General manager of Blayney Shire Council, Rebecca Ryan, said that in order to present the mobile network operators and government with a decent business case, they need a better idea of what the demand is. 

“There are areas that we know are problematic as reported by the local village committees, progress associations or the RFS,” Ms Ryan said, “but we need to show the mobile operators the demand for the use of mobile technology for business, farming and recreational purposes across the area.”

As locals we already know of many of the black spots, and when to leave the phone in the car, but for tourists, Blayney mayor Scott Ferguson said, the lack of connectivity can be a frustrating and dispiriting experience.

“If you’re in Carcoar for instance, there’s little to no connection in the main street, and then there’s some out the back of the Royal Hotel and maybe at the top of the hill,” he said,

“In many ways that’s worse than nothing at all.”

In those outlying areas where there is little or no connection, the lack of a signal has economic impacts.

“In this modern world farmers need to be able to be out in the paddock and order something on their phone, or look something up without having to go and find a signal first,” he said.

To complete an online survey head to https://optimi.typeform.com/to/yrOn6E