Communications

As notified last November, despite an upgrade of television towers in the Gemfields at a significant cost – council has been advised by specialists that a lack of repeater bases, weather events, and interference from newly built structures are preventing consistent signals from reaching residents. The television towers in the Gemfields will be decommissioned from November 30, 2024.

Suzie Christensen. Community feedback on the improved short-term communications options for LHI was gathered in November 2023. The survey results showed that the majority of residents are in favour of preserving the Island’s unique way of life when it comes to connectivity.

Starlink is a low orbit satellite internet constellation operated by American aerospace company SpaceX ... John Deere will begin equipping new and existing machines across the United States and Brazil with Starlink to help connect farmers with high-speed internet so they can fully leverage precision agriculture technologies.

There wasn’t enough room to fit such a large number of candles on the cake, but the team at local radio station 2GF are proud to celebrate its 90th birthday this month ... 2GF has been a valued resource within the Clarence Valley community, and is widely renowned...

Emma Pritchard & Rodney Stevens. Across the country, more than 10 million Optus customers were left red-faced on November 8 when one of Australia’s leading telecommunications networks experienced a nationwide outage, leaving many without phone and internet access for more than 12 hours ... Following the Optus outage, Australia’s transition to a cashless society has continued to fall under scrutiny.

Today’s Optus mass outage is a timely reminder as to why banks need to remain open in times of emergency, so people can access cash to pay for essentials, said Queensland LNP Senators Gerard Rennick and Matt Canavan. Senator Rennick said the outages affecting more than 10 million Australians brings the digital weakness into focus. “Unless people had cash on hand how many of our small businesses missed out on sales this morning?” Senator Rennick said.

Patrick Goldsmith. Recently released plans for a 30 metre Telstra tower on Blanche Street, Edithburgh, behind the post office, have sparked great concern among residents, with some adamant the project shouldn’t go ahead ... Telstra has said other options have been explored but these would result in a poorer product for community members, despite a report in the development application stating otherwise.

Digital and agtech adoption on Australian farms has been held back by connectivity issues and digital literacy, but this complex landscape will now be easier to navigate with the launch of the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) On Farm Connectivity Information Service … will provide free, practical, tailored support for farmers through the NFF’s Regional Tech Hub – as a key pillar of the Australian Government’s $30 million On Farm Connectivity Program (OFCP).

The big issues affecting the district will be spotlighted by the Naracoorte-Lucindale Council to the Premier and his ministers when the country cabinet visits the rural township this Thursday. Critical issues such as agriculture, education, roads, reliable high-speed connectivity, emergency health hub...

Telstra expects the SA Government will announce during its Country Cabinet meeting in Naracoorte a commitment to partially fund 27 mobile phone towers ... Telstra pushed for secrecy and closed doors during a presentation which rolled on for almost an hour at the October 13 meeting of the Limestone Coast Local Government Association (LCLGA) in Kingston.

New state-of-the-art technology will be unveiled, helping first responders overcome dangerous communications black spots to keep them better connected during emergencies. Mobile Wi-Fi equipment has now been installed in over 1,300 Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW State Emergency Service (SES) vehicles, which will ensure 4G or satellite communication access during incident responses.

Powick’s Pantry’s potentially winning spicy tomato relish is languishing in a mail sorting facility in Sydney instead of being delivered to the Sydney Food Show for judging ... it has still not been delivered and is apparently sitting in the mail centre a week after it was posted.

Optus has improved their coverage and increased network capacity in Brooms Head in Northern New South Wales, by switching on a new tower in the region to help residents, businesses, and tourists stay connected and give them a choice of network provider ... ARR.News asked a few further questions of Optus about the Brooms Head tower.