Data Roaming During Disasters Not for Widespread Use

Mobile phone customers may not be able to use a different provider’s network during widespread natural disasters. Temporary disaster roaming would allow for mobile customers to switch networks in a disaster like a flood or bushfire, should telecommunications infrastructure be damaged. While Telstra is testing how the technology could be used, the telco said it would most likely only be available across small geographic areas. Telstra’s manager of government relations Lisa McTiernan told a parliamentary inquiry into disaster resilience the roaming would not have worked during larger natural disasters, such as storms across Victoria that left thousands without power....