That undertaking was made by a union yesterday should the issue not be fixed by Telstra Countrywide at a regional level.

Union delegate Shane Murphy said unless Telstra spent money upgrading the town’s telephone exchange and copper network, “services simply won’t improve for this rural community”.

The Communications Electrical Plumbing Union NSW branch assistant secretary took part in a community meeting at the Dartmouth Hotel yesterday morning.

Earlier this week, The Border Mail reported how residents put up with no mobile phone coverage, public phones that did not work and landlines that failed when it rained.

The issue has been plaguing residents and businesses for many years.

“I’m well aware of the town’s problems,” Mr Murphy said.

“Unless Telstra spends money on upgrading the town’s exchange and some of the copper network, services simply won’t improve for this rural community.”

Mr Murphy said his concern was Telstra usually responded with a kneejerk reaction to complaints, rather than addressing the problem.

“They had a couple of Telstra guys rush into the town on Monday this week to try to get them to clean up some of the mess before the meeting,” he said.

“That simply won’t be enough to alleviate the town’s concerns.

“They obviously need a major network upgrade to provide reliable telephone and internet services to this community.”

Mr Murphy said his union had already raised the matter with the office of opposition communications spokesman Jason Clare.

He said Telstra workers were doing their utmost to keep telephone services running in Dartmouth.

“But they can do no more unless Telstra spends money on a network upgrade.”

Dartmouth publican John Scales said the problems had affected the area for at least 15 years.

“There’s been a constant paper trail between our progress association and Telstra,” he said.

“We’ve made numerous attempts to try to get something done, but it always seems to fall on deaf ears.”