Millions of Optus customers woke up on Wednesday morning wondering why their internet and phone connections were down and if Y2K had finally happened.
The , impacting around 10 million Optus customers and multiple major companies.
Of particular concern was access to emergency services, especially as customers on landlines wouldn't be able to call triple-zero.
For mobile customers having trouble calling triple-zero, the telco suggested they "find a family member with an alternative device".
Train lines in Melbourne were reportedly delayed, cafes had to rely on cash payments, several hospital and healthcare services reported issues with phone lines - in some cases even urging patients to contact them via email.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, . Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has earlier said there was "no indication" the outage was a result of a cyberattack.
Amid the frustration of those unable to work, receive payments or operate essential communications, the rest of the country, on competitor networks, seemingly jumped online to make light of the situation, filling the hole that Optus customers left with memes.
So now that everything is slowly returning to normal, let's turn to the jokes, because everyone deserves a little chuckle given the heaviness of the news lately.
Where Optus failed, the internet provided
We start our meme journey with the initial shock of having no internet access, suddenly feeling launched back to the Stone Age. (Or at least the early 90s.) How did we survive before wifi, 4G and tap-and-pay?
However, some of us are prepared for situations like this.
The cause of the outage remained a mystery, so users of X (formerly Twitter) made their own assessments.
But while it is funny for a moment, we did feel for the Optus employees.
Or maybe the Optus employees had a plan.
But upon reflection, maybe having a break from being constantly contactable is good for us. Or, at least, Opt-us.
