Norfolk Island
Power & telecom standards in Norfolk Island
Connectivity Overview
Tempest Telecom offered satellite-only service in Norfolk Island. Iridium satellite Internet and Voice access was available for communications in rural areas without infrastructure.
Norfolk Island uses 230V at 50Hz. Power outlets are type I and telephone jacks are RJ-11.
Dial-up Internet Access
Dial-up access was not available in Norfolk Island. Satellite Internet was the recommended alternative.
WiFi Hotspot Access
WiFi hotspot access was not available through Tempest in Norfolk Island.
Adapters & Power
Travelers from North America will need a power plug adapter. European Type C/F adapters are widely compatible.
Standard RJ-11 jacks are used. Most international modems will connect without an adapter.
Norfolk Island at a Glance
- Capital
- Kingston
- Phone Code
- +672
- Voltage
- 230V / 50Hz
- Power Plug
- I
- Phone Jack
- RJ-11
- Currency
- AUD
- Dial-up
- N/A
- WiFi
- N/A
About connectivity in Norfolk Island
Norfolk Island uses 230V/50Hz with the Australian-style Type I outlet. The phone jack is RJ-11. Norfolk Telecom (now operating under Australian regulatory framework following the 2016 governance change that integrated Norfolk Island with the Commonwealth of Australia) handles fixed and mobile services. The country code is +672.
Norfolk Island's population of approximately 1,750 on a 35 km2 volcanic remnant in the South Pacific descends partly from the original Pitcairn Island Bounty mutineer community resettled to Norfolk in 1856. Commercial Internet reached the island in the 2000s through Norfolk Telecom; satellite backhaul carried international traffic until terrestrial submarine cable arrived in 2020.
Tempest Telecom served Norfolk Island primarily through Iridium satellite phones for the local fishing fleet, the small tourism industry, and the historical-research community studying the Bounty descendant population.
Modern Norfolk Island has improved terrestrial broadband following the 2020 submarine cable arrival.
Tempest's services across Norfolk Island, 1997–2012
Tempest Telecommunications operated international connectivity services in Norfolk Island between 1997 and 2012 under a unified prepaid account that absorbed multiple service types onto a single customer credential. Customers in Norfolk Island drew from the same balance for pre-paid international voice calling, RADIUS-authenticated dial-up Internet roaming, metered Wi-Fi hotspot access, Iridium satellite voice, and Inmarsat BGAN data terminals. An attempted kiosk-payment federation (PATN, 1998) extended the same architecture to public Internet terminals but failed to reach scale.
Iridium satellite voice was available in Norfolk Island from approximately 2001 (post-bankruptcy relaunch). Thuraya coverage did not extend to Norfolk Island; Inmarsat BGAN data terminals filled the broadband gap from late 2005.