{"id":802549,"date":"2026-07-15T20:54:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802549\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:54:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:54:26","slug":"bingara-frustration-is-huge-the-tiny-nsw-country-town-that-telstra-has-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802549\/","title":{"rendered":"Bingara: \u2018Frustration is huge\u2019: The tiny NSW country town that Telstra has forgotten"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Residents of a country town in NSW<\/a> who have been fighting Telstra after years of spotty service say last week\u2019s national outage<\/a> is a headache they face regularly.<\/p>\n

Bingara in the state\u2019s New England region has just one phone tower, which the local council said the $55 billion telco giant<\/a> promised to upgrade last year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The town of Bingara faces persistent issues with mobile coverage.\u00a0Visit Gwydir<\/p>\n

Telstra is the primary provider for the small population of around 1300 people, but there are persistent reception dropouts.<\/p>\n

The mayor said this could soon result in \u201ctragic consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sally Robertson moved to Bingara four years earlier and said she is fed up with the town\u2019s unreliable mobile coverage.<\/p>\n

She told nine.com.au<\/a> her partner, who runs a farm and regularly works alone, uses Telstra and is often painfully unreachable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe frustration is huge, often you\u2019re stuck because people don\u2019t have landlines any more,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when there aren\u2019t outages, the service is so patchy and that bad because it can\u2019t obviously accommodate the number of people who occasionally use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson said her greatest fear is her partner getting hurt and not having access to Triple Zero.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sally Robertson has lived in Bingara for four years and often struggles to contact her partnet on the phone.\u00a0Sally Robertson<\/p>\n

Hundreds of Australians were unable to access Triple Zero calls<\/a> during the national Telstra outage earlier this month.<\/p>\n

This is a concern Bingara residents grapple with all too often.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens if he comes off his tractor or rolls the quad bike or something?\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d be completely stuffed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several years earlier, Robertson said her partner\u2019s elderly mother was hospitalised around 100 kilometres away during a previous Telstra outage.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Robertson said she worries what might happen if her partner can\u2019t contact Triple Zero.\u00a0Sally Robertson<\/p>\n

It took hours for him to find out, only after Robertson called around town to ask for help and a Bingara resident who uses Optus drove to his farm. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just unreal,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Business owner Sharon runs a laundromat in Bingara and relies on Telstra for her internet and phone connectivity.<\/p>\n

She said it is often patchy and \u201creally, really slow\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have major issues, more than we should,\u201d sharon told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very annoying and it affects the whole town.\u201d<\/p>\n

The historic town often suffers from network congestion, particularly during busy tourist events like the Bingara Orange Festival.<\/p>\n

Robertson said a neighbouring council sometimes brings over a backup mobile satellite into town to ensure there is coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t actually run the events [without it] because if someone comes off a horse or comes off a bike, we can\u2019t get emergency services out, which is just ridiculous,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative that we have something in place as a backup, if unless they can fix the towers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robertson said the catastrophic Telstra outage, which left many without a mobile signal and shut down Victoria\u2019s entire regional rail network, should be a reminder of what regional Australian communities regularly face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Gwydir Shire Council has been urging Telstra to address \u201cserious concerns\u201d in Bingara.\u00a0Visit Gwydir<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this was happening in the city, you can just imagine. It wouldn\u2019t last a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gwydir Shire Council said it has been urging Telstra to address \u201cserious concerns\u201d over the region\u2019s lack of reliable mobile service.<\/p>\n

Mayor Tiffany Galvin said it is \u201cdeeply disappointing\u201d that there is still such unpredictable phone service in her shire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a new issue \u2013 I have raised it time and time again, yet little has changed,\u201d she said, adding that poor mobile worsens during community events.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach time we raise these concerns, we are told by Telstra that the problem is due to congestion \u2013 too many people trying to use the network at once.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, that explanation is no longer acceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this were happening on Pitt Street in Sydney or in the heart of Canberra, I have no doubt swift action would be taken. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur communities deserve the same level of service and attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mayor of Gwydir Shire Council Tiffany Galvin said the issues faced by Bingara are unacceptable.\u00a0Gwydir Shire Council<\/p>\n

Galvin said Telstra had committed to upgrading the tower in southern Bingara before the end of 2025 but that this promise \u201chas not been met\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy greatest concern is the potential for a serious emergency where communication failure could lead to tragic consequences,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat risk is simply too great to ignore.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to nine.com.au,<\/a> a spokesperson for Telstra said the network in Bingara is \u201cvery busy\u201d and is worsened by spikes in demand like school holiday tourism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to investigate new opportunities to further improve services in the area, including plans to upgrade the\u00a0Bingara\u00a0site in the next few months,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore this upgrade can begin, additional work has been required to support capacity and performance, along with a pole upgrade to meet safety requirements. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese steps are essential ensure the long-term stability, reliability and effectiveness of the upgrade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the community is keen to see the upgrade completed, as it will deliver a significantly improved mobile experience. We thank them for their patience and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Residents of a country town in NSW who have been fighting Telstra after years of spotty service…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-802549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}