Reception blackout: Queensland town left without internet and phone
A community northwest of Ipswich is still without the internet and phone reception after services went down more than a week ago.
A damaged tower at Marburg is being blamed for a reception blackout, which has left many residents frustrated and some concerned for their wellbeing.
Local Miles Scholz has three different medical conditions and has had to drive at least 10 minutes from home to make a phone call.
“It makes you very stressed,” he said.
“It exacerbates the heart condition.”
Mr Scholz said he’s been a Telstra customer for more than 50 years.
But despite calling the telco six times to resolve the issue he admitted he couldn’t “get a result.”
Anne McDougall, who runs an international school at Pine Mountain more than 20km away, lost reception on Friday but had service restored after a heated discussion.
She said she needed to be on contactable 24/7 because she’s also the students’ guardian.
“If they’re going to offer a service and a landline service they’ve got to back it up with the infrastructure that can stand up,” Ms McDougall said.
Reception has been a significant problem in the area for more than a decade.
Telstra area general manager Darren Cark said a hardware issue is causing disruption for customers in the Minden, Marburg, Lowood and Pine Mountain Areas.
“Recent heavy rain has unfortunately prevented us accessing the site to assess it and conduct repairs,” he said.
The telco also issued an apology and was working to restore services.
