Telstra customers in Narooma may experience temporary outages or reduced mobile coverage as upgrades to the mobile base station are finalised.
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These improvements will temporarily impact Telstra 3G and 4G coverage in Narooma during the day between Monday, October 18 and Sunday, October 24.
Landline services, NBN internet services and mobile coverage from other providers will not be impacted.
Telstra regional general manager Chris Taylor said crews would only switch off the site when necessary and have it back on as quickly as possible.
"Where possible we will just be switching off the parts of the tower we are working on, leaving the rest operational. While coverage and capacity will decline during this time, we want to keep total blackouts to an absolute minimum," he said.
"Telstra does have other base stations located close by in Kianga and Tilba which will help provide some coverage, but most of our mobile coverage for this area does come from the Narooma base station so there will be some impact.
"There's never a good time to undertake this sort of work but once it is completed, it will mean better mobile services for local residents, particularly as we approach the peak holiday season."
Any calls to Triple Zero from a Telstra mobile when the site is off air will automatically be diverted to a working mobile network.
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During the outages, Telstra encourages people to use wi-fi calling if they have access to a wi-fi signal at home or work.
This is a free setting on many smart mobile phones and allows your mobile to use a Wi-Fi network to make and receive mobile calls. To find out more visit the Telstra website.
Businesses can also connect EFTPOS terminals using a fixed line or Wi-Fi. Contact your bank for more information and details on how to switch between these methods to ensure continuous service during the outages.
The upgrades to the tower located on the water tank on Wagonga Street will bring better 4G coverage to the area and allow the roll out of 5G coverage for the first time in Narooma.
Mr Taylor said the upgrades would allow the network to cope with increased capacity particularly during the holiday period with more visitors in town.
"We know our mobile network on the South Coast takes a hammering over summer with the influx of additional tourists, so this upgrade should help provide a better experience this year."
