Disconnected due to copper cable crack-up

UP to 12 services along Maroondah Highway may have been affected after a section of fibre-optic cable deteriorated.
Some businesses were left without telephone and internet connections after the copper cable stopped working.
Telstra spokesperson Paul Crisp said the cable had been operating perfectly well and there was no reason to suspect a fault was imminent.
He said Telstra was first notified of the fault on Wednesday 14 July.
“When the fault was reported our technicians investigated and determined the best option was to replace the section of cable to prevent a re-occurrence,” he said.
Coldstream’s Bella Vedere owner Gary Cooper said they had no warning the system could go offline – and didn’t get their phone connection back until 4.45pm on Friday 16 July.
“We’ve had to divert the number by swapping staff and the phones of customers to get business through, but the mobiles have been running down quickly,” he said.
“We haven’t been able to secure bookings for the weekends or batch credit card bills.”
Domain Chandon spokesperson Andrew Leckey said their business wasn’t affected because they had a wireless back-up connection from Coldstream.
“As soon as we lose connectivity, it kicks in so we can still operate – we didn’t notice a thing,” he said.
Mr Crisp said Telstra technicians attended on Thursday morning.
“Unfortunately, a large section of copper cable needed to be replaced, which involved a more complex repair,” he said.
“Our construction crew worked as quickly as possible and replaced the faulty section of cable on Friday.”
Mr Crisp said customer services were progressively restored throughout the day.
“We apologise to customers for any inconvenience,” he said.