Telstra tower upgrades touted as 'safety issue' by locals in southern Queensland town
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Dalby locals have been travelling 30 minutes out of town to make a phone call. Image source: ABC Rural / Image by: Jo Prendergast.
A mobile outage caused by 5G upgrades to a Telstra base tower has left many in the Western Downs hub of Dalby in Queensland unable to make or receive calls, texts, or access the internet.
Locals have called it a safety issue, while businesses and medical carers have been at a standstill.
The town with a population of more than 13,000 people was warned of the disruption last Wednesday via text.
Residents like Craig Tobin say the outage, expected to last for up to two weeks, is a "disgrace".
"I drove out of Dalby last night until I got signal because my family in Brisbane, elderly parents, didn't know why I didn't have reception for days," he said.
"I can't believe people are saying: 'Ah well, we just don't have phones for up to two weeks.'
Telstra's regional general manager, May Boisen, said connections like NBN, satellite internet or landline, and calls through wi-fi — as well as other telco providers — have been unaffected.
Telstra customers were sent a text warning of impacts to mobile coverage in Dalby. (Supplied)
But the impact on locals has been significant.
"I have three Telstra devices; I have no signal on all of them," Mr Tobin said.
"I've been using my Telstra hotspot at home for my wi-fi … I'm not hooked into the NBN yet, as I moved into my house four weeks ago and am waiting for it to be put on."
Telstra says NBN, satellite, and landline services, including wi-fi calling, have not been impacted by the tower upgrades. Image source: Southern Queensland Country Tourism.
Dalby Chamber of Commerce's Anna Story said it was a "massive" safety issue and was impacting businesses.
Aged care facility BlueCare said staff were unable to give or receive calls from clients, and carers were unable to access client details.
"Clients' safety is impacted as we are unable to call them or their family members to see if they are OK," a spokesperson said.
"Staff are at risk if something happens to them and they can't call for help.
The care provider had purchased an Optus service to work around the problem.
Businesses in Dalby have vented their frustration of not having access to mobile coverage. Image source: ABC Southern Queensland / Image by: Kemii Maguire.
Smaller businesses have also vented their frustrations.
"I'm so cranky," hairdresser Mel Drier said.
"It's been a real mess around for me and has severely impacted my business.
"I had a client who cancelled, but I didn't know that because I had no service … I'm having to write down names and numbers and wait until I get home to contact my clients later at night."
Many businesses are using cash only, including a medical practice and a local cab company.
Upgrade necessary, says Telstra
Demand on the network was growing by 30 per cent year-on-year, according to Telstra.Ms Boisen said the lengthy upgrades and outages were a necessity.
"For those that are technically minded, it's actually like a six-sectored mobile base station, which is a big base station," she said.
"I'll give you an example. My husband is a diabetic. I don't need the landline, but I have it because mobiles will go down, and we do need to repair mobile base stations.
"If we misunderstood what our customers were wanting to use our network for, then we wouldn't be upgrading our network."
Triple-0 calls are diverted through other providers' mobile towers, even when called from a Telstra phone.
Any calls that have not connected through will be investigated by Telstra.
Services are scheduled to come back online progressively by Monday.
Full mobile coverage is expected to be impacted until June 30.
Written by: Kemii Maguire / ABC News.
