pit near our office before the first outage, so we reported the problem to Telstra," says office manager Cheryl (who requested her surname not be used).
"We didn't hear a word from the NBN about it but Telstra were great, they organised wireless broadband for the office and diverted our office number to a mobile – but we normally have four phone lines so it was still a major disruption to the business, especially in the lead up to tax time."
It took two weeks to restore the service, during which time other businesses in the area also experienced outages, but then the taxation service's phones and internet access went dead a second time.
"As soon as everything went dead we actually drove around to the pit and said to the NBN people 'what did you do to our phones' but they insisted they hadn't done anything," Cheryl says.
"We reported the outage to Telstra and they came out and said the line had been cut – Telstra had to send around diggers to repair it and we were left without phones and internet for another four weeks, relying on wireless broadband and mobiles from Telstra again."
Meanwhile Craigieburn resident Steven Haigh was left without home internet or phone for 27 days in July after damage during the neighbourhood fibre to the node rollout.
The copper line to his home was cut in his street due to friction as the NBN fibre was dragged through the conduits, Haigh says.
"I lodged a 'no dial tone' fault with my service provider and on the following Monday a Telstra tech found the cable in two pieces, coiled up in the pit by the NBN guys," he says.
Repairers rescheduled three appointments before the line was finally fixed, which restored internet access but has still left Haigh without a home phone service. Other Craigieburn residents have also reported extended phone and internet outages due to NBN works.
"Even now my telephone service still doesn't work – however given that fibre to the node is only a few months away, I think it's easier to just ignore that rather than risking them breaking both the phone and ADSL service again," Haigh says.
"I have a few mates who work at my ISP and they say lots of connections get broken during the transition – some from incorrect wiring records kept by Telstra which aren't updated when changes are made to the network by their line techs, some from faulty circuits, and others from physical damage such as my case."
The incidents in Craigieburn are part of a series of outages since the NBN rollout began, with businesses knocked offline by NBN-related incidents in Bradfordville near Goulburn, Tacoma on the NSW central coast and Kawana on the Sunshine coast.
Whilst fibre to the node is under construction, repairs to D-Side copper – the phone line between the cabinet and the premises – are Telstra's responsibility. Once the area is declared Ready for Service by the NBN, it takes over responsibility for the lines.
Regardless of who fixes a broken line, once it has been repaired it is the responsibility of the home or business owner's retail service provider to re-activate the line and restore services, a process which can contribute to delays.
Neither Telstra nor the NBN would supply Fairfax Media with statistics regarding the frequency of service disruptions during the NBN rollout. Regarding the incidents which took Craigieburn Taxation Services offline for weeks at a time, a Telstra spokesperson says;
"Unfortunately when NBN Co was working in the area, the customer experienced a disruption to their phone and broadband services."
"We have apologised to the customer and we set them up on temporary phone and mobile broadband services while their fixed lines were being restored."
Meanwhile an NBN spokesperson says it is "endeavouring to deploy the network with minimal disruption to end-users".
"Regrettably very occasionally existing services are unintentionally disrupted and on these occasions NBN takes the appropriate action with our partners to help return those services as soon as possible," the spokesperson says.
"End-users should always contact their retail service provider if either NBN or other telecom services are disrupted."
