One NZ mobile broadband outage in Whangārei slows down traffic lights, phone services

Controlled intersections have been affected by an outage in Whangārei. Photo / Tania Whyte

An unplanned mobile and wireless broadband outage has caused “slower phasing” between traffic light changes in Whangārei today.

The issue has since been resolved.

A spokeswoman from ONE NZ told the Advocate a brief outage in an area near Whangārei occured at around 10.28 this morning, with multiple fibre cables being cut during road and railway track maintenance.

“This impacted multiple cell sites in the area, however, One NZ worked swiftly to return coverage to the area, with services being restored from 10.50 am, approx. 20 minutes later.”

The Advocate understands the issue caused widespread internet outages and phone service issues.

One New Zealand (formerly Vodafone)confirmed with the Advocate earlier that an unplanned outage knocked most of the communications with traffic signal-controlled intersections around Whangārei.

Northland Transport Alliance strategy and planning manager Jeff Devine said the outage affects only the connections to each set of lights and to the master SCATs system.

“Each set of lights will continue to operate independently and the public should not notice any difference, just be a bit slower with the phasing.”

Whangārei district councillor Scott McKenzie alerted residents on his Facebook page about the issue, including a statement from Northland Transport Alliance.

“At this point in time I do not have an ETA for restoration. Customers should take extra care and expect congestion and delay at traffic signals, and possibly in other locations until this is resolved,” the statement reads.

Brodie Stone is the education and general news reporter at the Advocate. Brodie has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.