Telecom Infrastructure Durability vs Christchurch Earthquake

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#124638 15-Jul-2013 00:09

What was the final outcome of the Chch Earthquake? Did all the landline exchanges, underground cables and mobile infrastructure survive intact?

How much needed rebuilding and what workarounds were needed to get the system back on its feet asap?

InstallerUFB

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#855587 15-Jul-2013 07:10

Quick answer - No - Both Telecom's Switchs and Cell Network where damaged and some will never be replaced (No longer required) - Some will have to have their buildings replaced and will then be moved

and the copper networks of both Chorus and Telstraclear wer extensively damaged and are still being progressivly repaired and replaced as required

michaelmurfy

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#855625 15-Jul-2013 09:27

Since I was in Christchurch for the time of the September and February earthquakes the PSTN network still did very well, there were some parts where the ground shifted and broke some cables (as expected) but most of the switches did survive the quake rather well seeing how big the event was.

I was still at my old job back then and our SIP phones went down so were using our fax line to make calls to customer to let them know the situation, this was in the Christchurch CBD and we ended up being on generator power for 2 weeks, the PSTN lines heading into our building never skipped a beat. I suppose in reality it depends where you were at the time, I could almost expect Bexley + Avonside to be knocked out or degraded after the February earthquake due to how much the ground moved around those areas.

I'd say that Talkiet (Neil) would be one of the best ones to comment on this since he's in Christchurch.

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freitasm

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#855626 15-Jul-2013 09:27

As noted above - "landline" (exchanges, copper, cabintes) actually belong to Chorus, not Telecom.

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nickb800

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#855639 15-Jul-2013 09:51

Being out West (Riccarton) we didn't have much damage at all, with power restored by nightfall.

Interestingly, as my landline was delivered by VOIP at the time, I powered my DSL router/ATA with a car battery and had full internet connectivity and VOIP phone throughout

DarthKermit

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#855715 15-Jul-2013 11:19

About how much of Chch has underground power/phone lines?

Underground is good for protection from the weather and vehicles crashing into poles, but not so good for 'quakes.

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PaulBags

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#868978 30-Jul-2013 22:59

Hi, I live in New Brighton. After (I'm not sure how long after, immediately or soon) one of the quakes we had some trouble with our phone line, I can't remember what exactly and whether it affected phone/adsl/or both. We have a grey pillar at the corner of our property. The chorus guy checked the lines and found there was a fault from there to the exchange, couldn't figure out what exactly. It was a quick fix through, our neighbours house was red carded so chorus switched our lines over :p. I hope they got an ok line when they moved back :/.

Worked fine until one of the contractors rebuilding the neighbours house either inadvertently broke open the pillar and then tried to fix it, or deliberately tampered with it. We saw him down there, but didn't realise that was what he was doing until we realised we had internet, but no phone. We got chorus out and told them what we saw, now there's about 6 differently headed screws in the pillar :p.

And since we're talking earthquakes and the people who repaired infrastructure soon after, a big shout out and thank you to all the telcos and linesmen. After the February quake we saw just how hard our neighbour at the time, a linesman, had been working: home for only 2 hours out of every 24 and always looking in need of a good shower (but then who wasn't then?). And the power lines I saw explode after the June quakes: two orion vehicles turned up before I'd managed to explain to the fire service where it was. Not to mention how well informed they kept everyone, heck orion should have been running civil defence as well.