Telstra blackout, bad phone reception after floods in Kilkivan, Gympie, Maryborough

Communities across the flood-ravaged Wide Bay are in phone reception hell with one town completely blacked out since Saturday and others near Gympie and the Fraser Coast frustrated by limited connection and delays.

Residents of Kilkivan and its surrounds are fuming following a days-long loss of Telstra mobile coverage which one business owner says has forced people to take dangerous risks just to make a call.

Kilkivan General Store owner Katy McCallum said residents were left without their Telstra service about midday Friday, shortly after the torrential downpours that led to severe and dangerous flooding.

Landlines were also brought down in the devastating floods.

Reception problems had been reported dozens of kilometres away at Munna Creek, Teebar and Boompa on the outer edges of the Fraser Coast with lengthy connection and text message delays also reported in Granville, Maryborough and Hervey Bay.

The coverage blackout at Kilkivan forced residents seeking reception to make their calls standing by the side of the 100km/h Wide Bay Hwy which has suffered severe damage.

Ms McCallum said it was “a recipe for disaster”.

Telstra outages around the Kilkivan area as of 3.30pm Thursday January 13. They did not state when service was expected to be restored.

For her business, the loss of service also meant her shop was forced to go two days without being able to accept EFTPOS payments (until she managed to connect the system to the NBN).

She was unable to sell Scratch-it lottery tickets, a popular item among customers, for five days.

Ms McCallum said this might sound like a “first world problem” but as a business owner the impact on income was large.

Gympie Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon said the service was restored Wednesday but remained “substandard”.

This included a 20km black spot between Kilkivan and Goomeri.

“You lose service just after Blacksnake Rd and get it back at Kinbombi,” he said.

Ms McCallum contacted The Gympie Times late Thursday afternoon saying the temporary fix to Telstra’s services had stopped working.

Telstra Regional General Manager May Boisen said the organisation was “working to get everything back up and running as quickly as possible”.

Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon, who lives near the region and whose electoral seat covers Kilkivan, Goomeri and their surrounding areas, said the restoration of services midweek had brought back normal coverage which was often itself “substandard”.

“The recent flooding has damaged our fibre optic cable in the area, which is disrupting landline and mobile services in and around Kilkivan.

“The flood waters have been preventing us from accessing the damaged cable, so we have brought in a temporary mobile base station to restore mobile coverage while we work to repair the damage.

“The flooding receded enough for our technicians to access the damage today (Thursday) and they are onsite, working to get everything back online.”

Regarding the wider coverage issues reported around Kilkivan Ms Boisen said environmental factors including “type of device being used, the distance from a tower, terrain, vegetation or buildings” could affect reception.

“We continually investigate new opportunities to further expand our mobile coverage, including co-investment opportunities such as the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program and Regional Connectivity Program,” she said.

“Residents can improve their mobile coverage by using their nbn connection to access Wi-Fi calling.

“This is a free setting on most popular mobile phones and allows your mobile to use a Wi-Fi network to make and receive mobile calls.

“In some cases mobile coverage in their home or vehicle can be increased by fitting an external aerial or a phone booster.”

Telstra’s online outage map as of 3.30pm Thursday showed two mobile reception outages across the area.

Each was listed as “under investigation” its expected date of being restored “to be confirmed”.