NO COVERAGE

I would like to comment on some of the effects of the frequent power outages we have in Northland and in particular, the effect on rural residents.

For residents in South Hokianga it is not just the inconvenience of being without power for lighting, cooking, water pumps, etc.

The more serious effect is that we frequently lose all communication with emergency services.

Within hours of an outage, the batteries servicing rural phone lines die and landline phones are no longer operable.

As there is no mobile phone coverage to most rural areas, residents are left without contact with emergency services such as fire, ambulance or police.

Driving out of the area to an outside phone could take residents over 30 minutes.

By that time a burning house could be beyond saving, or worse still, a life lost.

I have written to Vodafone on two occasions about this serious matter, but never received the courtesy of a reply.

It’s about time the telco providers spent a little less on advertising mobile plans to city residents and spent more on providing better mobile coverage for the safety of their rural customers.

Some townies my say, ‘well, that’s rural living’.

But then where would they be without milk, butter, meat, fruit and vegetables produced by the rural residents?

We need reliable power and phone services just as much – if not more – than the city dweller. As a teenager I crashed off that corner.

Not through the fence but just into the drain and was pulled out by a member of the public.

Thankfully there was no oncoming traffic. As in the article I crossed the centre line and off the road.

It was dark and raining and I was going to fast. A couple more signs up the road might help, like the ‘slow down’ ones on Waimate North Rd. Never mind the corner.

Driving home to my property on Old Bay Rd one evening the car ahead had to stop suddenly after slowing down for the first one lane bridge from Kaikohe - where