Wentworth Point’s mobile phone network problems with Telstra, Optus

It’s one of Sydney’s most densely populated suburbs but its residents’ and business mobile phone black spot woes mean they are struggling to use essential Covid QR code registrations.

It’s one of Sydney’s most densely populated suburbs but Wentworth Point is a black spot on the mobile phone network, with residents struggling to access mobile networks, including receiving mobile signals and Covid QR code registrations.

Parramatta Lord Mayor Bob Dwyer will write to telcos Telstra, Optus and TPG Community chief executive officers to seek updated information about upgrading or constructing mobile network base stations at 47 Hill Rd (Telstra), 6 Baywater Drive and 19 Hill Rd (TPG Community) and upgrading the 3G network at 45 Hill Rd (Optus).

The move came after councillor Patricia Prociv’s request when she said there were three towers planned for the suburb but wanted more urgency to find out if they were going to be operational.

“With Covid, we’re all working from home and it’s becoming impossible for them to do that,’’ she said.

“It’s a bit like the Bermuda triangle.’’

Poor internet and mobile phone connections have burdened Wentworth Point. Picture: Monique Harmer

She said the low percentage of homes with NBN added to the crippling infrastructure woes at Wentworth Point, including public transport and lack of parks.

“How did this great place to live evolve with so many infrastructure problems glitches?’’

Wentworth Point resident and IT professional Clement Lun said the poor mobile phone network had hit the community hard.

“People just cannot get reception and obviously it’s worsening because they’re using the same infrastructure but the problem keeps increasing and it’s more evident over the past month because everyone’s working from home.

“Even our home internet has been suffering. There’s huge potential for the telcos.’’

An Optus spokeswoman said: “Optus has plans for a new mobile base station in the Wentworth Point area and we are currently looking for an appropriate site.’’

A TPG spokeswoman said investigations were under way too.

“We have three mobile sites servicing Wentworth Point and to optimise performance wherever possible, we have carried out a number of technical actions on our network in the area,’’ she said.

“We’re aware that some local customers experience a degraded experience at times, especially indoors, and this is due to the very high density of the suburb. Customers in the area also may be seeing slower speeds than usual while traffic levels are higher during lockdown.”

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