Michael Cameron moved to the Upper Murray town of Walwa four months ago from Khancoban, aiming to remain a jobbing electrician.

But the sparkie has found a lack of reliable internet service has left him unable to attract jobs and order or research products.

“I’ve struggled for 2½ hours to upload a resume for work,” Mr Cameron said.

He said he was originally told there would be an NBN connection and then an ADSL link but he has now been told because he lives five kilometres outside Walwa he has two options.

They are either NBN via satellite or a mobile phone connection with a dongle at a cost of $700 per month.

Mr Cameron said, in addition to expense, there were reliability difficulties with a satellite link because of foggy weather at Walwa.

“I was under the impression NBN was going to be rolled out everywhere, obviously that’s changed because the government has cheapened it a bit, but the poor internet is closing our business,” he said.

"What aggravates me the most is there hasn't been a conscious effort to fix it.

“NBN and Telstra say satellite is a viable alternative, satellite is the lifeboat you have when the ship is sunk.”

Mr Cameron, who has suffered back and knee woes and broke his ankle while training to deploy to Iraq with the army, said being self-employed suited him because of his injuries.

But faced with looming insurance renewals, he said he would “probably mothball” the business by late August.

“We’re talking to Centrelink about closing the business because we can’t operate,” Mr Cameron said.

“I don’t want to be at Centrelink, that’s not the person I am, I’m an ex-army guy, I’m proud.

“I hate the idea of going on Centrelink because I feel like a bludger, I want to be able to work.” 

Wife Carli Cameron said the satellite plan offered to them only allowed for off-peak usage between 1am and 7am and the data is capped.

“Someone will send a message on Facebook and I won’t see it for hours or days, which means we miss out on the job,” she said.

Towong Council mayor Aaron Scales said he understood the Camerons’ frustrations, saying he considered satellite for his hotel at Dartmouth but it was too costly.

“It’s very frustrating that our more remote areas are going to be left behind to a degree, in not having as good a connectivity as the cities,” Cr Scales said.

He said the shire had raised its concerns with NBN, Telstra and member for Indi Cathy McGowan.

Walwa will not be linked to the NBN via fixed wireless technology because it is too expensive.

Nearby Corryong, Colac Colac, Khancoban and Towong have wireless access, but NBN spokesman Russell Kelly said it was not viable to add Walwa.

“It is some 32 kilometres from Corryong and as such is not part of the Corryong Wireless Serving Area – and at this stage would be cost-prohibitive to connect using fixed-wireless technology,” Mr Kelly said.

“The most cost-effective means for providing connection to the NBN access network at Walwa is via the Sky Muster satellite.”

Telstra area general manager Steve Tinker said his company would not be upgrading its ADSL at Walwa given NBN’s plans.

He added Telstra had decided not to resell NBN’s satellite service.

“The cost to build and support the service for a very small number of customers would make any product we could have offer uncompetitive with various specialised providers,” he said.