00:00In Tasmania's Central Highlands, locals live in an idyllic part of the world.
00:08But they're worried poor phone and internet reception could turn deadly.
00:12We have feedback from some patients. They have difficulty making a triple zero call at times.
00:18They have to maybe take five or six attempts or maybe drive a couple of kilometres from their home to make a triple zero call.
00:25I really worry, I think as Wayne said with Marlborough Road, with car accidents, people not being able to call for help could be the difference between life and death.
00:35If I have an accident or hurt myself, I have no way of contacting emergency services out there.
00:43And that is frightening, very frightening for me.
00:47Residents say they can't use medical alert technology and pacemaker remote monitoring devices.
00:53Reception here for that was so poor that it couldn't be used, so I have to actually go and visit my cardiologist each time.
01:01Those who can afford it say they've turned to Starlink for reliable internet and Wi-Fi calling.
01:06It was the only way that we could actually process F-Post transactions over those busy times.
01:13Telstra says upgrades to improve capacity in the Mayena area are due by Christmas, meaning more people will be able to use the network without it overloading.
01:22And the company says it's applied to the federal government for co-funding to build a new base station at Flintstone, which would provide coverage to the area.
01:30We've got an existing project to improve our current base stations at Barentier and Reynolds Neck.
01:37In addition to that, we're going to be supplying more capacity from our core network to those base stations to improve the overall performance of the network.
01:46Upgrades residents desperately hope will make a difference.
01:49Upgrades residents still close to our own.
01:51Upgrades residents, near the lower at the top, but I think that's great.
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