VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocols are taking a step forward in public awareness with the Rena crisis, says EOL managing director Terry Coles.

EOL is responsible for Maritime New Zealand's Rena incident control centre communications.

They have set them up twice. First at Classic Flyers then again two days later when the growing response team was forced to move into the larger space provided by the former Foodtown supermarket on Cameron Road.

The Tauranga-based wireless broadband company was asked by Maritime New Zealand to set up internet and phone lines for Rena's incident command centre as soon as the ship grounded on Astrolabe Reef on October 5.

Within two hours of receiving MNZ's call for help, EOL had a high-speed communications network up and running, using VoIP.

They then had to do it again a day later, as MNZ's rapidly growing response team moved from a room at Classic Flyers to the former Foodtown supermarket.

The EOL team worked overnight, finishing at about 6.30am.

They installed capacity for 100 phone lines and doubled that a few days later, says Terry.

The Cameron Road ICC now has the capacity to provide high-speed wireless broadband for up to 350 computers and 200 separate phone lines using its VoIP.

'I think its still growing. Pretty much every day we have added new phone lines, it hasn't tapered off. They have got hundreds of phones lines, I'm not sure how many they are up to at the moment.”

The VoIP handles all the MNZ communications, interviews and the digital protocol is proving itself as good as or better quality than a standard telephone line, says Terry.

'We have been flying extra equipment and hardware in from Europe and Asia since day one, and we are continuing to do so.

'We have been able to respond immediately to all of Maritime New Zealand's requests and government agencies have been very cooperative about fast-tracking the delivery of the wireless and VoIP equipment we are now ordering on a daily basis.”

Included in the imports was the radio equipment for the link to the high definition camera set up on Motiti Island.

'It's very difficult to set up a link across that much water, it's difficult to maintain a radio link because it bounces all over the place,” says Terry.

The camera, originally imported so live television interviews could be conducted from Tauranga, is on loan, says Terry.

'Everyone's just glad that we can make a difference because it's enabled Maritime New Zealand to just get on with their job.

'They have had phone lines, wireless dual high-speed internet and video feeds set up without delay,” says Terry.

'Because we use advanced wireless technology we can set things up almost instantly. Other Internet Service Providers would have taken several weeks to achieve the same result.”

Because staff were at one stage working 24 hours on the Rena response, some local customers have had to wait, says Terry.

'We would really like to thank our existing home and business customers for their patience.

'We are in the middle of a big promotion giving away free tablets and we apologize to those customers who had installations booked this week. But all our resources are currently committed to overseeing IT communications for the agencies involved in this disaster.”

Coles says EOL staff will continue to source equipment and resources overseas to ensure Maritime New Zealand can quickly communicate with everyone involved in the clean-up effort. Regular photos are also be uploaded to EOL's Facebook page.

'We are on standby to increase capacity further if required. I'm really proud of our team at EOL – no-one else could have responded as fast as we have.”