The issues started Wednesday morning, when the city’s Optus customers noticed their mobile Facebook posts were failing and their text messages were not going through.

The rumour going round the city was that last week’s snow falls and extreme cold were to blame for the coverage issues.

But Optus spokesperson Sylvia Baraya said the fault lay with hardware in the tower at the University of New England.

She said the reception issues could not be attributed to the snow.

But while those in the centre of town felt the pain of failed text messages, slow data issues appeared to pop up throughout the region prompting fears that television streaming services like Netflix  might become a distant dream. 

Angry customers turned to Facebook to vent their concerns.

One post on an Armidale community Facebook page prompted stream of responses from Optus customers as far out as Guyra. Along with patchy data coverage and text message failures, mobile users also complained phone calls were not going through.

One Facebook user said calls sounding like “water being shaken in a bottle”. 

Ms Baraya said that although only one tower was down the  extra traffic on the other towers was causing problems.

“While Optus has a number of mobile sites in the region that provide overlapping coverage, some customers in the area may experience call and data drop outs due to congestion. 

“Optus apologises for the disruption and thanks customers for their patience.”

Late Wednesday afternoon the Optus network status page indicated all three towers were undergoing maintenance to improve the 3g network in the area.

By Wednesday evening it appeared that normal service had been restored.

Ms Baraya directed any Optus customers having reception issues to www.Optus.com.au/about/network/service-status, where they are able to check their service status.