Telecom baffled; experts called in

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 1

Telecom baffled; experts called in

By

DEBORAH McPHERSON

Telecom has summoned two representatives of the Japanese company that manufactured its computerised exchange, to help solve the problems which have disrupted telephone services this week. Telecom’s publicity relations administrator, Mrs Cherry Armitage, said two Wellingtonbased senior representatives from the Japanese manufacturer, NEC, would arrive in Christchurch this morning to observe the exchange during normal peak traffic hours. Staff had decided to ask the

manufacturers to “take responsibility for their equipment,” after overloading problems had disrupted services on Monday and yesterday, baffling Telecom engineers, said Mrs Armitage. Staff could not trace the overloading problem to any particular number and had been stumped as to why the central exchange kept overloading when it should cope with heavy traffic, she said. Telephone calls all over Christchurch were disrupted throughout the morning yesterday.

Mrs Armitage said “unusually heavy traffic” had caused severe disruptions to calls for about five minutes at 9 a.m. and noon. It took staff an hour to clear the first problem and half an hour to clear the second. Some subscribers were unable to make calls and others had their calls cut off. Telecom had received “many calls” from irate businesses, said Mrs Armitage. Staff at one city telephone answering service said this week had been “frustrating.”

“The first time the phones rang but there was no-one there, and yesterday the phones did not ring at all. It’s unbelievably annoying,” said one woman. A spokesman for the accountancy firm Price Waterhouse, Mr Tim Herrick, said staff could not dial out during some parts of the morning, “which had certainly been a jolly nuisance.” Gremlins also invaded the Sumner exchange on Monday morning, disrupting telephone calls throughout the city.

Mrs Armitage said Telecom was sympathetic to its subscribers and was doing its best to sort out the problem. “We have had a lot of heavy traffic since before Show Week-end, and it has just stayed at an unusually high peak capacity,” she said. Some consolation was on its way, however, as Telecom planned to increase its exchange capacity. By the end of next year, it should be able to handle double the 3500 calls it could now cope with, Mrs Armitage said.