Latest news with #mobilecoverage
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Shropshire MP questions improvements to rural mobile phone coverage
An upgrade to mobile phone coverage on the Shropshire Hills has been welcomed although concerns remain about just how good the improvements are, an MP has Shropshire's Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, who has campaigned for better rural mobile coverage, said she had not noticed "any discernible improvement" from the recent Shared Rural Network (SRN) masts in England have been upgraded to provide 4G coverage on all networks, including in parts of Shropshire."Obviously any improvement is really welcome, but I think the Shared Rural Network of which this rollout is a part hasn't really delivered what it was promised to deliver," Morgan said. The rollout has been led by the government and phone networks with masts that initially only used to connect EE customers and those calling 999 being upgraded to provide coverage for all mobile network said the industry had spent £500m improving signals in places where people could get a signal from one provider but not from others."But I have to say my experience in North Shropshire is that we can't notice any discernible improvement at all and I'm really concerned that the targets that have been set for that rollout weren't stretching enough and haven't really delivered the improvements that we need to see," she said."Certainly in north Shropshire and I would imagine and, although I spend less time there, it's the same in south Shropshire as well."She said she accepted there were planning issues around more masts being installed in the countryside but also criticised the coverage maps that were used to set targets for being inaccurate."So, I think there's a bigger risk that they think everything is rosy," she added."The capacity on those masts isn't good enough for people to connect when they're out and about."As chair of an all-party group on digital connectivity, she said the group would be reporting to the government the issues that they were still finding."The government have listened, I think, to the point about coverage maps, and we're expecting to see coverage maps out soon," she said, adding that she was, however, not hopeful about how much better they would be. Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Unhappy Telstra customers told to 'move' provider, says Telstra CEO
Telstra's chief executive Vicki Brady has responded to concerns about its mobile coverage, saying customers who aren't satisfied with Telstra are free to 'move' to a different providers.
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Telstra boss stands by mobile coverage claims, despite website changes after Vodafone allegations
Despite living less than three kilometres from Sydney's CBD, Tony Kourahanis's Telstra mobile phone reception is barely usable. "I have to use WhatsApp to make phone calls and the phone cuts [out] … after a few minutes, it just cuts here with no warning, so I have to keep on calling people back." For service, he often walks onto his front lawn. While Tony's frustrations might be shared by many city dwelling customers of the big three telcos, it's in remote and regional Australia where two of the biggest providers have recently butt heads. Telstra — Australia's largest telecommunication service — has been accused by rival Vodafone of engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct for 15 years. Until May, the telco had failed to mention the advertised reach of its mobile coverage was based on customers using an external antenna. Despite changing its website this month to state its coverage area figure was based on needing an external antenna, Telstra's chief executive Vicki Brady has now said the telco stands by its claim that its mobile network covers 99.7 per cent of the population. "Just to be really clear, we have 3 million square kilometres of coverage that does not require you to have an external antenna," Ms Brady told a Telstra investor day in Sydney. "When we got challenged on it recently, we did take the time to go back over that … "You don't brush aside a serious allegation like that, you take the time to understand it, to re-check. "We ran additional testing just to be 100 per cent sure in our labs and so, yes, we stand by [this]." Just last week, a spokesperson for Telstra told the ABC it had updated its website after Vodafone had communicated "how it's chosen to calculate its coverage footprint" and said "we're highlighting that our 3 million square kilometres of coverage is based on using an external antenna." Experts believe it's an attempt to "batten down the hatches". "Because this potentially could open Telstra up to very large fines," said associate professor Mark Gregory from the School of Engineering at RMIT University. Dr Gregory is concerned that while some areas across the country may be listed as having mobile coverage, what matters is how that connection works. "Whilst the coverage maps might indicate that you should expect to be able to get some signal, the ability to actually carry out a conversation or some type of a connection like a FaceTime or Google talk with someone else, it's not often possible." When questioning Telstra, Mr Kourahanis said he was told it was "technical difficulties and they're sorting them out". "This is two years ago now," he told the ABC. Consumer advocacy group Ajust has received 500 complaints about Telstra in two years. "One in three of them related to issues with network and coverage. On top of that, just this year we've seen 10 times as many consumers visiting our website for help with Telstra issues," said Ajust founder Tom Kaldor. The start-up alleges Telstra's track record is so bad, it will be able to monetise advocating on behalf of its customers "Consumers are making purchasing decisions based on promises of internet speeds and mobile coverage. And so, if those things are incorrect, they're definitely paying too much because they're not getting the service that they deserve," said Mr Kaldor. For Mr Kourahanis, he pays $140 a month. "It's not good enough," he said. For others, Mr Kaldor said the consequences of poor connections go beyond the financial. Vodafone has called for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate Telstra for "misleading customers" over the extent of its mobile network coverage, which it says has resulted in an unfair market advantage. The TPG Telecom-owned telco wrote to the ACCC and urged the watchdog to launch an investigation into Telstra's conduct. Dr Gregory agrees. 'There have been concerns about the mobile coverage claims for many years and as this is the cornerstone of Telstra's marketing plan, we need to get to point where the coverage maps reflect what the average customer is likely to find when they go into regional or remote Australia." He said he has been calling on the government for a decade to assist with the "research and development of a system that would permit us to identify the performance of broadband and mobile networks right across the nation".
ABC News
19-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Ombudsman warns telcos to help in poor services areas after 3G shutdown
Australia's Telecommunications Ombudsman says the shutdown of Australia's 3G network has resulted in "life-threatening situations". Cynthia Gebert released her department's first quarter report, which showed that while complaints to the ombudsman about the 3G network had fallen, the issues that remained were complex. "Particularly in rural and regional settings, where farm operations are impacted, people who need it to operate a small business [and] we have heard circumstances of unreliable service creating life-threatening situations," she said. Ms Gebert said people had become reliant on phones and connectivity, not just to communicate over the phone. "Things like medical alert devices, farming equipment, all those sorts of things; they are so important now and people have built lives, communities and businesses around it," she said. "It's creating all sorts of challenges when they can't be reliant on that." The data showed complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about service providers were up 6.9 per cent in the first three months of 2025, with 25.3 per cent about poor mobile phone coverage, while reports of financial hardship increased by 72 per cent. The hardship reports included telcos refusing payment plans and disconnecting or suspending phone and internet services. "Telcos still have work to do in terms of providing tailored support and repayment options for people that reflect their individual circumstances," Ms Gebert said. The town of Bingara in the north-west of New South Wales has a population of 1,300. Local accountant Sam Groth said congestion issues resulted in little or no service, even in the centre of town. "I can be having a coffee with someone in the main street and when we go to open up an email and click on an online link, you just get the wheel of death," he said. "I get complaints daily from clients who can't even scan a document and email it back." Mr Groth said EFTPOS services had been intermittent, and text messages and phone calls often did not come through or dropped out, which had a detrimental effect on the town. "You've got travellers coming through and if they can't connect, that affects your reputation as a tourism provider," he said. He believed money needed to be spent on increasing the capacity of the tower, but suspected Telstra did not want to spend it on the small town. "There's not enough subscribers to invest in the infrastructure," he said. Mr Groth said he had clients running large agricultural businesses who were having significant problems, but complaints to Telstra were getting nowhere. "Their response has been, 'There are no outages, there is no problem recorded at the tower,'" he said. In a statement, Telstra regional general manager Chris Taylor said there were plans to upgrade the Bingara site later this year to increase capacity, as well as deliver 5G to the town for the first time."The site can currently get busy during peak periods like the school holidays and this upgrade should help deliver a much better experience all year round," a Telstra spokesperson said. Farmer Bruce Kreutzberger lives on a property 20 kilometres from Walla Walla in the Riverina region of NSW. When the 3G network was switched off, he lost phone service at his home and took to driving up a nearby hill to get line-of-sight access to a signal from the nearest Telstra tower. Mr Kreutzberger later bought a new "blue tick" mobile phone — certified to give superior coverage in rural and regional areas — which he said improved things. "My new phone shows no bars of signal, but I can actually make a call at the house," he said. But Mr Kreutzberger said he had experienced congestion issues in his area as well. He said he had given up complaining about the issue. Mr Taylor said individual reception could be affected by the handset customers were using and the topography of the region. "Our 4G coverage is available in and around Walla Walla but the surrounding terrain and vegetation in the area can affect it in some parts," he said. Mr Taylor said Telstra was also working on plans to upgrade both sites to provide additional capacity and to deliver 5G. Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone shut down their 3G networks in 2024 to use that spectrum to improve 4G and 5G services, but the ombudsman said she had not seen any signs of improvement yet. "It's something we're keeping an eye on because … if it doesn't fulfil those expectations, that leads to a lot of frustration," she said.
ABC News
19-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Telstra and Vodafone go to war over coverage claims
Vodafone alleges rival Telstra misled customers about the extent of its mobile coverage and is calling on the ACCC to investigate.
