Dentist’s internet hell
Nightmare begins after NBN switch
A DODGY modem has left a frustrated Drysdale dental business without a working landline and unable to receive patient calls.
Bellarine Dental Lounge says it started having problems the moment it switched over to a Telstra national broadband network (NBN) plan, an internet initiative that has promised fast and reliable services Australia-wide.
The clinic’s landline, internet and eftpos are all connected, so when one service goes down all services are affected.
Practice manager Jemima Ramsay said the business had contacted service provider Telstra numerous times to try and have the problem fixed without success.
“We’ve had patients call in to change appointments and the phone cuts out and we don’t know who they are. We’ve had new patients call in and the phone shuts off. It’s very unprofessional and our books have suffered,” she said.
“Our internet goes and we are pretty much at a standstil. We can’t receive phone calls, can’t take payments — it’s ridiculous.”
A spokesman for the NBN said the company had not been made aware of any faults at the business and that speed and reliability issues could sometimes be due to factors outside the NBN’s control.
Telstra area general manager Loretta Willaton said the issue had only been reported on Tuesday.
“We now believe a hardware issue is the cause and a technician has been scheduled to rectify the problem,” she said.
A spokesman for Telstra said it was likely the modem supplied to Bellarine Dental Lounge was faulty.
“This is not an issue we see frequently at all,” he said.
Ms Ramsay worries about the long-term consequences the service may have on the business.
“This is a community that relies on us and we care about them, and I’d hate to think someone has tried to contact us for emergency dental services and we’ve let them down,” she said.