Telstra will be upgrading its mobile base station that services the Grenfell Northwest rural area to bring a better 4G user experience and deliver new 5G coverage in the area.

The upgrades will improve the mobile site’s capacity meaning faster downloads, smoother streaming and less congestion.

Upgrade works will commence on site from Thursday 20 August for a period of 11 days.

During these works the site will need to be switched off periods of up to 10 hours to safely complete works.

“As data use over our mobile network continues to grow, adding extra 4G capacity to our mobile site in the area will help deliver faster downloads, smoother streaming and less congestion for customers," a Telstra Spokesperson said.

"Bringing 5G to the area is also a major milestone, delivering greater capacity and even faster speeds.

“While disruption is required while the upgrade is underway, we’ll only be switching off the site when we need to and will have it back online and working better than ever as quickly as possible.”

There may be occasions where timings or impacts change due to factors outside of Telstra's control.

You can keep up to date on this outage via telstra.com.au/outages

Telstra mobile customers will receive an SMS advising of the upcoming work.

These works will not impact NBN, Satellite internet services, PSTN landline services, or mobile coverage from other providers.

If the Telstra mobile network is unavailable, compatible mobile phones will automatically attempt to connect to Triple Zero (000) via another available mobile network through emergency "camp on".

If your first attempt doesn't connect within around five seconds, hang up and try again immediately.

On subsequent attempts, stay on the line for up to 60 seconds to give your phone the best chance to access another available network and connect your call.

Some medical and personal safety devices, including fall detection systems, in-room monitors, alarm pendants and health monitoring devices, may be impacted if they rely on the Telstra mobile network.

Customers who use these devices should contact their service provider or manufacturer to understand any potential impacts and whether alternative connectivity options, such as Wi‑Fi, are available.

Businesses that use EFTPOS terminals that rely on the Telstra Mobile network should contact their bank or EFTPOS provider to check whether their terminal can connect via nbn or Wi‑Fi.

Making this change may allow payments to continue to be processed if mobile service is temporarily disrupted.

Telstra customers can continue to make calls and send texts during disruption to mobile services by switching on Wi-Fi Calling. This is a free setting on most popular mobile phones and allows your mobile to make and receive mobile calls while connected to Wi-Fi.

Customers can find more information and tips on how to prepare by visiting, https://tel.st/planned-work