Telstra will begin upgrading its mobile base station in Yarrawonga for improved 4G and 5G capacity, however works will force temporary service disruptions or reduction in mobile coverage this week.
Regional General Manager for Telstra, Jenny Gray, said during this period, Telstra will work to keep some technology operating as much as possible, however there will be times when a full outage will be required.
A full site outage is required between 14 – 16 November with call testing to be completed by 17 November.
Telstra mobile customers may start receiving text messages advising them of the upcoming upgrade next week.
Landline services, NBN internet services and mobile coverage from other providers will not be impacted.
Any calls to Triple Zero from a Telstra mobile when the site is off air will automatically be diverted to any working mobile network for connection to emergency services.
“We understand that there is never a good time for work like this to occur and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. We will be as quick as we can,” Ms Gray said.
“While coverage and capacity will be impacted during this time, we want to keep the amount of time the site is off air to an absolute minimum, and the give the community as much time as possible to plan for the disruption.
“Please note that the works are intended to improve mobile connectivity in the existing coverage footprint.”
Once completed, Yarrawonga will join more than 4,900 Telstra 5G sites on-air within selected areas of more than four hundred cities and towns across Australia. 85 per cent of all Australians now having the ability to access to the Telstra 5G network where they live.
For customers wishing to access 5G on the Telstra network, they will need a 5G capable device and have a Telstra 5G phone plan, so for some people, that may mean upgrading their current device.
Ms Gray recommends residents gain access to a wi-fi signal at home or at work and activate wi-fi calling. This is a free setting on most popular mobile phones and allows your mobile to use a Wi-Fi network to make and receive mobile calls.
“We know many businesses use the Telstra network for their EFTPOS terminals. However, Telstra does not operate the EFTPOS network; it is operated by financial institutions.
“Many EFTPOS terminals can also be connected using fixed line or Wi-Fi/NBN internet connections.”
Retailers should contact their bank for more information and details on how to switch between these methods to ensure continuous service.
Optus outage
Meanwhile Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud is calling for mandated domestic mobile roaming in regional, rural and remote Australia in the wake of the Optus outage.
Mr Littleproud said the outage, which impacted 10 million Australians including many Yarrawonga Mulwala locals, underlined the need to introduce mandated mobile roaming, by firstly piloting in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia, while broader capacity in the network could be built up.
A domestic mobile roaming service is where a mobile network operator is able to roam onto the network of another mobile network operator, so they can provide services outside of their own network coverage.
“We must ensure the outage that occurred with Optus never happens again,” Mr Littleproud said.
“As households and businesses face a cost-of-living crisis, one of Australia’s biggest telco outages in history hit them at the worst possible time.
“We need a common sense approach to this problem,” he said.