Is making a call too much to ask for from our comms services?

The recent spate of "bloody Telstra" reels on social media is a not so subtle testament to the frustrations many have experienced in the lead up to and since the shutdown of 3G.

I marvel at the advances in communications technology since the party line we relied on as a child. However, it seems to me the more recent focus on data and bandwidth has led to a serious decline in our ability to just make a phone call.

I was really irritated by the reduction of phone range when the old CDMA (code division multiple access) network was shut down in 2008. I am palpably angry by the reduction in phone range with latest shut down. We migrated our technology away from 3G reliance and despite all assurances, the 4G/5G system is just less.

It seems that having access to a service and losing it is far more frustrating than never having had the service in the first place. It is a weird kind of grief. It seems petty in the grand scheme of things, but I am definitely between the anger and depression stage.

The challenge now is to try and resolve the resulting connectivity deficit. There are many in agriculture who rely on increasing connectivity for operations and servicing of modern equipment. The decrease in range of the mobile network means there is an urgent deficit that has an immediate financial impact.

The proliferation of utes driving around with a Starlink receiver mounted on the roof tells me people are solving their telecommunications problems, albeit at significant and ongoing additional cost.

Inevitably, I will follow suit when my connectivity misery exceeds my miserliness.

The federal government has announced a new round of funding in the On Farm Connectivity Program worth $20 million. It seems that in the face of the real decline in connectivity resulting from the mandated shut down of the 3G network, this number is too small and the scope of funded communication investment needs to be widened.

More broadly there is a need to reconsider telecommunications for Australia entirely. Starlink has left the NBN for dead in terms of upload speed and there are more of these types of services arriving on the market. There is a risk we become increasingly reliant on the good will of globalised private businesses that are subject to whims of powerful individuals like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos.

The Australian government has already picked a fight with several big tech firms that could easily undermine service provision and pricing in the future. Australia just isn't a big enough market to be commercially significant for multinationals to service on Australia's terms.

We already see this in limited access to a range of technologies that would benefit Australian agriculture. We often see producer groups literally pulling existing products to market via emergency registrations through the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. The chemical companies don't bother seeking general permits because the cost of compliance is too high.

Sadly we are trapped in a mire brand entanglement and a genuine lack of competition. So the backlash against the decline in service may well be limited to benign "Bloody Telstra" memes and reels on social media.