Paterson residents and businesses are now celebrating what most other towns take for granted in 2018 – making and receiving mobile phone calls.
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The town has been a renowned black spot for mobile phone reception with residents and visitors frustrated by the lack of mobile phone coverage.
The new mobile base station will deliverer Telstra’s 3G and 4GX mobile data to the area.
Kevin Hawtin from the CBC Bed and Breakfast and Cafe said he has not had phone reception for the 19 years he has lived at Paterson.
“We just never turned our phones on because they didn’t ring and then when we would travel out of town we would have 200 messages,” he said.
“Visitors (staying at the B and B) would be really cranky when they realised they couldn’t stay in touch with their families because there was no reception.”
Fellow business operator Cath Varcoe from Paterson Homestays said businesses were affected by issues such as eftpos and trying to get quotes off tradesman who were unable to access their own websites or offices.
“It was like living in a desert when we were only 15 minutes from Maitland,” she said.
Maitland City Councillor Sally Halliday who is a teacher at Paterson Public School said she will no longer have to make mobile phone calls under a specific large gum tree at the school – if she could even get reception.
“It certainly was a safety issue not being able to communicate on the spot in cases of emergency such as bush fires,” she said.
Telstra Area General Manager Tricia Wilson and Federal Member for Lyne David Gillespie MP met with residents and business owners at the site on Tuesday to celebrate the switch on.
“This is a significant moment for the community of Paterson, that joins almost 300 locations across Australia that is now benefiting from more mobile coverage through Telstra’s delivery of the Mobile Black Spot Program,” said Ms Wilson.
Dr Gillespie said the Mobile Blackspot Program was a $220 million Federal Coalition program for rounds 1 and 2 coupled with money from the major telcos Telstra, Vodafone and Optus and some State Government funds.
“Telco inquiries are probably the biggest issue facing callers to my office and this tower means Paterson residents can finally use their mobile phones.”