Regional and remote Australians receive worse complaints handling than elsewhere in Australia, according to today’s submission from the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).
Some faults can be reported multiple times over months or even years without receiving a satisfactory resolution. And in some cases, telcos just ask remote Australians to cancel their plan, rather than fix the problem. While there are quality standards for active telco services, a provider is not necessarily obligated to provide a service to begin with – and if there’s no active customer plan, there’s no fault with the telco’s service.
The regulatory body received 51,854 complaints between July 2021 and June 2024, covering faults, poor service quality, poor mobile service coverage, outages, and accessibility barriers. Given the TIO also found only 46% of Australians who experienced a problem with their service in the last 12 months lodged a complaint, there are likely many issues that have gone unreported.
The complaints span fixed-line, mobile, and satellite services, each with its own set of problems and contributing difficulties. And some areas are only serviced by one technology type, meaning a service fault or discontinuation of service can leave customers or communities without any access to phone, messaging or internet services for an unpredictable length of time.
The submission recognises the difficulties of servicing and maintaining networks in remote areas, but also points out these locations are exactly where connectivity is crucial. When separated by great distances, communication technologies can represent the only viable or timely way a person or community can reach the outside world. This not only affects the day-to-day social and financial lives of remote Australias, but can have serious implications for safety and health.
Difficult to talk
Making a simple phone call in many regional or remote locations can be difficult or outright impossible.
Some customers have signed up to a new phone plan, having been assured by their provider there is adequate mobile coverage in their area. But, on arriving home and setting up their device, find there’s none, leaving them with a mobile plan and expensive handset they can’t use.
Even when phone or VoIP services are technically available, holding an audio conversation with someone can be difficult. Some areas still rely on old copper wire networks, which have degraded to the point where it can be difficult to hear the person on the other end. Given the remoteness and length of cabling in these networks, telcos have sometimes proven unable or unwilling to perform necessary maintenance or repair.
In locations serviced by NBN satellite, the unavoidably high latency can make conversations difficult – lag time can be more than sixty times that of a good fixed-line NBN connection. But many customers have no choice, given there are no mobile services in their area and the pre-existing landline phone networks have been shut down or allowed to degrade.
On top of this, satellite VoIP services are much more expensive than the previous landline phone services – prohibitively so for some people.
Difficult to fix
In its submission, the TIO recognises several obstacles that can stop telcos from addressing these concerns quickly or sometimes at all. Some of these include:
- The number of available technicians in an area
- Extreme weather events (exacerbated by a lack of technicians)
- Damage to networks caused by wildlife
- The length of cables in some areas making diagnosis and repairs more complicated and costly
- Availability of spare parts
- Lack of safe or available travel options to the consumer’s premises
- Lack of easy access to a telco store, making it difficult and costly for customers to provide documentation or organise device repair and pickup
But while these examples can cause understandable delays, the submission claims some telcos will simply ask a customer to cancel their service, rather than fix or address network issues. In instances where there are no connectivity alternatives, this can leave customers or communities without adequate (or possibly any) access to telecommunications.
Should this be the case, customers have little recourse, given there are minimal obligations for retailers to continue to provide a service (as opposed to making sure an active service is operating properly).
Another problem is the current reliance on connectivity to diagnose connection issues. In areas where there is only one connectivity type, a service fault makes it difficult for a customer to perform troubleshooting on their end, meaning telcos are sometimes less willing to send out a technician to investigate.
Hope for the future
The TIO’s submission outlines six recommendations to address some of the underlying and systemic issues. The recommendations focus on defining and enforcing the rights of Australians to receive acceptable communication services, and giving customers access to better information before making a purchase.
Each recommendation is detailed, but can be broadly summarised as:
- Consolidating the the Universal Service Obligation (USO) scheme, which currently supports access to phone services and payphones, with the Statutory Infrastructure Provider regime (which concerns high speed broadband access for all Australians) and the Customer Service Guarantee (which protects Australians from poor service and outlines how a landline must be fixed). The hope is to create a single, simplified and robust framework that outlines consumer rights and telco obligations surrounding communication services.
- Clear benchmarks and standards for the Statutory Infrastructure Provider (SIP) regime, including the ability for customers to seek compensation for underperforming service quality.
- An update to the USO scheme to guarantee anyone can get connected to a usable and reliable landline service, and to an internet service that meets minimum speed and quality standards.
- Ensuring any review of the USO framework considers the importance of mobile services.
- Standardisation of mobile coverage maps so consumers can make informed choices before signing up to a service. These maps should also include geographical information, quality of coverage, and speed, on top of population coverage.
- Ensuring First Nations groups are consulted regarding the most appropriate access methods, technologies, and affordable plans.
These are the cheapest mobile phone plans with at least 15GB of data, sourced from our database of 28 mobile providers:
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#1
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Pivotel
25GB Mobile Swift Plan
$11.45/mth
Min. cost $11.45
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#2
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SpinTel
Editor's Pick
$23 Mobile Plan
$12.00/mth
Min. cost $12
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#3
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OnePass mobile
28 Day Plan - 22GB
$12.50
Per 28 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#4
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Moose Mobile
Moose 23 SIM Only
$14.00/mth
Min. cost $14
Link not supplied
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#5
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Swoop
30GB SIM Only 5G
$14.00/mth
Min. cost $14
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#6
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Lyca Mobile
Editor's Pick
Unlimited Plan S
$15.00
Per 28 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#7
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OnePass mobile
28 Day Plan - 32GB
$15.00
Per 28 Day Renewal
Link not supplied
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#8
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iiNet
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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#9
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TPG
Editor's Pick
30GB Small Plan
$15.00
Per 1 Month Renewal
Link not supplied
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#10
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Moose Mobile
Moose 30 SIM Only
$17.00/mth
Min. cost $17
Link not supplied
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Alex Angove-Plumb
Digital Content Editor
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