Telstra woes hit Julatten
JULATTEN residents have been left frustrated by an unexpected Telstra outage that has left them isolated from all means of communication.
Chris Dempster, from Bundaberg, tried to call his 89year-old mother at Julatten on Wednesday, but failed to get through.
After calls to Telstra, he said he was told the service would not be restored until Wednesday, leaving residents without landline service for a week.
Mr Dempster said with no mobile service available in the Julatten area, 90km northwest of Cairns, his mother relied on the landline as it was also connected to her emergency medical alert service.
Mr Dempster said the service should be restored much sooner.
“I ring my dear old mum every day and I tried to call her on Wednesday and was not able to get through,” he said.
“Safety is my main concern and I’m worried about my mum.
“She’s up there in a house by herself with a puppy dog and her medic alert doesn’t work, what happens is she falls on the floor?
“It’s ridiculous that it will take them a week to fix it. It’s not only for mum I’m concerned, it’s for everyone else that lives up there.
“There’s nothing you can do short of a smoke signal or a carrier pigeon.”
About 30 customers are af- fected by the outage, which is understood to have been caused by a cut cable by someone carrying out works.
“A third party has unfortunately damaged a cable, which is impacting fixed line services for a small number of customers in the Julatten area,” Telstra area general manager Rachel Cliffe said.
“We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience this is causing and assure them we are working as quickly as possible to restore their services.”
Anyone who plans to carry out earthworks is urged to assess the area before digging.
“Cable cuts can isolate entire businesses and communities, so it is important to call Dial Before You Dig on 1100 prior to commencing any excavation works,” Ms Cliffe said.
A new mobile tower is expected to be online in the area in coming months under the Mobile Black Spot Program.
THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO SHORT OF A SMOKE SIGNAL OR A CARRIER PIGEON CHRIS DEMPSTER