Call for govt action to prevent repeat of warship internet outages
Internet experts say the government must do more to avoid internet outages, after a warship knocked out services to Taranaki and Marlborough.
Interference from an Australian warship's navigation radar caused internet and radio services to fail in those regions on Wednesday.
The 230-metre HMAS Canberra was sailing through Cook Strait when its systems disrupted 5 GHz wireless access points.
The chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association, Craig Young, said it showed the vulnerability in the country's network.
"It was fixed quite quickly once they figured out what was going on," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
"But it does show that we do have a weakness in the current way that radio spectrum, this is what's used for broadband and regional New Zealand, can be overridden by a stronger signal in an area where this frequency can be used by other users."
Young said that in New Zealand, like anywhere in the world, radio frequencies were used for delivering all sorts of services, including mobile and broadband.
"And what happened was, in this case, a radio signal that was stronger than the one that was being used to provide broadband was interrupting the broadband," Young said.
"It was the ship with the radar and they were using the same frequency, unaware that in New Zealand that frequency was used for delivering broadband to users."
He said rural and regional areas were particularly vulnerable and actions from the government were needed to avoid disruptions from happening in future.
"We need a better way to allocate certain parts of the spectrum to people like these broadband providers so they don't get interrupted."
Sam James, a technical manager at TPNET, which provides broadband services across the Tasman and Marlborough areas, said his services were affected on Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
"This kind of event is rare, and to be fair, no one really did anything wrong. The equipment behaved exactly as it's designed to — it's just that a visiting warship doesn't normally show up in the spectrum plan," he said.
"Once the source was identified, we understand the ship adjusted frequencies to reduce disruption, and things settled down pretty quickly.
"That said, the incident does highlight how fragile rural networks can be when built entirely on a shared or congested spectrum."
James said Australia and the US were opening up new spectrum bands like 3 GHz and 6 GHz to give regional providers more room to build high-capacity, resilient links.
"But here in New Zealand, those same bands remain mostly off-limits or underutilised — even though the gear is available and the need is growing."
A serious conversation was needed about "spectrum access, infrastructure resilience, and making sure critical services aren't just one radar sweep away from a dropout", James said.
Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith told RNZ he would be "discussing the matter with officials".
ADVERTISEMENT
rnz.co.nz
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
1News
5 hours ago
- 1News
Call for govt action to prevent repeat of warship internet outages
Internet experts say the government must do more to avoid internet outages, after a warship knocked out services to Taranaki and Marlborough. Interference from an Australian warship's navigation radar caused internet and radio services to fail in those regions on Wednesday. The 230-metre HMAS Canberra was sailing through Cook Strait when its systems disrupted 5 GHz wireless access points. The chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association, Craig Young, said it showed the vulnerability in the country's network. "It was fixed quite quickly once they figured out what was going on," he said. ADVERTISEMENT "But it does show that we do have a weakness in the current way that radio spectrum, this is what's used for broadband and regional New Zealand, can be overridden by a stronger signal in an area where this frequency can be used by other users." Young said that in New Zealand, like anywhere in the world, radio frequencies were used for delivering all sorts of services, including mobile and broadband. "And what happened was, in this case, a radio signal that was stronger than the one that was being used to provide broadband was interrupting the broadband," Young said. "It was the ship with the radar and they were using the same frequency, unaware that in New Zealand that frequency was used for delivering broadband to users." He said rural and regional areas were particularly vulnerable and actions from the government were needed to avoid disruptions from happening in future. "We need a better way to allocate certain parts of the spectrum to people like these broadband providers so they don't get interrupted." Sam James, a technical manager at TPNET, which provides broadband services across the Tasman and Marlborough areas, said his services were affected on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT "This kind of event is rare, and to be fair, no one really did anything wrong. The equipment behaved exactly as it's designed to — it's just that a visiting warship doesn't normally show up in the spectrum plan," he said. "Once the source was identified, we understand the ship adjusted frequencies to reduce disruption, and things settled down pretty quickly. "That said, the incident does highlight how fragile rural networks can be when built entirely on a shared or congested spectrum." James said Australia and the US were opening up new spectrum bands like 3 GHz and 6 GHz to give regional providers more room to build high-capacity, resilient links. "But here in New Zealand, those same bands remain mostly off-limits or underutilised — even though the gear is available and the need is growing." A serious conversation was needed about "spectrum access, infrastructure resilience, and making sure critical services aren't just one radar sweep away from a dropout", James said. Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith told RNZ he would be "discussing the matter with officials". ADVERTISEMENT
RNZ News
21 hours ago
- RNZ News
Call for govt action to prevent repeat of warship internet outages
Photo: Unsplash / RNZ Internet experts say the government must do more to avoid internet outages, after a warship knocked out services to Taranaki and Marlborough. Interference from an Australian warship's navigation radar caused internet and radio services to fail in those regions on Wednesday. The 230-metre HMAS Canberra was sailing through Cook Strait when its systems disrupted 5 GHz wireless access points. The HMAS Canberra which has been visiting New Zealand this week. Photo: AFP The chief executive of the Telecommunications Users Association, Craig Young, said it showed the vulnerability in the country's network. "It was fixed quite quickly once they figured out what was going on," he said. "But it does show that we do have a weakness in the current way that radio spectrum, this is what's used for broadband and regional New Zealand, can be overridden by a stronger signal in an area where this frequency can be used by other users." Young said that in New Zealand, like anywhere in the world, radio frequencies were used for delivering all sorts of services, including mobile and broadband. "And what happened was, in this case, a radio signal that was stronger than the one that was being used to provide broadband was interrupting the broadband," Young said. "It was the ship with the radar and they were using the same frequency, unaware that in New Zealand that frequency was used for delivering broadband to users." He said rural and regional areas were particularly vulnerable and actions from the government were needed to avoid disruptions from happening in future. "We need a better way to allocate certain parts of the spectrum to people like these broadband providers so they don't get interrupted." Sam James, a technical manager at TPNET, which provides broadband services across the Tasman and Marlborough areas, said his services were affected on Wednesday. "This kind of event is rare, and to be fair, no one really did anything wrong. The equipment behaved exactly as it's designed to - it's just that a visiting warship doesn't normally show up in the spectrum plan," he said. "Once the source was identified, we understand the ship adjusted frequencies to reduce disruption, and things settled down pretty quickly. "That said, the incident does highlight how fragile rural networks can be when built entirely on a shared or congested spectrum." James said Australia and the US were opening up new spectrum bands like 3 GHz and 6 GHz to give regional providers more room to build high-capacity, resilient links. "But here in New Zealand, those same bands remain mostly off-limits or underutilised - even though the gear is available and the need is growing." A serious conversation was needed about "spectrum access, infrastructure resilience, and making sure critical services aren't just one radar sweep away from a dropout", James said. Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith told RNZ he would be "discussing the matter with officials". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
HMAS Canberra accidentally blocks wireless internet and radio services in New Zealand
By Andrew Thorpe , ABC At 230 metres long, HMAS Canberra is the Royal Australian Navy's largest vessel. Photo: AFP The Department of Defence has acknowledged that HMAS Canberra , the Royal Australian Navy's largest warship, accidentally took out a number of wireless internet and radio services across New Zealand earlier this week during a visit intended to celebrate the sister city relationship between Canberra and Wellington. The incident occurred early on Wednesday morning, as the 230-metre navy flagship made its way through the Cook Strait en route to New Zealand's capital, where the ship's crew is set to be welcomed with a parade and concert on Saturday. According to local internet service providers (ISPs), HMAS Canberra' s navigation radar began interfering with 5GHz wireless access points - devices that bridge wired and wireless networks - in regions on both New Zealand's North and South Islands at around 2am. Wireless internet and radio outages caused by HMAS Canberra. Photo: ABC News The radar interference triggered in-built switches in the devices that caused them to go offline, a safety precaution intended to prevent wireless signals from interfering with radar systems in New Zealand's airspace. Stuff reported that the outages were first raised with Radio Spectrum Management, an agency within the government's business ministry. The agency notified the New Zealand Defence Force, which notified the Australian Defence Force. "On becoming aware, HMAS Canberra changed frequencies rectifying the interference," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Defence said. "There are no ongoing disruptions." The outages affected wireless internet and radio services in Taranaki and Marlborough regions, the spokesperson added. Matthew Harrison, managing director of New Zealand-based ISP Primo, said he had never seen anything like the incident before. "This wasn't just a blip. It was full-scale, military-grade radar triggering built-in safety protocols … and it rolled across our network in sync with the ship's movement," he wrote on LinkedIn. "It's not every day a warship takes your gear offline!" Harrison said the incident underlined the fragility of New Zealand's radio spectrum environment, with rural fixed wireless services having to share a frequency band with radar systems. -ABC
