Telstra has now committed to upgrading the tower by June this year, but residents remained concerned about the six remaining months. 

Mirrool farmer Amanda O’Hare, one of more than 100 residents in attendance, said she was worried about her family and workers’ safety as their property sits in a black hole area. 

“Our neighbours have fallen off things and we’ve had to ring ambulances’ countless times,” Ms O’Hare said. 

“When those signals aren’t working it is somebody’s life hanging in the balance. 

“They are saying we need to wait until June but if this happened in Sydney there would be anarchy. 

“It is just not good enough. 

“This is not a third world country out here but it feels like it is sometimes. 

“We sell grain and we need to be online and able to call or we lose a lot of money.”

Telstra area manager Chris Taylor said staff will be working hard to fast track the promised date. 

“We will be upgrading the transmission system which has caused majority of these outages,” Mr Taylor said. 

“It is quite complex because we need to make structural changes to the tower in order for it to handle the upgrade. 

“We will also be upgrading our battery back up as a short term outage solution which will ensure supply for 8-12 hours.” 

Beckom resident Julie Thomson said the timeline is disappointing. “There is no consideration given to how much our farming community contributes to the economy,” Ms Thomson said.