Phone and internet services across some parts of the Hastings have been disrupted since June 16.
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Residents and businesses in parts of Wauchope, King Creek, Telegraph Point, Brombin, Pappinbarra and Rollands Plains haven’t been able to use their mobile phones or go online.
Meredith Ryan from FAWNA lives in Brombin and says it’s affecting the wildlife charity.
“It’s just not good enough in a supposedly progressive, tech-savvy country that people in relatively close proximity to a major centre are subjected to third world communications,” she said.
“This 3G connectivity problem for people more than five kiloemtres from the Telstra tower on the eastern end of Bago mountain has been manifesting since December 2016.”
Ms Ryan contacted the local MP, David Gillespie for help. Late on Wednesday afternoon, June 21, Telstra Countryside Gunnedah phoned her landline to say that a technician would be going to the Bago tower to install a replacement part that had to be ordered in.
Heather Smith from Pappinbarra said she and her husband have no mobile service – 3G is out. They can only get reception when they head into Wauchope and get 4G service.
The couple run their businesses from home and are not able to take or make calls, or send or receive text messages.
“Many people out here have not had landlines working properly since the bushfires on February 12,” she said.
“In our case, we previously did not have a landline, and when we applied to get one after the fires, we were advised that Telstra were not providing any new landline services. Fortunately we are on Satellite internet and are able to access the internet.”
A Telstra spokesperson apologised for the interruption to mobile services caused by a loss of power to the tower at Bago lookout.
"We believe at this stage that the loss of power has been caused by a third party,” said the Telstra spokesperson.
"During the power restoration process a piece of hardware has been damaged. A technician is scheduled to attend tomorrow (Thursday, June 22) to restore services as quickly as possible."
The Camden Haven area has also been affected by a telecommunications malfunction.
The issue left many customers – including Telstra and Optus – either with intermittent internet access or phone problems.
As one local person explained on social media, the Camden Haven has many older residents who contact friends daily – as part of a telephone tree system – and any disruption to telephone services can cause some concerns.
A Telstra spokesperson acknowledged there were interruptions to services.
“We apologise to our customers for the interruption they may have experienced to their landline and ADSL services caused by a technical fault,” the spokesperson said.
“Services were restored (on Tuesday afternoon) and we thank our customers for their patience.
“We encourage any customers experiencing any ongoing issues to report a fault on 132 200.”
Fairfax Media also contacted Optus for comment.
NBN Co says there were no issues with the NBN network in the area, given that it is not yet live and still under construction.
