Optus’ mobile network may be having a small scale outage
The Optus mobile network appears to be suffering random coverage hiccups.
Mobile networks are unpredictable creatures, thanks to the variability of the load they’re placed under, the fact that they’re used with mobile devices with widely varying capabilities and the simple nature of the way that radio waves work. As such, your experience on a mobile network can vary from time to time. We’re certainly no strangers to mobile network outages in Australia, where a network experiences more than its usual share of mobile interruptions.
It appears right now that Optus might be undergoing a similar kind of issue, with multiple social media reports suggesting that Optus services are less than available right now.
@Optus are you guys have network issues in Sydney at the moment? Can't make or receive any calls from my Optus mobile
— Riz (@go0ro0) April 19, 2017
Hey @Optus can't make or receive calls in Sydney... what's going on?
— Fran Lawrence (@franjlawrence) April 19, 2017
Optus maintains a network coverage and outages page which does indicate that selected towers may have some kind of problem at the time of writing in at least Sydney and Brisbane, although Melbourne and Perth appear unaffected.
Some indicate that only data services are affected, while others suggest issues across a whole slew of network services with the following message:
"LIVE OUTAGE
Last update: 19/04/2017 18:15:07
Services Affected: Voice & Text, Internet and Email
UNDER INVESTIGATION
We've identified a fault which means you might experience issues with voice and/or data at the moment. Our team are on to it, and aim to fix this as soon as possible. We're sorry for the inconvenience."
All of the errors have roughly the same kinds of issue reporting times across multiple user sites. As per Optus’ service maps, it’s most certainly not every mobile tower, although at an end user level, there’s little you can do to actively switch mobile towers aside from physically changing your location.
Hopefully Optus can get its network sorted relatively rapidly; we’ll update if there are any further developments.
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