Rural Queenslanders say their cell phone coverage has deteriorated since Telstra shut down 3G to upgrade the network. Telstra says other factors such as upgrade works and congestion could be causing the issues. The federal government says it is aware of the struggles some Telstra customers are facing and the issues are being investigated.
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00:00Greg Ross runs a bus company from Magnolia on the Fraser coast, where the lack of mobile
00:08phone reception makes it hard to contact drivers and customers.
00:13I've told them before, if you can't get me on the phone, look to the south east and look
00:17for the smoke signal, you might be able to read that better than get me on the phone.
00:21He says it's got worse since the 3G network was shut off in October.
00:27When the phone rings you've got to belt out the door, sit on the step out we've got out
00:32the front in the rain, hail or sunshine to talk on the phone, otherwise you get dropped
00:37out.
00:38It's the same for Glenwood resident Leonie Evans.
00:42It's not working.
00:43Struggling to reach clients for her cleaning business, she's worried what would happen
00:48in an emergency.
00:50Now we're not even getting the phone calls, we can't ring out half the time, and this
00:55is the problem, not even getting text messages.
00:58In a statement, the Federal Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland said she was aware of concerns
01:04about reduced services in the Wide Bay, and the government is engaging with Telstra about
01:11the complaints.
01:12Telstra has been working with customers to troubleshoot since the switch off, and in
01:17most cases says it's not coverage related.
01:21But Mr Ross isn't convinced.
01:24There's no reason why we shouldn't have service 100% all the time here.