Tasman mayor says internet ‘basically shuts down’ when cruise ships visit Port Arthur

In the summer months the Tasman Peninsula swells with tourists, Read why the addition of cruise ship visitors is causing serious problems for businesses and locals.

A cruise ship sails past Cape Raoul on the Tasman Peninsula. Picture: Philip Young

A huge influx of cruise ships to Port Arthur has been blamed for a lack of internet connection and unreliable mobile phone coverage which the Tasman Mayor has described as “abominable”.

The Tasman Council has called a public meeting for February 25 for residents to have their say on mobile and internet coverage which some say makes the popular tourist spot unsafe in summer.

Mayor Rod Macdonald welcomed upgrades to three mobile phone towers, including one at White Beach, but said businesses and residents were still suffering.

He said 30 cruise ship visits to Port Arthur between October and April had caused problems for visitors and locals alike.

“It’s a major boost for us, however when the cruise ships come in the network basically shuts down because between 2500 and 3000 people start to log on, and the system can’t handle it.

“We’re in the situation where even taxi drivers, can’t use their EFTPOS cards and they can’t ring for pick-ups.

“We’re looking at about a six-month period now where the services are rendered effectively useless.

“We’re being treated with not even second rate services and it’s just abominable.

“If we’ve got six months of the year when customers and emergency service can’t use the network, well that’s just not good enough.

“People the other day were saying they couldn’t even pay their taxi fare.

“They said, ‘how can we come here to Tasmania and this a major tourist spot, and you haven’t even got a mobile network that can use your EFTPOS’.

“They were just going spare.”

Tasman Mayor Rod MacDonald at Nubeena. Picture: Chris Kidd

Mr Macdonald said the phone and internet services were designed for 3000 people when some estimates put the number of visitors during summer at 30,000.

He said the local SES feared being unable to contact volunteers in the event of an emergency.

“Our SES guys have had their fingers crossed and toes crossed that there was no emergency because they would have had they just found it impossible to communicate.”

Mr Macdonald said there also were problems at popular Fortescue Bay because of network congestion and walkers had been stranded because they could not contact a taxi.

“It was a real mess and at the public meeting, we’re going to have a number of businesses speaking about the impact on their business with the poor standard of internet and connectivity and how it’s just ruining business.”

Telstra Regional general manager for Tasmania Michael Patterson said there were plans to upgrade the mobile site at Elbow Hill which would improve coverage to Nubeena and surrounding areas.

“Last year, we upgraded our mobile sites in Mount Arthur and Eaglehawk Neck delivering 5G coverage and improving the mobile experience for communities in and around those areas,” he said.

“We’re currently exploring a potential new mobile site at Murdunna.

“Some areas on the Tasman Peninsula can still experience congestion due to the influx of visitors over the holidays.”

Mr Patterson encouraged businesses to talk to their bank about connecting their EFTPOS terminals to NBN or Wi-Fi connection to prevent delays in processing transactions.

One Nubeena resident said she was worried about lack of coverage saying “it’s unsafe”.