Planning for the next Rain Event – mobile and internet services

In various discussions within the community and with external bodies, a common message arising from the recent severe rain event involving prolonged power outages and road closures has been the need to maintain or restore communications via the internet and mobile phones when the power was out.  This post provides an update on progress to improve the resilience of our Comms connections during and after any future event.

Mobile Phone Service

• For the last few years, mobile phone service has cut out shortly after any power outage in the village. Service has been reported to cut out anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours after Ergon power is lost.
• There is a battery bank and a diesel generator at the tower. The generator never comes on during an outage. There is no procedure for refuelling the generator even if it is working.
• Following the rain event:
  • The PDCA initiated a formal complaint about the lack of operational power backup at the tower. 
  • The council was asked to discuss this issue with Telstra and is exploring the possibility of authorising staff from Townsville Water to refuel the generator.
  • The office of our state member for Hinchinbrook (Nick Dametto) also wrote to Telstra requesting information on its power backup policies.
  •  Wilfred Karnoll used his contact within Telstra to lobby for action on this matter.
• The combination of these various contacts with Telstra has finally yielded some positive results
  • Telstra confirmed in writing that a combination of batteries and the diesel generator is intended to provide power for mobile service for “several days” after a power outage
  • Telstra has committed to installing a new generator at the Paluma tower, and Wilfred has been informed that the generator is currently in Townsville waiting for some additional gear before it is ready to be installed.
  • Telstra has indicated that the Council will need to formally negotiate directly with Telstra to arrange authorisation

Free internet at the Community Hall

• After some persistent emailing, Townsville City Council has acknowledged that the current MiTownsville wifi hotspot is throttled back to a level where it is only barely usable by a single person and virtually unusable when multiple people log in.  They have agreed to increase the bandwidth permanently to 5Mbs which should greatly improve usability under moderately heavy use, and allow for effective mobile wifi calling when the Telstra tower is down, or to those subscribers using other carriers.
• Wilfred has successfully negotiated with Telstra for a $500 grant to purchase a Starlink terminal/dish that the PDCA can set up during prolonged outages. This would provide much higher bandwidth compared to the free MiTownsville hotspot, and serve as an independent line of communication via internet mobile calling as well as normal internet service. The PDCA would cover subscription costs. It would set this up only when needed and would use a monthly Starlink usage subscription so that costs would only be incurred during months when the system is used.
• During a power outage, backup power will be required at the hall for both MiTownsville and (when set up) the PDCA Starlink terminal.  The PDCA, together with SES and RFS currently have backup power facilities in place to provide power to electronic devices during an outage.