The issue was brought up at council’s last monthly meeting by Cr David Fahey OAM on February 15 who pointed at the difficulties experienced by locals across the local government area.
“There’s no network connection. It just seems to be continuing,” he said.
“It’s getting worse. There’s got to be some sort of solution.” Cr Fahey emphasised.
“If you can’t get 3G and 4G working, how can you roll out G5? It’s a problem through the state.”
In South Corowa, mobile reception has been unsatisfactory for many years, and according to some locals, has gotten worse.
Corowa Golf Club General Manager Daniel Peacock described mobile service at the club as “terrible” with the problem only able to be rectified at great personal expense.
“Coverage out here is a long way from satisfactory,” he said.
“We’ve had issues for a number of years. It’s caused many problems and even cost us customers.”
The service woes forced the club to take the issue into their own hands.
“After a long consultation, we contacted Corowa Computers around Christmas time and purchased a ‘Cel-fi’ unit which now boosts a weak signal through the club house,” Mr Peacock said.
“We installed an antenna which covers most of the building and the motel.
“Internet here is just and terrible and has also cost us customers. We’ve talked to Telstra at great expense and then we stumbled across Starlink, a satellite internet system, by Elon Musk.
“We had heard great things about and decided to give it a try.
“We’ve probably forked out over $1000 just to improve our phone and internet service but that’s all we can do for the moment until service improves in the area, hopefully with the installation of a new tower.”
South Corowa local David Harrison said mobile service in the area had only gotten worse.
“Service in South Corowa has never been good. From the golf club to the school (Corowa South Public School), there are serious connection issues,” he said.
“If you’re driving along Hume Street from the golf club and you try and make a handsfree call, it won’t connect until you get to the south Corowa store.
“At home, we are fortunate to have great internet here, so we run on wi-fi calling instead. However, if we get storm through the area and the NBN goes down, it causes all sorts of problems. You have to drive into town to be able to report the issue. It’s a catch 22.
“It’s very frustrating and surprising in a town of this size we can’t get adequate mobile phone service.
“I believe that it’s worse than what it was a few years ago. We’ve been here for 15 years and never had much service.”
Cr Gail Law also brought up the mobile coverage issue in South Corowa at council’s February meeting.
“In south Corowa it’s miserable,” she said.
“We certainly need something done in that area. The last upgrade in Corowa was eight years ago.”
Cr David Longley also spoke of Howlong’s lack of coverage at Federation Council’s meeting.
Urana local and Billabong Agriculture owner Pat Bourke said mobile phone connectivity was an issue right across Federation.
“It’s not good at all. In half the shire, you can’t get decent service,” he said.
“We are in contact with farmers right across region and when they call the line will drop out. It happens multiple times a day.
“As a local business, that’s not good enough. I think the problem has only gotten worse. We need infrastructure that’s capable of better mobile coverage.”
In Savernake, reception has improved since 2018, but local residents are seeking much needed further improvement.
“It’s better than it was but with more people going on-line and with the internet we are wanting better coverage,” resident Ann Sloane told the Free Press.
“The system is not coping. There is room for improvement – there’s no doubt about it.”
In 2016 a mobile phone tower was installed at Savernake as part of the Federal Government’s Black Spot program and because the village is on a state highway, priority for the tower was given.
Vodafone received the contract, and Telstra and Optus co-located on the tower.
Ann does wonder if the capacities of the towers and transmitters are compromised due to heavier volume and demands on the system.
“There are certainly many local residents who are most dissatisfied with the current level of service,” she said.
“Some are having to expend substantial money on alternative forms of electronic communications, which is a drain on farm budgets and shouldn’t be necessary.”
Ann said she will contact Sussan Ley (Federal MP for Farrer) “who was a great help in setting up the tower”.
“With large crowds at such things as football and netball finals at Rennie, we need good mobile coverage.”
Recently, a national report on telecommunications made 12 recommendations for change, which if implemented would herald a new era in regional and remote areas of NSW.
NSW Farmers Vice President Xavier Martin said the recommendations, whilst not necessarily ground-breaking, brought into sharp focus the growing importance of connectivity outside capital cities.
“The independent committee reporting on Australia’s telecommunications system compared the need for digital access to the need for electricity, which is not far off the mark and indicates how rapidly we have come to depend on reliable connectivity,” Mr Martin said.
“COVID-19 accelerated the need to be able to be connected from anywhere, and there’s a real opportunity to bring regional, rural and remote Australia up to the same standard as urban centres.
“The benefits of a reliable connection are varied in the bush – from making farms safer and health services more effective, to building efficiencies and opening the door to regional online businesses.
“The Black Summer bushfires and other natural disasters have exposed the dangers of poor or unreliable connectivity, and this is a reality our farmers have to deal with daily when they move around their property,” Mr Martin said.
“With more business being conducted online and health services stretched, especially during COVID, the need is huge and the investment potential almost limitless – especially if it means more businesses can be run remotely and more Australians can feasibly move out of the cities and into regional areas.”
Cr Longley successfully moved a motion that Federation Council write to Telstra and the Federal Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher pointing out the ongoing problems with no or a lack of sufficient mobile coverage and seeking urgent action to rectify the widespread dissatisfaction.
