Telecom subscribers angry at cable damage

Homes and businesses in Mangere are angry with Telecom after a cable fault last week deprived them of essential services - some of which have yet to be restored.

A welder working on Mangere Bridge accidentally damaged a Telecom cable last week.

This left hundreds of nearby customers, such as Frank and Dorothy Lipscombe, without a landline since last Thursday.

"My mum's in her 80s and is undergoing cancer treatment. She needs to be able to contact her doctor," said the Lipscombes' daughter, Raewyn Griffiths.

"But the bit that really annoyed me is that every time I phoned [Telecom] I was given a different message. I would have appreciated it more if they could tell the truth from the beginning."

The latest from Telecom was that the landline would be restored by this weekend, Mrs Griffiths said.

Telecom had diverted calls from her parents' landline to her cellphone for free, but her outgoing mobile calls would still be charged at the normal rate. I think this is disgusting service," Mrs Griffiths said.

Many members of the Mahunga Drive Business Association in Mangere lost business as they were without essential services until Monday morning.

"It put about 40 fairly large companies out in some way," said association chairman Jim Neville.

"Some had lost internet, some had lost phone lines, some had lost the lot. But the problem was it took a long time to get answers out of Telecom."

Mr Neville said, "If we'd known how long it was going to take, we would have taken more alternative steps earlier to work around it."

He said companies would have suffered "significant" losses, and he could not say if Telecom services had been restored to all the businesses yet.

Telecom spokesman Phil Love said the fault was an accident that Telecom had no part in.

The company had worked hard to minimise the adverse effects, he said.

"We moved customers across to surplus capacity, and some were without services [on Monday], but the vast majority of people have got service now.

"It is our top priority to get anyone else back [this morning] if they're still without service."

Less than 150 customers had been affected, Mr Love said.