Parklea Exchange Fire - Service Update

[MargieDee]

A fire at the Parklea Exchange in Sydney on 9 May caused extensive damage which continues to impact broadband and home phone services in Parklea and Kellyville. Due to the extent of the damage permanent restoration is expected to take some time. In the interim we have deployed a number of portable exchanges to the site to restore services using a temporary solution.

Our techs are working 24/7 to restore services. A large number of services have been progressively restored, however due to the significant damage and extensive work required, it is expected that some services will not be restored for a number of weeks. This is due to the manual intensity of the work, with our technicians working around the clock to intricately reconnect thousands of fibres and home phone cables, and replace damaged network equipment which was completely destroyed by fire.

We are also supporting customers with interim solutions or devices in line with their needs while services are being restored. Local businesses can call our business support number 132999, and residential customers can speak to our support team on 132203. They can also visit their local Telstra store or Telstra Business Centre to access these devices and for further support.

We also have a marquee at the front of Suite C 56- 57, Lexington Corporate, 24 Lexington Drive, Bella Vista, where technical specialists will be available during business hours and Saturday morning, to help business customers with information and interim services where we can.  

[GayanK]

Hi - I am with Dodo for Home Phone + ADSL. They are clueless as to what to do to support me through the Parklea exchange fire. Would Telstra provide alternative soluitons and support given Dodo uses Telstra infrastructure? Thanks!

[Iain_T]

Hi GayanK, 

If you have a Telstra mobile broadband service or a Telstra mobile phone our chat team here http://tel.st/49kl can discuss adding some data with you. 

[GayanK]

Hi Support Team - I do not have Telstra broadband or mobile. Can you still help with some solution? Also, my neighbour who is with telstra have got the phone + broadband reconnected. Wondering if the wirings were done for the next door, why my one was not done? Thanks!

[Nic-T]

So after calling Telstra to yet again be told that there is no information about restoration or an ETR of any sort, I was offered extra data on my mobile and told that if I take the extra data on my mobile, I won't be credited for the outage on my bill.  So I EITHER take a very, very poor interim solution (10gB of data out of the 500gB plan I'm actually on for my home internet) for something that has now been unavailable for over 2 weeks OR I can get a refund on my bill when it comes in.  And when I run through the 10gB of data I've been offered there is no indication that I can continue to obtain extra data or whether this will mean I don't get the refund.  Given Telstra are no longer providing an indication of repair, I can only assume Telstra are expecting it to take long enough that we should consider finding another provider to give us a solution.  Very poor effort all around.

[wolfYlobo]

This whole episode is disgusting. Telstra have once again proved they are one of the worst companies globally when it comes to customer satisifaction.

We had two weeks of outages at christmas and now, 4 months later yet another outage - and before anyone chimes in with 'it was a fire, hard to leglislate for that' either way it highlights that Telstra have no actionable Plan B.

TELSTRA - How long do you estimate this outage to last? You have been investigating for a couple of weeks now and TBC simply isnt good enough and to say 'weeks' is about as much use as asking how long is a piece of string.

Your hollow assurances that there are technicians working 'around the clock' offer me/us nothing.

I currently have no home phone, no interent no FOXTEL and its more troubling than simply not having a service - there are security concerns that tie into not having a home phone line that have far greater ramifications than simply having no interent.

GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER TELSTRA AND PROVIDE YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH SOME USEABLE INFORMATION. YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE (OR LACK OF) IS A DISGRACE.

[limu4602]

I spent 4 hours on the phone with telstra ppl, and the telstra staff keep transferring me to the other their staff and no one seems know what they doing, and no one awared there was a fire damaged the exchange station at parkela..i already topped up $120 dollars data with Vodafone in 3 hours time, after longstanding on the phone with them, they finally locate a supervisor approved given me 30G data on a prepaid telstra sim..i spent another 4 hours to wait the new sim to be actived...and check the data on my phone, guess what, no data been given!!!! so i called them again, and spent another hour on the phone yelling at them, called them liar and the disgrace service they been provided to me, then i received 30G which is going to expire on 16th of June.

[IckyBowl244]

Hi lain_t and Telstra support 

I too have dodo adsl 2+ and home phone

i have contacted dodo 3 times and they have said nothing can be done

i contacted your support and said they can't give me data on my Telstra mobile because I have dodo

I am desperate for internet or data to complete my tasks

thanks

[wolfYlobo]

I just had a call from Telstra in Melbourne who said that the fire would take 3-4 MONTHS TO RESOLVE.

* Had no short term solution
* Said that I would continue to be billed and would have to claim back days for no service once the problem had been fixed.
* Had no knowledge of what fix is going in place for internet connectivity. 
* Said home phone lines were being connected to an alternate exchange - said this would take time to complete.

I am lost for words. 

[melmelb]

I have a prepaid Telsra wifi modem and I am very close to the fire location and mobile tower.  I can't connect with the wifi modem most of the day, it just cycles through connecting and restarting.  If I drive over the hill and connect to another mobile tower it's OK, or if I connect after midnight up until about 7am it's OK. Telstra offered me a temporary phone that could be used as a wifi hotspot to replace the home/ADSL but since my prepaid modem didn't work anyway I was told giving me a phone most likely wouldn't work either.  
I'm so glad my mobile phone is with another carrier otherwise things would be impossible.  I've been topping up the data on the mobile phone but it's expensive. 

Telstra have said I will get a refund once services resume, but they can only issue it as a completed task, not as part payments.

One billing cycle is boarderline acceptable, but if this drags on over multiple months, paying hundreds of dollars to be refunded hundreds of dollars is ridiculous! I imagine the 'refund' will be a credit to the account rather than a credit to my payment method (credit card).

Calling and being transferred between call centre staff means going through the same story repeatedly.  


They've now put shade cloth up around the exchange so you can't easily see anything.  Late last week there was security at the gate, but that seems to have been for just a couple of days. It doesn't look like they're working 24/7 on site.  Come 4pm there is a convoy of white vans leaving the site. 

[Dracarys]

It's so upsetting reading everyones comments i am the same have had no cable net or foxtel for 10plus days inner west of sydney. I've spoken to so many international service reps. They've been sweet and i know it isnt their fault...but nobody can give me a solid fix time. At least let me speak to a local who knows the area and can give us some more information. Every day i check the website the maintenance schedule changes to add extra days. I appreciate the techs "working 247" but hearing the same rehearsed lines from the telstra customer service reps is very frustrating. Give us the truth. For the amount of money i pay a month i expect better