This Family Is Fully Mobile, But Their Phone Is Not
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday June 17, 2005
It is best to stand back when talking about rural telephone services to Bob Green. The subject only makes him start behaving like Russell Crowe, he says.
"I get bloody annoyed. I've just paid to upgrade my mobile to a CDMA. It cost me a heap."There are still big gaps in the service, and the package - cheap calls and things - is not as good as the old one. I mean, how do you explain that?"His wife, Lenore, chimes in: "There's no real competition in the bush for Telstra." She fears it can only get worse if the carrier is fully privatised. "It'll be shareholders first, users second."The Greens, who live in Redland Bay, near Brisbane, have travelled more than 10,000 kilometres in the past three months. They keep in touch with their family by mobile phone, in cheap 10-minute bursts after 8pm. They stop at Telstra boxes during the day to book accommodation and pay bills. Despite occasional "Russell Crowe" moments - named after the actor's recent outburst in a New York hotel - Mr Green concedes the basic Telstra service - availability of public phones across Australia - is satisfactory. But, like his wife, he is not convinced by reassurances about what happens next to a service on which country folk depend."It's just not good enough. Just ask any of the people on properties out here," he says.
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald
