![Technology burns: O'Brien's Wagga Hot Bake Bakery owner Peter O'Brien was one of many city residents who lost trade on Monday, amid a mass Telstra outage. Technology burns: O'Brien's Wagga Hot Bake Bakery owner Peter O'Brien was one of many city residents who lost trade on Monday, amid a mass Telstra outage.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Steff.wills/f8960bc9-9313-4859-a7b4-7635cf7f9517.JPG/r0_265_5138_3456_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Telstra has informed customers its voice and data services have returned to normal.
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Networks managing director Mike Wright said a fault in the core of its network was to blame for a nation-wide outage on Monday.
The outage followed after a similar incidence earlier this month, with customers unable to make or receive calls for a number of hours.
Mr Wright said Monday’s issue was unrelated to earlier outages.
The carrier service in 2014 reported it had 16 million customers, which was more than its two biggest competitors combined.
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With so many residents reliant on Telstra, O'Brien's Wagga Hot Bake Bakery owner said the impacts were going to be widespread.
Peter O’Brien said outages like Monday’s crippled small business trade.
It comes after the long-time baker lost the use of the store’s EFTPOS machine between 10am and 1.30pm, which he said was peak trading time.
He said customers, without cash, had left the shop without their planned pastry purchase.
Mr O’Brien said he felt it was ironic how technology was supposed everything easier when business was simpler before it existed.
“It would be better to go back to the way things were, with the old money,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Technology is supposed to make things easier, but when it goes down like this it’s shocking.”
Telstra reported its 4G voice and data traffic was improving across the board, after it bypassed hardware preventing some customers from accessing the mobile network.
In a statement it said 3G voice and data volumes were also improving.
“We're very sorry for the interruption to services,” the carrier service said.
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St Vincent de Paul volunteers were thrown into “chaos” on Monday morning, when their phones and internet stopped working.
The charity store on Peter Street was one of many businesses affected by a mass Telstra outage, impacting thousands across the country.
Store volunteer Pat Ebert said it had made for a tough morning.
“It’s been absolute chaos,” Ms Ebert said. “We deserve better in this day and age.”
For Cash Converters on Baylis street, the outage meant no calls could be made or received that morning and Morgan street’s Hot Bake revealed its eftpos machine was down.
Bigger companies, including Market Place’s Woolworths, reported their phones had been impacted, but thankfully business remained unaffected.
Wagga businesses and emergency services did not escape a country-wide Telstra outage on Monday.
It comes after thousands of Telstra customers across Australia reported difficulties making calls and connecting to the internet on their mobile devices before 10am.
Complaints about network problems spanned across all major capital cities, according to Aussie Outages' live outage map.
In a statement, Telstra apologised for the inconvenience and assured customers it was “working to resolve the issue and … investigating the root cause.”
Police revealed outages across the Telstra 3G and 4G network could be impacting people trying to call triple-0 or the Police Assistance Line.
Those affected were advised to use a phone with another carrier or a landline if they needed police assistance.
In a statement, residents were reminded to “only call (triple-0) if you have an emergency”. These calls will be connected through other services.
Has this outage impacted you or your business? Email steff.wills@fairfaxmedia.com.au to let us know.