Hi KV Community,
Telstra have advised that they will be upgrading the mobile phone tower at Barrengarry – details attached.
THERE WILL BE OUTAGES SO TAKE THE TIME TO UNDERSTAND AND PREPARE.
To summarise:
There will be a complete Telstra mobile outage from 8am Friday 19 April to 6pm Wednesday 24 April.
There will be disruptions of up to 4 hours per day from Thursday 25 April to Saturday 27 April.
The mobile upgrade will be complete by 27 April (if all goes to plan).
Landline services, NBN internet and mobile coverage FROM OTHER PROVIDERS should not be impacted.
Any Triple Zero calls during the upgrade will automatically be diverted to any working mobile network (ie. other providers).
In the attached notice, Telstra advise you to use WiFi calling on your mobile during this period. This will only work whilst you are within range of your home WiFi network (or a public WiFi network) and it will only work if your WiFi connects to something other than the Telstra Mobile network for internet access (eg. NBN, Optus, Starlink). Please refer to your mobile phone documentation on how to set this up and we would STRONGLY recommend you test it BEFORE the outages begin.
Given the length of this outage, and if mobile access is critical to you, one option would be to buy a pre-paid SIM card from a non-Telstra service provider (eg. Optus), and set-up call forwarding from your Telstra number to your new temporary pre-paid number. Apparently, call forwarding from Telstra is free. You will of course incur costs with your new pre-paid account but you will be able to receive and make calls. People will be able to call your ‘old’ number but calls you make will come from your temporary pre-paid number. Once the upgrades are complete, you can reinstall your Telstra SIM card and cancel call forwarding. Once again, refer to your mobile phone documentation on how to do this.
Telstra also advise businesses with EFTPOS machines that are dependent on the Telstra Mobile network, to contact their bank for more information and details on how to ensure continuous service. We would STRONGLY recommend that all businesses confirm their EFTPOS terminals will be able to function during the outage period.
Please read the attached notice and don’t shoot the messenger.
Regards,
Al LockyerMobile Phone Coverage Working Group ChairKangaroo Valley Community Consultative Body