Communication breakdown frustrates William Creek.

Communication breakdown frustrates William Creek. :

"'At the end of the day, if they want to sell Telstra they need to come out here, talk to these small communities and see the level of frustration that's occurring in these communities both with people going through the town and the people who live here,' he said."

People in remote areas are very reliant on communication. In the city we have choices and the distance to the nearest "post" isn't far. Intermittent service is actually worse than no service at all because it is so frustrating. I can remember being in an NZ town in winter where the storms were knocking out electricity and phone lines. I found it very disconcerting. As a tourist unfamiliar with the area it really put the wind up me and I shall never go back to that place. Vanuatu I managed better because even though it's not big on communication as we are in the city and suburbia, Port Vila was wired in a way you understood and the people support was around you because of their nature and the mild weather . New Zealanders are not at all unfriendly, but the cold , snow, wind, rain, thunder and lightning impeded the contact with people you need when communications and utilities go down. That fact that William Creek is also deprived of reliable and solid ATM and internet services is appalling in this day and age. It would put unnecessary strain on locals when they have tourists there who are used to slicker communications and reliant on electronic banking. I bet William Creek has a good laugh at all the high speed, reliable, cutting edge connectivity clap trap advertised. I suppose it was sunspots or global dimming or something. The same thing that knocked out the communications on a Qantas flight.