Editorial: Delay to get phone coverage unacceptable

Anna Wallis

BEING without a phone for four days is pretty tough.

It's even tougher when you live in the backblocks.

Residents in the Ruatiti had no phones for four days after a likely lightning strike on a radio repeater. There is virtually no cellphone coverage in the district - 26km from Raetihi - which makes the loss of the land line much worse.

Many of the residents will also be running a business off the phone such as farming or tourism. Being without a phone, and therefore the internet and other services, is a real blow. And of course, in an emergency a phone is essential.

Some may say living in such an area is to get away from modern life but that is for the 30 households who live in the region to decide.

Originally Chorus told the Chronicle on Tuesday it could take till the end of the month to fix the problem but this has been adjusted to just one more day.

Hopefully it is all sorted now.

Ruatiti resident Winston Oliver says such a delay is unacceptable.

And he is right. Paying for a telephone means also paying for the right to have faults fixed within a day or two at the very most, when access - such as a flood or storm - is not an issue.

The loss of service may have been caused by an act of god but today's technology and some prioritising by Chorus and Spark should have seen a speedy repair.