Christmas holidays, the chance to relax, unwind, see family, eat and drink way too much and more often than not travel away to do so. This year we have been in Hawks Nest, NSW for the week of Christmas, with great weather until the last day or so. At least this gives me a chance to make a few deposits into my ‘Blog Bank’ to be a bit more regular in the New Year ahead!
With about 16 people staying together in 2 side by side houses, we have technology and devices come out of the proverbial! We have iPods, iPhones, Blackberries and laptops to name a few. Given that we are less than an hour from Newcastle, close to Port Stephens and Nelson Bay, barely any of us can get consistent phone or internet coverage to do anything.
Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all claim to have high 90+% phone coverage of Australia, with some over 97 or 98%. I could check these numbers if I could get online to see, but I can’t!
This week has seen us all struggle to make calls to family and friends, get limited access online for Social media posts, updates, messages, emails etc., and to attempt to use ‘smart phones’ for web browsing to find times of tides, ferries, phone numbers or other information has been excruciatingly challenging. I’m even struggling to check in for my flight tomorrow to Melbourne for the cricket, so maybe I will have to do it at the airport…..what a tragedy!
So, even though these holidays, the priority should be about relaxing and re-charging and not working, the internet and phone is used for more than the business applications, and to miss this basic function in a ‘non-remote’ location is a major joke! My Christmas message of joy to the Telco’s is sort out the coverage of basic functions you claim to provide.
As a side thought, it would be a great business opportunity for a café or bar to provide free Wi-Fi access to customers to bring in some business. I reckon they would be packed!
Tony Ozanne
www.smallfish.com.au/tonyozanne
(In case you are wondering how I got this posted, i attempted WordPress App, but wouldnt sync, and have now found a shop that has a paid semi reliable 3rd party internet account, so let’s see what $6 for an hour can get me!)….Merry Christmas!
