WITH reliable telecommunications services essential in regional communities, Bulahdelah locals are fed up with consistent and ongoing reception issues.

Recent outages in Bulahdelah have left users frustrated, with locals reporting being unable to do things as simple as make a short telephone call.

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Calls only hold for ten to 60 seconds before they drop out, with service regularly switching from 4G to 3G.

Locals say the situation becomes exasperated in essential situations such as health crises, where reliable telephone and internet services are needed to prevent potentially life threatening situations.

Margaret Schlenert, who works for a local Bulahdelah business, said reception has been consistently dropping out “for years”.

“This has had a negative effect on businesses trying to do their job.

“Had this had occurred in major cities or regional centres, they would have provided a solution fairly quickly.”

Locals have reported that providers have either ignored their requests for assistance or have been very slow to act on any issues, despite providers promising a quick response.

Providers are not seen as being entirely to blame for the lack of coverage however, with fingers also being pointed at the National Broadband Network (NBN).

An NBN node shorted out during recent heavy flooding in Bulahdelah, causing a loss of connectivity for many.

Residents say the node was installed in an improper location, with the initial site prone to occasional floods.

Subsequently the node was relocated to higher ground.

Providers have indicated that the latest local outage was a hardware issue.

Two of the six modules reportedly failed, leading to limited coverage.

This specific issue had reportedly been rectified.

By John SAHYOUN