RESIDENTS in Deepwater congregated to address mobile phone concerns last Tuesday as reception issues continue to alarm locals.
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Attendees were struggling for a single bar of service during the meeting, attended by Telstra’s North West regional manager Michael Marom.
Former New England federal candidate Rob Taber, based in Armidale, has taken it upon himself to lead the fight to see the problem rectified.
“It is an issue that has been around for some time,” Mr Taber said.
“Pretty well when you are 20 kilometres out of Glen Innes until you get about 10 kilometres out of Tenterfield it is on and off all the time.”
Mr Marom attended the meeting to respond to complaints from local mobile users and posited a number of reasons as to why the service continues to be an issue.
“We want to make sure we have continuity of coverage. I know that there are quite a few spots where there is no coverage and it is challenging because you have very large areas with very little in them and then you have challenging topography like Mount Gibraltar,” he said.
“It is extremely difficult to have a consistent and stable mobile service when you have such topography. Mobile signal is a line of sight transmission and it needs to have that height and capacity that is why in buildings where there are challenging areas it becomes quite difficult.”
The weak, and in some cases non-existent mobile signal has proven to be an isolating factor for a number of residents.
Some residents said in case of an emergency, not having reception could have fatal consequences.
In a world reliant on modern communications technology a mobile signal was essential Mr Taber argued.
“We did a survey here and we sent out 400 questionnaires to the Deepwater community and the surrounding district and we got 220 responses saying that they believe it is a major problem,” he said.
“To get that many responses from any survey, which is over 50 per cent, I think is incredible.
“It is not just about phone service anymore. We have moved so far today and we need to now have a fast internet speed. It is how we live. One goes with the other.
Mr Taber said the federal government had made commitments to allocate around $100 million to address mobile black spots and he was keen to see some funds directed to Deepwater and Torrington where they face similar issues.
Mr Marom said residents could hear a result within a week.
