From: Summers, Wendy (Sen G. Barnett) on behalf of Barnett, Guy (Senator) Sent: Monday, 29 September 2003 12:16 PM To: ECITA, Committee (SEN) Subject: FW: Mobile phone coverage Further to discussions this morning between both Wendy and Barry of my office with Michael McLean, please find attached an additional submission received via email this morning. It would be appreciated if consideration could be given to accepting this late submission. Regards Guy Barnett Liberal Senator for Tasmania Electorate Office - 33 George Street Launceston Tas 7250 Australia Phone : 03 6334 1755 Fax : 03 634 1624 Email : senator.barnett@aph.gov.au Website : www.guybarnett.com -----Original Message----- From: Deb Hunter [mailto:dhunter@tassie.net.au] Sent: Monday, 29 September 2003 11:41 AM To: Barnett, Guy (Senator) Subject: Mobile phone coverage Dear Senator, Please find below my submission regarding mobile phone coverage in the places I work. Your office advised me that you would represent my views to the coming enquiry. Thanking you, Yours Faithfully Deborah Hunter Mobile telephone coverage, Northern Tasmania. I have been running two micro businesses, Wild Cave Tours and Bowen Therapy. For my tours, I operate in and about the Mole Creek area. I used to have an analogue phone which I was quite happy with. I could even divert calls to it while I was on the internet at home. When the analogue service was discontinued, I bought the best digital phone I could get for the area, one with a bigger battery than normal which could boost the signal when it was faint. However, it would not work while at home, and when I started doing Therapy in Devonport city, it was very unreliable. So I "upgraded" to CDMA. But this too is very unreliable in Devonport city. The CDMA phone was replaced under warranty with supected sofware problems, however the new one is no better. I am talking about unreliable signal in an real city. The CDMA also suffers from difficulty in picking up signals around Mole Creek, and only works at home in clear weather. This is highly problematic for me, as the mobile is my business phone. I have a phone/fax on the home line, and have to remember to divert the mobile to and and from it as I come and go. Of course, most tourists I work with in my tours have mobiles which work in their capital city but not very well around Tasmania. It is a constant source of frustration to them, as anxious phone calls to me attest, as they claim to have been trying to get a signal all day while travelling, to book ahead for a tour at short notice. (please note that most bookings are at short notice, for both my businesses) I would like to have the analogue service back. Like most people, I just want to be able to send and receive calls. I care not for any other feature, as I use none other than text message sometimes. But I do not care if I can't have that facility. Deborah Hunter