Regional Telecommunications Review - Short Online Submissions

Full name:Trevor Keith Whilbley

Date received:29 June 2015

Chapter 1: How does demand for telecommunications services inform the Review?

Please comment on how your reliance on telecommunications in regional Australia differs from urban areas.

We are an 8 hour drive from Adelaide, and about 150 km directly west of Adelaide.. We live 54 km from our nearest regional centre Port Lincoln, and 7 km and within line of sight from our nearest town Tumby Bay. We are finding it increasingly difficult to contact "local' State and Federal Government Service Providers as all they want their clients to do is go on their website, as opposed to dealing with clients direct, or talking to their non client services recorded messages, We need internet access as it is too costly too drive to the Offices concerned. When you work mall week like we do, you cant get into town anyway during business hours.

Chapter 2: How are telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote Australia delivered?

Please comment on the delivery of services for example over fixed networks, mobile networks or satellite.

Using the distances in Q2 above, we may as well live in outer Mongolia!! We have about 30 subscribers hooked into the Lipson phone exchange. This exchange and associated cabling is sub standard according to Telstra technicians, locals, and local computer technicians. We have had constant service difficulties with our fixed phone line, and consequently our ADSL internet connection. We believe ADSL is the only means we can access the internet in our area. We pay 100% of our bill to Telstra, and we estimate we get some where between 30 to 50 % actual connectivity. We could not run a business from our home.

Chapter 3: How are services being used in regional, rural and remote Australia?

Please comment on how telecommunication services are being used for example, interacting with government, education, health or running a business.

We rely on the internet to deal with State and Federal Departments as they don't seem to answer their phones anymore, at least not with real people anyway. The "non" customer service recorded messages are a time wasting joke.

We could not run a business from our residence, situated 150 km west of our capital city, Adelaide. Its a joke. Having internet connectability is also vital for job search and applying for jobs.

Chapter 4: Consumer safeguards

Please provide your views on current consumer safeguards and what should be considered in the future.

Telstra are not interested in fixing our exchange problem, as its only a small community. Quite happy to charge us big dollars every month for a part service. Why cant they only charge a part bill!!!??? for a part service.

Other comments

Please provide any other comments.

We chose to live in a rural area within a direct line of sight of our local town. We are sick and tired [and angry] of being treated like 2nd rate citizens by Telstra. We cant even swap service providers because they all use Telstra infrastructure. I,m sure there are goat herders in Outer Mongolia getting a better deal than us. No one seems to care. May consider contacting Telecommunication Ombudsman if we are able to get online one day soon.