On 19 July 2026, Golden Bay / Mohua had a planned power outage from 9:13am to 4:35pm. Many people assumed phones, internet and messages would keep working — community reports showed a more complicated picture. Some services worked in some places; others failed, slowed down, or appeared connected while messages and apps would not go through.
Why STRIM asked
When grid power fails, mobile cell sites keep running on backup batteries — and not every site is backed up to last a full-day outage. Golden Bay has experienced outages before in which residents could not call 111, and that is STRIM's critical concern. So during the planned outage, STRIM asked residents to share their experience of the latter half of the day, when site batteries were most likely to be running down, to see whether practical service changed as the outage continued and to identify questions requiring provider explanation. (Battery runtime is not just a mobile issue. One local report said FM radio reception disappeared after about seven hours. A relay-battery failure was suggested locally but has not been independently confirmed.)
Because of that focus, the reports naturally skew toward the second half of the outage — a deliberate choice, and worth keeping in mind when reading the map.
Key findings from the reports
- Signal bars did not always mean usable service. 11 reports were classified as failed / false signal — phones showed bars or 4G while messages, apps or calls still failed. People may believe they can reach help when they cannot.
- Satellite backup did not switch on for some who expected it. Four reports describe satellite messaging not activating during the outage. Community evidence cannot establish why; one open question for providers is whether a weak-but-unusable signal stops the satellite fallback from engaging.
- Satellite fallback has eligibility and operating conditions that may not be widely understood. Provider satellite services require an eligible device and plan or SIM, a clear view of the sky, and generally operate outside ordinary cell-tower coverage. Software, app and service requirements vary by provider and device. Check what your backup actually requires before you need it.
- Power coming back did not always mean communications coming back. Twelve reports describe problems that continued after electricity was restored.
- The strongest pattern was variation. The same provider could work in one locality and fail or degrade in another — there was no single answer.
The main concern is false confidence. Some residents saw bars, 4G or satellite options and reasonably believed they had a way to communicate — but some messages, apps and calls still did not work. STRIM believes the public needs much clearer information about what mobile, satellite, landline, medical alarm and internet services can actually do during a wide outage.
Explore the evidence map
The map contains all 56 reports. It opens with 47 locality reports; travel and signal-only/context evidence can be shown using the map toggles. Tap any marker for anonymised report details, filter by network, and browse the full evidence index.
Explore the interactive mapWorks on phone and desktop. Recognisable Golden Bay geography stays visible even on a slow connection.
Downloads & corrections
Public evidence files are provided for transparency: the public map data (CSV) and a network & outcome summary (CSV), both exported from the current evidence workbook. Earlier v0.x files are withdrawn. If you notice something that needs correcting, or you have useful outage evidence to add, please contact STRIM.