Pensioners Sandra and Graham Banister endure mobile phone reception so unreliable they are forced to conduct telehealth appointments in their hallway.
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And even then the signal can drop out at any moment. The best option for calls on their mobile is to stand in the front yard.
Shortland MP Pat Conroy shard the couple's plight in Federal Parliament this week as he explained the long-standing issues with mobile phone reception in parts of east Lake Macquarie.
Mount Hutton, where the Banisters live, is a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie, all of 14 kilometres from Newcastle's central business district
Mr Banister, who has had a stroke and has Parkinson's disease, has been required to conduct his medical appointments over the phone and via FaceTime video calls during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the risk of visiting health facilities.
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Due to poor service in the area, the only place the couple can complete the FaceTime calls is in the hallway of their house. But even there the reception is dodgy.
It is an added frustration to the couple's troubles using mobile phones at their home. For the two years they have lived on Warners Bay Road, Mrs Banister has had to conduct most of her calls in the front yard where the reception is the most consistent.
"It's not good. We have a land line and have told all our friends not to ring us on our mobile, but everyone takes your mobile these days - people need to ring you on the run.
"It will ring but you can't answer it. If I go out the front I can then ring the person back. Inside the house we can't get coverage."
Mrs Banister said she upgraded her phone and tried Wi-Fi assist, but "that didn't help". Telstra also offered to sell her a signal booster.
"For $1500," she said. "We're pensioners."
The battle to effectively communicate using a mobile phone in Mount Hutton and nearby areas is a long-running issue, but the pandemic has highlighted how poor coverage impacts residents.
Mrs Banister's daughter, Taryn Martin, lives next door. Her and her husband have been working from home during the pandemic. They have mobile phone contracts with Telstra and Optus.
"It's incredibly frustrating," Mrs Martin said. "I can't be relied upon to receive or make calls.
"Recently with COVID restrictions in NSW schools we had parent-teacher interviews by phone, which is fine for people with good reception, but in critical points in our conversations with our three daughters' teachers ... we had dropouts and had to keep asking them to repeat things. It was ridiculous."
Mr Conroy also spoke of a doctor who works at John Hunter Hospital and for the rescue helicopter service that can not "effectively do his work, including the vital role of being on-call, because he has next to no mobile phone coverage in his home".
"This is a medical professional, working in a public hospital and for a rescue service in the middle of a global health pandemic, who can not be contacted by his employer at his home," he said.
This constituent had better reception in remote parts of the Northern Territory where he previously worked.
- Pat Conroy
"He moves back to a suburb in Lake Macquarie, about 10 kilometres from the Newcastle CBD and he can not use his mobile phone."
Mr Conroy added only last week, a small business owner from nearby Jewells had contacted his office to report having to go outside to make mobile phone calls.
The Labor MP has called for the federal government to allocate funding from its Mobile Black Spot Program to fix the service issues.
"Suburbs in Shortland are not eligible ... because we are a regional area," he said. "The program only funds projects in rural areas.
"This is absurd. We have a whole suburb that is basically a mobile black spot, and there is a government program to fund mobile black spots, and the government tells my constituents bad luck, you're not eligible."
He also urged Telstra and Optus to "invest in much-needed infrastructure". The telcos told the Newcastle Herald on Thursday they were working to improve service in the area.
Optus will hoist a mobile tower atop Lake Macquarie Square later this year.
"We expect the site in Mount Hutton to be live before Christmas," an Optus spokesperson said.
"We understand that having access to reliable connection during these times of uncertainty is especially important for our customers and we are committed to doing our part by continuing to focus efforts on maintaining our strong network."
Mike Marom, Telstra's regional general manager, said many factors influenced mobile phone reception.
"In the case of Mount Hutton, the extent of mobile coverage in some areas, particularly indoor coverage, can be impacted by the hilly terrain," he said.
"We have reviewed coverage in the area and have undertaken optimisation activities to provide the best network experience possible with our existing base stations.
