Optus customers have reported failures in making emergency Triple-0 calls, even outside of known outage periods in September. These outages previously resulted in hundreds of unsuccessful emergency calls, with one incident linked to three fatalities. In recent months, three Optus customers shared their experiences of being unable to reach emergency services. Two of these individuals had serious medical conditions, while the third urgently needed police assistance.

Optus has stated it will investigate the root causes of these incidents if the customers consent, but the company maintains that there were no network outages or technical faults at the time of the calls. One affected customer, 78-year-old retired nurse Paula Gompertz, experienced a medical episode while playing golf in Victoria. She described the sensation as if someone was pressing hard against her chest, a sign she recognized as a potential heart attack. After realizing she needed an ambulance, she attempted to call Triple-0 using her iPhone 11 but was met with silence.

"I was shocked. Literally, I thought, 'What do I do?'" Gompertz recounted. After two failed attempts, she messaged her daughter, who then called emergency services. An ambulance arrived and took her to Frankston Hospital, where she was diagnosed with takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as broken heart syndrome.

Gompertz expressed her concerns about the reliability of the Optus network. "If I'd been living out in the back of beyond and couldn't get through, it doesn't bear thinking of," she said. Southern Phone, which uses the Optus network, stated it is unacceptable for customers to be unable to connect to Triple-0 and takes such complaints seriously.

Another couple, Ugo and Jenny Tellini, faced a similar situation in June. Ugo, 74, woke up with severe back pain and needed an ambulance. Jenny, an Optus customer, attempted to call Triple-0 eleven times without success. "I started to get a bit panicky," she said. After multiple failed attempts, they decided to drive themselves to the hospital, where Ugo was diagnosed with a pinched nerve.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is investigating the situation. Optus informed ACMA that it could not identify any systemic issues and suggested poor reception might be the cause. However, the Tellinis disputed this explanation, stating they had no reception issues when making other calls.

In another incident, Anglican Minister John Chappell attempted to call Triple-0 while witnessing a man being assaulted in Sydney's CBD. He made eight attempts to reach emergency services but was met with silence. Another bystander eventually called the police. Chappell has since lodged a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, especially since his experience occurred just days before a significant outage caused by a firewall upgrade at Optus.

Telecommunications expert Mark Gregory expressed concern over the reported failures, suggesting they indicate a broader issue within the network. He emphasized the need for a thorough investigation into the incidents. "There’s obviously a problem," he said, noting that various factors could contribute to emergency call failures, including signal strength and network congestion.

Luke Coleman, CEO of the Australian Telecommunications Alliance, cautioned against jumping to conclusions, suggesting that user error or device issues could also play a role.

As Optus continues to address these concerns, customers remain anxious about their ability to reach emergency services when needed.