Greater Hume Councillor Denise Knight, nee Osborne, said residents were exasperated they were given wide periods of time where works could occur and could never tell when exactly outages would take place.

She said in the last ten days she had been notified of planned outages nine times.

Cr Knight said the notifications told residents work would occur on one day, but if the work couldn't go ahead it would occur the next day or within the five days. 

She said it was great the town's tower was being upgraded but the uncertain time frames made it impossible for businesses, schools and everyday residents to function. 

"You don't know if it will happen tomorrow as they said, or not," she said.

"It's frustrating, really frustrating, I know they're doing updates, but good grief there's been 16 or 17 advices about outages since February.

"The scary part is the frequency and they're basically saying don't make plans to use the internet for the next five days because one of those days we'll be upgrading." 

IN OTHER NEWS: 

An NBN Co spokesperson said they had been conducting 'significant and necessary' works in the region to support the fixed wireless network as a part of an ongoing upgrade program. Work had also been conducted in Culcairn which affected the Jindera network.

The spokeswoman apologised for any inconvenience caused but said as a wholesaler they provide notice of works to retailers who pass them onto customers.

"We provide retailers a window of time for when the works will be carried out, which can include contingency time to allow for any delays that can occur due to a change in weather conditions or more complex works," she said.

Cr Knight said given the number of notifications about possible work and contingency plans it was impossible to know when you would actually be without internet.

"We can't put our lives on hold for a week when an advice says it could happen Monday or it would happen five days later," she said.

"There's no regularity, no reliability and it's difficult for businesses and schools."