Vodafone 3G Meltdown in “Extreme” Heat

Voda service melted overnight after “extreme” heat caused equipment damage

The troubled Vodafone network was down for over three hours last night from 7.45pm, but was back at 11.15pm, a Vodafone spokesperson told SmartHouse today.

A failure in air-conditioning equipment at a Vodafone centre in Melbourne caused by the soaring heat, which hit 40 degrees there yesterday, was the root cause of the network failure, believed to have disrupted around 15% of Vodafone 3G and 2G voice services nationally.

However, a higher number of Vodafone users in Victoria were affected, a company spokesperson confirmed.

“We experienced a disruption to services at approximately 7.45pm last night caused by a failed air-conditioner and over-heating of infrastructure in extreme weather conditions.”

“We apologise for the disruption and services were restored at approximately 11.15pm,” the  spokesperson said.

The incident was a “one-off” Vodafone believes.

“We’ve begun restoring normal services for everyone and repairs of the affected equipment are underway. Please switch your phone off and back on again to restore your connection to the network,” Vodafone wrote on its Facebook page nine hours ago.

Vodafone spokesperson said it “will review our processes to reduce the impact in the unlikely event this should happen again.”

The red telco has been dogged by severe network outages in the past, leading to customers branding the network “Vodafail” and fleeing the telco en masse. However, it has since invested over $1bn in network upgrades.

This Sydney-based Vodafone user also experienced some delays in receiving text messages with three arriving this morning that were sent overnight.

Others disgruntled customers also made their feelings known on Voda’s Facebook page: “Vodafone this is a JOKE! My Internet wasn’t working from Wednesday night until Thursday 11pm! I couldn’t make calls for two hours and I wasn’t even able to send a text! Get your act together!”