Greytown's cellphone 'black hole'

wta250214lfvoda.jpg Display photo - no Vodaphone coverage.

Greytown is a "black hole" for Vodafone customers who say their reception problems are being ignored by the telecommunications giant.
The town is notorious for its "terrible" cell phone coverage, affecting people for years, according to Greytown residents.
Greytown Community Board member, Leigh Hay, said it was a major problem for businesses, residents and tourists.
"It's like a black hole when you enter Greytown.
"The mayor and council have made repeated requests to Vodafone and they don't even bother to reply.
"They have promised lots of things but they've never done anything."
She said she felt Vodafone didn't care about the town because it was a small place.
"We'd really like to see if there is some way to get Vodafone to prick up its ears.
The board plans to run a survey to collect data on how many people have a problem, said Mrs Hay.
She said the real issue was the impact on local businesses and tourists, which the board wants to attract and support.
Tourist organisation Destination Wairarapa gets 40 per cent of visitors to its website through mobiles, said Mrs Hay.
"Clearly that's going to impact on visitor experience."
Ann and Neil Smith, who own the Greytown camping ground, wrote a letter to South Wairarapa Mayor Adrienne Staples last year, raising concerns about tourists who couldn't access the network and not being able to use EFTPOS.
"At this stage nothing's changed," said Mr Smith.
"Vodafone is bloody useless.
"They won't do a damn thing until we get some sort of aerial," he said.
"We haven't got EFTPOS at all, we pulled the pin on that one."
Several Times-Age online users complained about the telco.
Jennifer Martin said her shop had switched to Telecom as she couldn't get decent reception.
"However we had to wait until our 12 month contract ended as they wouldn't let us get out of it, even though reception was a major issue and the reason we wanted to switch.
Tristin Davis said he had contacted Vodafone regularly since 2002 about the issues in Greytown and also in Carterton.
He said the general consensus seemed to be the area was not big enough to care about.
"They don't use those words exactly but economics is a word they've used regularly to me."
Karen Juno from Juno Olives said she had struggled with their EFTPOS machine last year but it appeared to be fixed now.
"From January right through September we had issues.
"Coverage was absolutely shocking.
"We were having to shift our EFTPOS machine around, it was just crazy."
She said they had to ask customers to get cash out in Greytown, 3kms away, which luckily most people did.
Mrs Juno said she went to Radio Spectrum Management for help after no response from Vodafone.
Mrs Staples, who wrote a letter to Vodafone chief executive Russell Stanners last year, after the Smiths contacted her, had no response either.
"I have had no acknowledgment, dialogue or email whatsoever."
Vodafone media spokeswoman Michelle Baguley said Mr Stanners never received the letter but would now respond immediately.
She said Greytown's mobile coverage was provided by existing cell sites at Carterton and Featherston, which would be upgraded soon under the Government's Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI).
"Vodafone sincerely apologises to any customers who are experiencing issues."
There are no plans to put in a tower closer to Greytown under the RBI but "the upgrade to the site at Featherston may enhance data performance in the Greytown area".
Vodafone media spokesman Brad Pogson said Featherston will be upgraded in the next 12 - 24 months extending wireless broadband services to an extra 1200 rural addresses.
He said the RBI programme was on track, Vodafone had upgraded four out of six of its existing sites and two of five new towers had been built at Riversdale Beach and Castlepoint.
New sites at Opaki, Carterton Central and Palliser Bay are planned for the remaining two years of the programme.