There is growing concern that the lack of mobile phone coverage in some remote areas is putting the lives of grey nomads and other travellers at risk.
Outback pilot and operator of the William Creek Hotel, Trevor Wright, has warned that – unless something is done – it is only a matter of time before another tourist dies on South Australia’s Oodnadatta Track.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that it was irresponsible to promote the region as a tourism experience without making it clear that there was no phone reception along the length of the track.
The last traveller to die in the region was Austrian Gabriele Grossmueller, who died after her and her boyfriend’s rented 4WD became bogged near Lake Eyre in 1999.
Mr Wright said the Northern Territory Government and the Federal Government had worked together to significantly improved phone coverage in the NT outback, and the same should happen in South Australia.
“There is a responsibility on both the state and federal governments to provide some basic safety infrastructure to both our own people and tourists,” Mr Wright told the Daily Telegraph. “It’s ridiculous to advertise it as a tourist experience, but to not have any phone coverage beyond Leigh Creek.”
Mr Wright said the track’s rough conditions, combined with the extreme temperatures, meant tyre blowouts were extremely common.
“We regularly see people travelling without spare tyres,” he said. “They get one blowout and think there’s not much chance of getting another one, which is wrong. We also see people travelling without sufficient water and without having a plan in place for their own search and rescue.”
Mr Wright said he believed phone coverage could be rolled out along the track for as little as a million dollars.
“It’s the 21st Century and we’re using a telephone system that was rolled out in the ’50s and ’60s,” he said.
Are you nervous of spending time in areas where there is no mobile phone coverage? Have you ever been ‘in trouble’ on the road and unable to get a signal? Comment below
She perished because she left the vehicle, went the wrong way as well. The boyfriend survived, he stayed with the vehicle . I Live in an area where there is No mobile coverage & Don’t want it . I DON’T Have a Need for technobabble 24/7
So what would you do in a medical emergency or a raging bushfire?
Richo, so i suppose you sent this blog by smoke signal, get over it mate the techo age is here to stay so best you get some practice time up, or your voice will not be heard when your screaming for help.
There is also a responsibility for travellers to do their own research about the places they want to travel. Only the fool hardly travel into the unknown and under prepared both in equipment and communications. There is too much reliance on Nanny State Rules to protect people from their own stupidity
John
OK the technology of mobile phones is here like it or not.
Today a report found Optus of misleading advertising by showing figures over a map of Australia showing that Telstra covered 99% of the population and Optus covered 98%. The inference was that they covered most of Australia which as everyone knows is utter rubbish.
Telstra cover some 2.5 Million Sq. Kilometres and Optus only
97 thousand.
A big disparity and everyone knows how many blackspots abound. At the moment I am 15 kilometres from Melbourne CBD and there are so many blackspots that it’s hard to make a full phone call.
Why did the then government allow the monopoly of Telstra to be taken away and then forcing other carriers to duplicate the mobile network.
Means Optus starting behind the 8 Ball.
Would it not have been better to force ALL Telcos to use the same network and upgrade and expand it to cover the WHOLE country?
Upkeep and repairs paid by the percentage of customers they each had. Might have been better in the long run with more competition re call & data costs etc.
I was on a plan with Optus. They toldme it would be fine anywhere. Very few places it worked on our travels. They wouldn’t let me out of the contract. We had to buy a cheap Telstra phone. We are full time Nomads and had family issues happening.
My friend lives 10 minutes from Noosa and cannot get coverage from Optus. Anothger lives in Caloundra and cannot get coverage in her house… she has to go outside. I only had to go to the footpath, until I changed to Telstra….
Totally agree…I live in Edge Hill, Cairns and I have to go outside into the balcony to make a call, on top of which our 4g wireless dongle only gets 3 g. Had to borrow a yagi antenna to get 2 bar 4 g. Travelled to Tasie, had Vodafone, only marked in major capital cities, friend had Optus, same thing, he also had telstra and it worked just about every where. Hate to be an advert for them, but Telstra is the way to go if you are travelling. But, the whole mobile network thing needs to be upgraded…
When we went to William Creek and Lake Eyre we took spare tyres, water, food, camping equipment – even though we were not camping and a long range UHF radio. I guess I knew how remote the country was because I had been from Adelaide to Darwin back in the 70’s but as John Mack said people should do some research on the places they are going to. There is plenty of websites that tell you what you should take on a trip like that. It also helps if you know how to drive, know to let your tyres down in sand etc. My hubby travels from Newcastle to Adelaide often and the phones don’t even work out on the Hay road or the Broken Hill road much so I guess we didn’t expect them to work out on the Oodnadatta Track. But the idea on Trevor’s post above is spot on. The phone coverage in Australia is pathetic and I’m glad Optus has been stopped from the false advertising they have been doing.
what did we do before mobiles? plan better. take an eperb? cant stop stupidity. but the telcos have failed. this day and age we deserve better.
Before mobiles, I remember receiving regular letters and postcards from my grandparents in 1988 when they travelled Australia the first time, then again in the 90’s. We may get an occasional call if they were in a town with a pay phone.
How is it that there is no reception, except road houses across the nullabor, and yet if you travelled by train inland there is reception all the way….
Yes black spots along main highways, up the centre as an example is wrong in this day and age…
Many years ago, I knew the CEO of a smallish mobile services retailer. He claimed that Telstra actually charged his company – wholesale – more than the public retail rate to use the Telstra infrastructure. I have no reason to suspect he was lying. – his company has long since gone. Maybe good old fashioned greed and the need to destroy all competition is the reason Trevor’s scenario never happened. That all said, I wouldnt venture into the outback without thoroughly researching conditions in the area, asking all the dumb questions on the various blogs, and making sure I was tooled up to the max for the trip.
The article is a tad extreme…. I carry a SPOT. Satellite communicator so if I am out of mobile phone range I can email and post to Facebook…
Let’s stop taking the responsibility for people’s stupid actions .
I carry a spare fan belt, tools and water amongst other things.
We could say that nature is doing its job of sorting out the strong from the weak.
86 billion dollars for an Internet service I will never use because I don’t have a landline. NBN (Not Bloody Needed). Still huge areas without mobile coverage. Travel 40 kms Northeast of Albany through the Stirling Ranges – NO COVERAGE. Travel across the Nullarbor, for large distances NO COVERAGE. Mobile Phone and therefore Mobile Internet would rate higher for me than a Fibre Internet I won’t use. And, yes, we are FULL TIME GREY NOMADS. We don’t have bricks and mortar.
It is not up to a mobile phone provider to provide coverage to an area which is not profitable. There is something called a satellite phone which provides coverage to 100% of the Australian landmass. Before winging about lack of coverage, take a look at the kind of travelling you are doing and if you deem it necessary to be in contact 100% of the time, get a satellite phone! They can be had for as little as $15 per month!
We have just traveled up to Darwin via the main roads and noticed that some times we had mobile phone coverage along the road.
We have seen all those towers every 40klms why can’t telstra use them?