Phone faults cripple business

Their business is electricity, but the failure of the Telecom XT network has left a company feeling "powerless" for two days.

Christchurch Electrical's staff leave the office each day relying on the network to stay up with their schedule.

"Ninety-nine per cent of our work is done on the customer's site," said company director Alan Strong.

"And the way that we keep in touch with our staff is mobile phones. So it's a bit of a problem when they don't work."

As if to illustrate the problems the company has been suffering, as the Herald was interviewing Mr Strong on his cellphone yesterday afternoon, the connection cut out. The interview had to continue on a landline.

"It just turns on and off, basically. It will work for five minutes and then it will stop, and it's all over the place.

"There's very little we can do. In fact, we are completely powerless, really. We can only wait for Telecom to sort it out."

The company has about 50 cellphones used by staff, of which about three-quarters are connected to the XT network.

"When our staff leave our premises they are no longer in contact with us. Unless their phone comes on long enough for them to get in contact with us, they basically have to come back to base."

Mr Strong welcomed any compensation from Telecom, but warned further problems would make a switch of networks the only option. "This is such a critical thing to our business."