Telstra customers throughout Dungog have faced outages as Telstra upgrades its 4G network

The problem started last Wednesday when the telecommunications giant started to carry out upgrades to the 4G network.

The outages have thrown Dungog businesses into chaos with no electronic banking services (eftpos) available.

Telstra's regional general manager Michael Marom told The Chronicle that local Telstra customers had been notified of the work, however some customers said they did not receive any notification about the outages.

Mr Marom said that triple-zero calls would be automatically diverted to a working mobile network for emergencies. "We're sorry for any inconvenience this might cause and we hope to have services back better than ever early next week.

"In the meantime, residents can improve their mobile coverage by using an NBN or other broadband connection to access Wi-Fi calling. This works even during a mobile outage and is a free setting on most popular mobile phones, which allows your mobile to use a Wi-Fi network to make and receive mobile calls."

Telstra did not provide a date when the services will return to normal.

Margaret Field uses the internet to keep in touch with her 97-year-old mother who relies on her to call and check up on her. "It's frustrating and it's concerning. I ring to keep a check on how she is," Ms Field said.

Down the road from Ms Field, Darrell Margerison and Ruth Wilson from Brisbane were enjoying their holiday and planned on hiking through the Barrington Tops using Dungog as their base. However when Mr Margerison noticed that the brakes on his vehicle were showing signs of failing he stopped to Google where the nearest motor mechanic was and found that he had no Internet access.

"We didn't know where there was a motor repair business," he said. "We couldn't get a map of the town."

Mr Margerison used to operate telecommunications company DNG Solutions and claimed that service outages of this scale are highly irregular. "I think it's appalling, even the call centre person didn't want me to put a complaint in. "When you're completely cut off it's very dangerous," he said.

Carol Parr, who operates a business between Sydney and Dungog, is travelling a 60 kilometre round trip into town to use Dungog's library just to keep her business ticking over and to stay in contact with her elderly mother in Sydney.

Dungog Library has become a sanctuary for those affected by these outages with people flocking to use the public wifi.

Dungog's residents aren't the only ones affected by these outages. With eftpos machines reliant on a quick Internet connection businesses in town have faced serious issues as they grapple with how to do business without eftpos in an almost cashless world.

Duty manager at Dungog's Lovey's IGA, Christopher Sawyer said that when the internet initially went down last Wednesday the store faced a complete eftpos outage for half an hour.

"As soon as the eftpos services went down it basically brought everything to a complete standstill. Customers lining up and getting quite frustrated that they weren't able to pay for their groceries," Mr Sawyer said.

"When everything stopped happening we got bigger lines, longer waits and frustrated customers... We did lose some sales, some customers had to leave their groceries behind and they didn't come back for them."

Despite all of this Mr Sawyer described the outage as a minor inconvenience as it only lasted a short amount of time but other businesses weren't as lucky.

Rebecca Potter had only recently opened up a hair salon on Dungog's Dowling Street and has faced significant losses as a result of being unable to charge customers due to her eftpos machines not working.

"A few clients that came in didn't have cash so they weren't able to pay for their services so I have to trust that they will either come back and pay or give them my account details to pay at a later date," she said.

"Some of the people I had never met before. One of them had three haircuts for one family so that's a significant amount of money for me at the moment because we're just starting out.

This has resulted in Ms Potter having to give some people haircuts for free or heavily discounting them in order to allow them to pay with cash.

As well as this Ms Potter had to spend a significant amount of time trying to identify the issue before learning of the Telstra outages.

All of this has meant that she has had to begin to dig into her savings in order to pay rent for her shopfront.

Mr Marom encouraged business owners to talk to their banks about connecting their eftpos machines to the NBN or a wi-fi connection in order avoid delays in transactions.

The federal member for Lyne, Dr David Gillespie said that although maintenance on the line is important he wants Telstra to keep the community updated on what is happening.

"While upgrades and maintenance to the local services are welcome, I would be concerned if there is a lengthy delay in the resumption of normal services," he said. "I have made representations to Telstra and requested they keep the community updated."

Mr Marom said that compensation is available to those affected by these outages, however they are dealt with on a case-by-case basis. He encourages customers to call their house teams to discuss their individual situation.

A spokesperson for the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman said that telecommunications services are especially important for regional areas.

The spokesperson also said that some maintenance and outages are unavoidable and that when this is the case the provider should inform their customers.

"Telstra's planned maintenance in the Dungog area could be due to a variety of factors, and depending on the duration of the outage and the appropriateness of Telstra's response, different remedies and resources could be available for Telstra customers in the area," the spokesperson told The Chronicle.

The spokesperson said that if customers are not happy they should contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman on 1800 062 058 or visit the ombudsman's website on https://www.tio.com.au/