Optus outage prompts emergency-family decision to unlock dying husband’s phone with his fingerprint

An Optus outage that disrupted hundreds of triple-0 calls across four Australian states last Thursday created a life-or-death moment in Adelaide, where a mother said she used her dying husband’s fingerprint to unlock his phone so she could call for help.

Simone Porcaro, a long-time Optus customer, described how her husband Dave collapsed at home from cellulitis and slipped unconscious as she tried to reach emergency services. The family’s phone was with another provider, and after their efforts to locate it, Porcaro’s seven-year-old daughter Caitlin suggested using Dave’s phone. They moved his body to access the device, then placed his thumb on the reader to unlock it and place the triple-0 call. Porcaro said she dialed triple-0 six times without success as the outage blocked the connection. She told Ten News the call finally connected after they unlocked the phone and managed to reach emergency services.

Optus confirmed the outage affected calls to triple-0 in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and New South Wales. Authorities indicated a botched firewall update was the likely cause, blocking hundreds of calls to emergency services. The telco said it was unaware of the systemic failure for several hours and did not publicly acknowledge the problem until the following day.

The outage has been linked to multiple fatalities. A 68-year-old Adelaide woman died during the outage while at home alone after experiencing a medical episode, and two other deaths occurred in Western Australia. A fourth fatality, an eight-week-old baby boy in Adelaide’s north, was initially linked to the outage, but police now say the outage is unlikely to have contributed to the infant’s death. Families affected by the outages have called for accountability and improvements to ensure emergency services remain accessible during outages.

Porcaro spoke of the emotional toll and the perception that no one was available to help when it mattered most. She described the welfare call she received from Optus the next day as lacking empathy, saying the operator’s approach felt scripted and that assistance arrived only after more than a day had passed. She noted she had been a loyal Optus customer for about 15 years and questioned why an emergency situation was treated as a routine check.

Optus chief executive Stephen Rue faced questions about the outage in a media briefing on Sunday. He apologized for the disruption and said the company would conduct an independent review, promising to publish the findings and take all necessary actions to prevent a recurrence. “We will do an independent review, we will make the facts public, and I can assure you, we will be implementing everything,’’ Rue said. The remarks came as calls for his resignation grew amid mounting frustration over the scale and handling of the outage.

In Canberra, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would pursue a proper investigation into the incident and stressed that Optus has obligations to customers and other communications providers. He described the situation as completely unacceptable and indicated that authorities would determine both the causes and the appropriate actions. “There will be a proper investigation by the authorities, and the government has action at its disposal,” Albanese said, adding that the government would await the facts before deciding what measures are necessary. He also suggested it would be surprising if Rue’s position remained unchanged if the company’s response failed to meet expectations.

The outage, which affected service across four states, has sparked widespread scrutiny of the telecommunications operator and intensified calls for stronger safeguards around emergency communications. The investigation into the cause—along with the adequacy of Optus’s response and customer service during the outage—continues as regulators and lawmakers examine what happened and how best to prevent a similar disruption in the future.