Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, says she’s outraged with Telstra for leaving 1000 people without landline or internet for more than three weeks.

Telstra is blaming “independent contractors” for cutting a cable.

Most of the residents of Bowen Mountain, in the Hawkesbury, have no mobile reception, no NBN, and landline and ADSL are their only options.

“People are being forced to work on the side of the road in the neighbouring suburbs for days at a time because that’s the only place they can get mobile signal and do their work emails; students who are isolating because of health issues in their family are simply unable to do their school work or tertiary studies, and anyone who relies on the phone for medical emergencies is left vulnerable,” Ms Templeman said.

Ms Templeman said she’s also furious that the public advice about reconnections has been consistently wrong.

“You can’t keep telling people their lines will be repaired at 7pm one night, and then at 7pm update the site to say that it will be a further 24 hours or a further three days,” Ms Templeman said.

“Telstra has neglected the pits in this area for decades, and seem incapable of doing a repair without endless excuses about why they have to stop and bring in more equipment.

“They know this area is steep, they know the pits are under thick vegetation because they haven’t bothered to maintain them, and they know that they’ll need heavy equipment to get the new cable in the ground.

“People should not have their lives in limbo for three weeks while this incompetence plays out.

“For years we have warned that the mobile service in this area is inadequate, and that’s never been address by the Go