We Survived Yasi But Telstra let us down badly

[ZC-Cruiser]

As a bit of background, I am a Telecommunications Technician and worked for Telecom/Telstra from 1981 to 1999 in the Network Construction section.
I now live at Mena Creek, near Innisfail.

After Cyclone Yasi belted us last Thursday night, the electricity supply to the entire area was cut due to downed power lines.

The Landline Telephones at Mena Creek and other small towns without power stopped working on Fri 4th Feb because Telstra has not provided adequate emergency power for the outlying telephone exchanges.

Larger telephone exchanges like the one at Innisfail have backup generators that automatically start soon after the mains power goes off.

The ONLY reason that the Mena Creek area did not have landline telephones from Friday 4th Feb till Mon 7th Feb is that the telephone exchange on Mena Creek Road had no electricity and no working backup generator. This resulted in the exchange batteries going flat.
Other small exchanges in the cyclone affected area without power supply were in exactly the same situation.

Telstra did not make any attempt to supply emergency power to the Mena Creek telephone exchange until Sunday 6th Feb.
On Sunday 6th Feb, they discovered that the emergency generator at the Mena Creek telephone exchange was faulty and a replacement generator was required.

I was informed by a reliable source that Telstra had no replacement generators available in Cairns because the replacement generators are now stored in Brisbane and were unable to travel further north than Townsville due to flooding on the Bruce Highway.

Apparently, Telstra has outsourced the management of the provision of power to their equipment to a company called Sentinar.
When I asked why the generators at these small sites were not maintained and ready to go, I was told that Telstra did not want to pay Sentinar to do that work.

Prior to Telstra being privatised, backup generators were at all sites and maintained in a condition that enabled them to be pressed into service when required.
In areas such as Euramo where localised flooding could prevent Telstra staff from getting to the exchange to start the generator, local residents were given the key to the generator so they could start it up and keep it fuelled to keep the exchange running. This is no longer the case.

Without power being supplied to the exchange, the batteries discharge and the exchange goes down, depriving all people in the area of telephone and internet services.

It is frustrating that the current management of Telstra has allowed this aspect of their network to fall into such disrepair with the result being a substantially sub-standard service being provided at a time when good communications are essential.

If there were well maintained generators at these sites, responsible local residents could be given the key to the generator enclosure and start the generator when the mains supply is off.
There are any number of people who could have this responsibility, Rural Fire Brigade Chief, School Principal, Postal Manager, Publican etc.
Regional Manager, Amanda Albon, told ABC Local Radio that Telstra does not do this due to security concerns but did not explain exactly how a responsible local person having access to the backup generator could compromise their security.

As a result of not having their outlying exchanges provided with backup power and arrangements in place to connect that power to the exchanges, large sections of Telstra's network went down on Fri 4th Feb with some 50,000 customers not having landline or internet services. The only reason for the vast majority of these customers being without service was that their Telephone Exchange batteries were flat.

Being deprived of this essential service is unacceptable because:
Access to 000 emergency services was limited - mobile service to the area is marginal at the best of times.
School could not reopen without landlines for safety reasons – mobile service is not reliable.
No EFTPOS available at local businesses (who are open due to being competent enough to provide their own emergency power).
No internet was available to enable us to access weather services to determine whether the systems developing in the Coral Sea might form more Cyclones.
Local businesses could not receive calls from customers enquiring about their services.

The Telstra CountryWide regional Manager “responsible” for allowing this debacle to occur is Amanda Albon.

I believe that this aspect of the Telstra network requires immediate attention and arrangements made to ensure that Telstra sites in outlying communities are provided with reliable backup power for when mains supply fails.

I also think that Telstra management should be asked to explain why this aspect of the network has been allowed to fall into disrepair.

Sincerely,
--
Les Cavanagh

[mik]

that`s an eye opener Les, Telstra should be ashamed and should have their asses kicked, more and more these days we see safety comprimised to save a few dollars, lets hope all this comes out in the open and they do something about this.

[Jim Goose]

So what your infact saying is when governments sell off the peoples assets and then leave it up to the private sector to provide these services, profit is more important?
Strangely enough when ever this does happen and we loose our services to the private sector there is barely a murmour from anyone until it affects them directly....

I live in Townsville and have been without a land line since Thursday arvo and have only just through to a call center today on my mobile (been preoccupied at work to use the phone there) to finally get all calls diverted to the mobile.

[mac_man_luke]

you shouldnt even need someone to switch the generator on, very easy for this to be automated.

[ZC-Cruiser]

Yep and seeing the response to the problems caused by the cyclone is interesting as well.
Telstra at the Mena Creek Exchange (First Hand - I've spent a bit of time there the past few days):
Sunday 6th Feb
- Telstra Network Construction Techs arrive at site and discover the faulty Generator

Monday 7th Feb
- Telstra Network Construction Tech trying to repair the faulty Generator
- Sentinar Tech bringing replacement 6.5 kVA generator and (finally) powering up the exchange.

Wednesday 9th Feb
- Airfirst Communications tech investigating why replacement generator not working - discovers that so much power is being pulled through the 15A cord that it melted all the tin off the tags that go into the socket on the generator
- Private contractor with a flat-bed crane truck delivers a 63Amp 3 Phase generator to site
- Another Airfirst vehicle with two techs come to rewire the emergency cabling to the exchange

Thursday 10th
- Big diesel generator chugging away running the exchange waiting for the power to come back on.

Keep in mind that all this is from a provider who has suffered little to no physical damage to their landline network - 50,000 customers without phones because they let the batteries go flat.

Most people who have lived up here for more than a year or two know that it is cyclone season and if one comes, the power will go off till Ergon get the wires back up off the ground. So we all have generators or immediate access to generators so we can keep our fridges from getting hot.

[ZC-Cruiser]

In stark contrast to the shamozzle that is Telstra just trying to get all their sites batteries charged, Ergon Energy who have 5000km of wires down and hundreds of poles broken or leaning at crazy angles, arrived in force on Saturday and set to work putting things right.
The only non-Ergon uniform or vehicle I've seen working on the power restoration is the Traffic Controllers.

This gallery has pictures I took in Silkwood on Friday 2nd. They show the state of the power infrastructure in Silkwood immediately after the blow:
http://www.ftw.com.au/gallery/Silkwood

A lot of the poles were bent over and heaps of the wire was laying on the ground.

By Wed 9th when I went back there, all the poles were straightened, all the downed wire was cut away, they had put 4 huge generators at various transformer poles down the main street and had started energising sections that were OK and getting people on generator power until the repairs can be completed.

[ZC-Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

So what your infact saying is when governments sell off the peoples assets and then leave it up to the private sector to provide these services, profit is more important?

What I am actually saying is that the Telstra North Queensland Area APPEARS as though it is being managed by someone who couldn't organise a party in a brewery with a fistful of fifties...

[ZC-Cruiser]

Double Post - please delete

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by ZC-Cruiser

What I am actually saying is that the Telstra North Queensland Area APPEARS as though it is being managed by someone who couldn't organise a party in a brewery with a fistful of fifties...

Dont sugar coat it.... hahaha

Boy I could tell some horrendeous stories of wastage and stupidity in the er... government area where i work.

Ergon Energy had actually deployed a large convoy from Brisbane the night before the cyclone hit and stopped off in Mackay for the night.
That little fact impressed me no end to know that they had thought far enough ahead to send over a 100guys to mackay in preperation.

Didnt good old "sol" sack over 3000 actual workers while in "power"?

[AndrewR_AUII]

Would be interesting to see how this end up (re: Compensation)

Given that the loss of services was reasonably foreseeable and preventable...

Edit: Look at the issues that Vodaphone have had recently....

[Luke Plaizier]

Sounds like a call to arms, but with no action plan at the end.

Do we boycott their services? Send a letter or email to someone? Add our names to a poll or vote of some sort?

I was persuaded by the depth of information, emotionally engaged by the description, sympathetic to the anger at those who are to blame, and interested in making sure others are not victim to the same disregard for continuity of services.

I think you could function as an excellent coordinator if you wanted to raise this issue further.


Lukeyson

[ZC-Cruiser]

This issue is currently being taken up with our local MP Hon Bob Katter.

I am in the process of preparing a detailed submission to be sent to Sen Stephen Conroy and Julia Gillard.

I will also be preparing letters that individuals can print. sign and send to their local MPs and to the management of Telstra.

I have also offered the story to Channel 7.

Your point is right on the money - action needs to be taken to ensure that this situation does not occur in other places and perhaps with dire consequences if people in need of urgent assistance are not able to call for it for want of a relatively inexpensive piece of equipment and a little organisation of the local community should the area be isolated and inaccessible by Telstra staff.

I am currently trying to find an email address in Telstra management where I can send this information.

I am also investigating whether this should be reported to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or the Commonwealth Ombudsman - or maybe both.

[Jim Goose]

I know Bob went to Canberra just yesterday....

A friend of mine lives in Malanda and her house line is simply on the ground and was like that when she bought the house 4 yrs ago.

If your able to get people in your area to sign even better, though be wary of which media show decides to take up the story, as it can just turn into farce.

Im sure after a few months some issues will arrise and more committess formed as well! Lack of communication in a natural diasaster is one thing which will no doubt be brought up.

Im wondering too do the local cops, ambos have sat phones? SES?

[ZC-Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Im wondering too do the local cops, ambos have sat phones? SES?

I don't know but they are pretty patchy when the weather closes in as well

Can't beat the cable in the ground for reliability...
As long as the exchanges stay up.

[Jim Goose]

True i guess... its a pity that life and death situations like this have to appear in order to show failings and short comings of a particular service..

[Jastel]

Heard similar stories from Daintree area
Locals used to manage the generator and phones worked!!

Amanda has only recently replaced Wally Donaldson (who took redundancy) in the last few months.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by ZC-Cruiser

Keep in mind that all this is from a provider who has suffered little to no physical damage to their landline network - 50,000 customers without phones because they let the batteries go flat.

Most people who have lived up here for more than a year or two know that it is cyclone season and if one comes, the power will go off till Ergon get the wires back up off the ground. So we all have generators or immediate access to generators so we can keep our fridges from getting hot.

So ZC, it sounds like Telstra actually did a good job. They have built infrastructure that has stood up quite well to the needs of a hurricane. They have even put batteries in some exchanges to compensate for a potential shortage of power. However in the Tony Abbott "**** happens" world, something went wrong.

Ergon on the other hand, have built overhead power lines (in a known cyclone area), which have failed dismally in said cyclone, which led to loss of power to the Telstra exchange.

Could it not be said that if the infastructure planners at Telstra went and did Ergons infrastructure planning, then everything would be sweet.

[ZC-Cruiser]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

So ZC, it sounds like Telstra actually did a good job. They have built infrastructure that has stood up quite well to the needs of a hurricane. They have even put batteries in some exchanges to compensate for a potential shortage of power. However in the Tony Abbott "**** happens" world, something went wrong.

Ergon on the other hand, have built overhead power lines (in a known cyclone area), which have failed dismally in said cyclone, which led to loss of power to the Telstra exchange.

Could it not be said that if the infastructure planners at Telstra went and did Ergons infrastructure planning, then everything would be sweet.

All telecommunications sites have batteries - all the gear runs on 48V DC

The batteries are not meant to take the load for any length of time - only long enough for the backup generator to start if the mains supply fails.

The small exchanges like Mena Creek have enough battery capacity to run for less than 24 hours.

All new residential developments have underground power - the costs of undergrounding all the aerial power lines up here would be unbelievably high and would probably mean electricity prices that very few people could afford.
Not to mention the maintenance issues that would arise as a result of the 3500mm average yearly rainfall.

The point is that Telstra/Telecom previously had equipment and systems in place to deal with these events without losing large sections of the network.
Now it appears that since this portion of the business is being outsourced, the standard of service to customers in outlying areas has declined markedly.

Sure, Ergon's aerial reticulation system is vulnerable during a cyclone but that does not excuse Telstra from being prepared for power outages at these times.

As residents, we know the power is likely to go off after a cyclone and we are prepared with backup generation.
It's not unreasonable to expect Telstra to be similarly prepared.