HAVING trouble with your internet? Mobile phone service?

Welcome to the growing community of those affected by poor internet and mobile phone services.

As a farming community we are ever more reliant on our internet for our businesses. Technology has advanced to the point that we need internet or satellite connection to guide our tractors and farming equipment. We can’t even turn on our new tractor without first starting its computer!

While the advancement in the technology available to farmers has certainly expanded at a great rate of knots, the level of our service and infrastructure, has not (pardon the pun)!

Farmers (including myself) are finding it more difficult to get our work done efficiently because of inefficient internet and mobile phone service issues.

So many people I talk to have had issues with internet dropouts while internet banking – a service vital to those of us on the land. What needs to be understood is that ‘farming,’ is a business requiring all the modern conveniences of technology available to those in more populated areas. We are expected by the tax office to have our accounts up-to-date, and electronically lodge them – while operating in a world of substandard service causing inefficiencies that would not be acceptable to any level of government or government department.

It was during shearing on our property that South West Coast MP Roma Britnell called in and was absolutely irate that she could not download information because of the lack of service.  Ms Britnell asked our workers about what issues they were having, and said she is well aware of the issue herself and has been campaigning hard for improved service and better roads and transport links.

“It is holding back business. Like farming isn’t hard enough – you have to deal with failures in planning and a government that has failed country people. Governments need to support businesses, because they in turn support our economy.”

Like so many others, we have had to convert our internet from wireless to the National Broadband Network (NBN) satellite in the hope that it would be faster and more reliable. There have been times that I have been unable to send my work into head office via the internet, and I have considered downloading it onto a USB and driving it in to meet my deadline.

According to the NBN website, the period of greatest congestion on the network is in the evenings. Unfortunately, farming is mostly done outdoors during daylight hours, before many of us get indoors to use the computer to do our research, data entry, banking, ordering or online bookwork.

NBN Co is a wholesaler. When choosing an nbn™ powered plan from your provider, be sure to ask about the actual speeds you can expect to experience, both during typical peak times like the evening, as well as during off peak periods. Providers may also be able to provide information on any limitations that could affect your service.

If you're already connected to an nbn™ powered plan and experiencing buffering or slower than expected speeds, go online and perform a speed test during peak and off-peak times to compare. Then, talk to your provider about options moving forward – they should have information on typical busy period speeds and performance, and any known information that may be affecting the service.

Wi-fi black spots can be caused by three things: interference, physical obstruction, and distance, sometimes separately, sometimes at the same time, with one factor aggravating the other. In the meantime – don’t hesitate to make a complaint to your provider – because the squeaky wheel gets the oil (eventually)!