General News
29 June, 2024
Telco services fail to connect to locals
While residents and businesses in the big smoke celebrate high speed 5G network connections, out here in the sticks, the “gap” is becoming more noticeable.
The Australian Digital Inclusion Index uses survey data to measure Australia's access and use of digital technologies - from education and finance to connecting with families and friends - and to explore geographical and socio-economic variations across the country.
A detailed measure of digital inclusion allows services the opportunity to correct barriers - such as network access, cost of devices and data, and skills and literacies - that may prevent Australians from using digital technology.
But frustrated locals feel that this opportunity is not being explored by service providers.
Yarriambiack is currently sitting 9.2 points below the national average for digital inclusion - the worst in the state - while Hindmarsh Shire sits at third-worst, 8.9 points below the national average.
Although these figures are an improvement on past years, it is still not good enough, according to local woman Georgia Hallam.
Ms Hallam said she and her family and friends had experienced difficulties with coverage for years, and although ongoing connection issues had been a significant inconvenience, Ms Hallam’s greatest concern is the potentially life-threatening risk to the health and safety of the communities.
“I have had the experience of not being able to contact loved ones following a death in our family,” Ms Hallam said.
“I know of others who have been injured in accidents in rural areas and have not had immediate access to make emergency calls.
“Recently, an ambulance called to a football injury in Jeparit was delayed when those onsite were unable to access online information to pass on to the dispatcher."
Ms Hallam said that living in a rural town or on a farm left many people reliant on mobile technology to be able to communicate effectively.
“As a community, we rely on dependable telecommunications for emergency services, business operations, educational needs and maintaining social connections," Ms Hallam said.
“We are a farming family and we are heavily reliant on our local phone service.
“We work remotely, often alone, and may be without access to other means of communication as the UHF system does not extend to cover the entire area we work and live in.
“No two farmers in the Southern Mallee/Northern Wimmera are covering the exact same footprint of land, but I dare say every farmer has that one paddock with the dodgy phone service, which is mind-blowing to me with the technology available in 2024.”
Ms Hallam said she spoke to the telecommunications ombudsman about her concerns as long ago as 2018.
“This was after months of direct communication with Telstra, repeatedly raising my concerns and being told that the issues were the result of infrastructure - the farm sheds - even though I have perfect line of sight to the Galaquil tower,” she said.
“After I told Telstra I had received advice from the ombudsman, they sent a technician out to the Galaquil tower and found that a vital component was missing.
“Not only were Telstra reluctant to listen to my concerns, but they don’t recognise that the complaint comes from an entire community unless everyone in the community makes direct contact - not an easy feat."
Although the overall data trends published by ADII show that digital inclusion across Australia is improving and becoming more affordable, the lack of connectivity in rural communities continues to cause them to lag behind.
Across Victoria, 917 sites have undergone upgrades and development to extend the service area of 5G networks as the country’s providers begin phasing out the old 3G network - and Ms Hallam said the recent upgrades to the Telstra tower in Galaquil had actually made things worse.
“Rather than seeing any significant improvement in service, we are now experiencing more frequent and severe disruptions, repeated call dropouts, and some days we have a total blackout of coverage,” Ms Hallam said.
“Our community deserves better than this continuous cycle of poor service and empty assurances.
“The recent upgrade was supposed to address some long-standing issues. Instead it appears to have exacerbated the problems.
"Most Telstra customers I have spoken to have noticed a marked decline in service quality since the upgrades were implemented.
“It's time for Telstra to provide the quality of service we are paying for, and rightly expect.”