Call service so near yet so far

Although a major Auckland phone link runs through their area, Waitakere residents must put up with an antiquated service. Joanna Davies reports
Buried beneath main roads in Whenuapai is Auckland's link to phones as far away as America.
You'd think the people who live in those streets would have access to the same phone services, such as caller-ID, as most Aucklanders.
No. The Whenuapai telephone exchange is overloaded and in need of an upgrade. It is so old that users connected to it don't have services that most people have included in their telephone bills.
Whenuapai resident Debbie Foster is surprised that the area is so poorly serviced.
``It seems so random because we don't live that far from the city, so why should we not get the services like everyone else?'
Miss Foster, who runs a photography business from her home, says caller-ID would be use ful for her work.
The telephone exchange is scheduled to be upgraded in eight years, but Herald Island Residents and Ratepayers Association president Noel Rugg says the work needs to be done sooner.
``This isn't a problem with broadband access or anything like that, it's just about fundamental services,' he says.
``We don't have faxability, so we can't get faxes automatically. We have to wait to receive one and press the start button.'
Mr Rugg hopes the developments planned for the Hobsonville area will help to speed up the upgrade.
``People use things like caller-ID as a safety feature to see who is calling, but out here we can't get that at all.'
Telecom upgrades 10 exchanges every year, but Mr Rugg says exchanges that need urgent work can be put on the list.
Telecom spokeswoman Katherine Murphy says the Whenuapai exchange ``is one of our older exchanges, which have a limi tation on some of the services they can offer. We do offer three-way calling, call waiting and call minder as well as other services.'
Ms Murphy did not say when the exchange was scheduled to be upgraded. Mr Rugg has spoken to Waitakere City Council's northern strategic growth area committee about the problem, and the committee is asking Telecom for more information. joanna.davies@theaucklander.co.nz
28 05 2009