A second major internet outage in a week caused by suspected copper thieves is another blow to Bay of Islands businesses trying to recover from a slow winter.
The outage has affected 750 homes and businesses in the wider Russell area, leaving shops, hotels and the town's crucial ferries unable to take electronic payments.
Chorus' outage website shows the incident occurred at 1.27am on Friday.
The company said the internet was expected to be restored in Russell and surrounding areas by 8pm tonight.
Services would be restored progressively, rather than all at once, as repairs to the damaged cables were completed.
Anton Haagh, co-owner of the Duke of Marlborough Hotel, said only about 5 percent of customers paid with cash - so losing the internet was a huge disruption.
He said copper thieves had also caused a major outage on Monday.
"So it's the second time this week. We're about to go into cruise ship season. We've got wedding season coming up. We had a 15 percent drop-off in domestic trade this winter. It's been a tough winter and this is the last thing everyone needs."
Haagh said staff had rushed home this morning to bring in their own Starlink units to get the hotel's Eftpos back up and running.
However, for businesses with no access to satellite internet, it could mean losing a day's income.
For the hotel it meant a lot of extra time and hassle.
It would also make it harder for people to get to Russell because the ferries relied on electronic payments.
"They'll struggle to get people to pay the fares. It just cascades through the economy, particularly the tourism economy."
If the thefts and outages continued the hotel would have to switch to Starlink, Haagh said.
"It's just another added cost that no one really needs."
Chorus' outage map shows the affected area covers the entire Russell peninsula, including Russell township and Ōkiato, as well as Rāwhiti, Waikare, Karetu, and State Highway 11 between Ōpua and Kawakawa.
A Chorus spokeswoman told RNZ the outage affected 550 fibre broadband and 200 copper services customers between Kawakawa and Russell.
"Early signs point towards vandalism of our cables, and we've reported it to the police. Our priority right now is to restore connectivity as quickly as possible," she said.
The company apologised for the disruption and thanked customers for their patience while the damage was repaired.
The latest internet outage has prompted Northland MP Grant McCallum to call for action against copper thieves - and any dodgy scrap dealers buying stolen metal.
"This is beyond frustrating. People targeting copper are damaging fibre cables and cutting off essential services to entire communities," he said.
"It's not just an inconvenience. Businesses rely on internet connections to process Eftpos payments, take bookings and serve customers. Families need reliable connections to work, access services and stay in touch. When the network goes down, the impact is enormous."
McCallum said Chorus had told him that copper and fibre cables were often located together, meaning people targeting copper could also damage the fibre network, causing widespread disruption.
"With the cruise ship season upon us and tourism businesses gearing up for a busy summer, the last thing Russell and Bay of Islands operators need is repeated internet outages," he said.
"And let's be clear, this is not Chorus's fault. Their teams are left repairing damage caused by vandals, while residents and businesses are left dealing with the consequences."
He said attention also had to turn to where stolen copper was ending up.
"We need to look at who is purchasing stolen copper and make sure those knowingly dealing in stolen material are held accountable. Scrap metal dealers have an important role to play. If someone turns up with suspicious quantities of copper cable or piping, questions need to be asked about where it has come from," he said.
"Legitimate dealers should be working with police to report suspicious sellers. We need to make it harder for thieves to turn stolen copper into cash."
It's not just communications infrastructure that has been damaged by copper thefts in the Far North.
Last month the Far North District Council was forced to close public toilets at Tii Beach and Te Haumi, both in Paihia, after copper pipes were stolen.
The toilets have since been repaired usng pipes made from other materials.
And in July a century-old bronze bell was stolen from St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Rāwene.
Parishioners appealed for the historic bell's return, but also offered help and forgiveness to the person who stole it.
