Vodafone, Optus hit by network outages
Both Vodafone and Optus are facing the ire of their customers after network issues prevented users from making calls, sending texts or use data on mobile devices.
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Two of Australia's biggest telcos have been hit with a network outage, leaving many customers without access to calls or data.
Vodafone first acknowledged an outage for West Australian customers via social media this afternoon, informing them of the "service disruption" and adding that engineers were working to restore the network within the hour.
The telco later issued a broader statement, seemingly targeted at all customers.
"We've just had confirmation that we're currently experiencing some network issues," Vodafone wrote on its Facebook page. "We're working to restore these issues as soon as possible and we'll keep you updated throughout.
"Our engineers are working hard to restore services. We're very sorry for the inconvenience and we'll update you again within the hour," the telco later added.
Vodafone has being updating customers on Facebook, Twitter and its community blog, though the problem appears yet to be resolved.
Optus has faced similar network issues, though it is unclear whether the outages are related.
"We are aware of an issue affecting some Optus customers at the moment," Optus wrote on Twitter. "We're currently investigating the problem and will keep you updated."
Both telcos have faced the ire of customers for the outages, with users taking to social media to vent frustration about not being able to make calls or access data.
One Twitter user, Chris Puleston, complained of an Optus error message advising "this handset has been blocked on the Optus network", while Vodafone's message on Facebook had more than 3,000 responses by late this afternoon.
Optus issued the following statement on the issue:
"We are investigating the cause of an issue that is affecting the mobile services of some of our customers. We are working on the issue as a priority and will provide an update as soon as possible. We're really sorry, we know this is frustrating for our customers."
CNET has also sought comment from Vodafone.
Update, June 20 at 10:18 a.m. AEST: Vodafone is offering its customers a weekend of free data to make good for the network outage.
Update, June 20 at 4:58 p.m. AEST: Optus provided a further statement explaining that it "resolved an issue" affecting the service of some customers:
"A system error caused some mobile customer services to be blocked and as a result, they were unable to use voice and data services. This issue was unrelated to other carriers.
"The issue began for some customers at 1 p.m. on Thursday 19 June 2014. Progressive restoration commenced at 3:30 p.m. and the majority of customers were back up and running by 9 p.m. or earlier.
"An isolated group of customers were affected by this issue. We are contacting those customers directly in the coming days to say sorry and give a credit. If there are any customers still experiencing the issue, we recommend they turn their phones off and on."