Telstra intends to upgrade its mobile base station that services Gapsted to bring a better user experience to the community.

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

Mobile services in the area will be temporarily affected while the upgrade works are underway this month.

“We know how important mobile connectivity is for Australians, whether you’re in the city or the country,” Telstra regional general manager for Eastern Victoria, Jenny Gray said.

“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.

"The work will also make the site ready for a further upgrade to our even faster 5G in the future.

“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.”

Telstra mobile customers will receive texts advising of the upcoming work.

Landline services, NBN internet services, and mobile coverage from other providers will not be impacted.

The site will need to be switched off from Monday 28, July to Wednesday, 30 July (full site outage), as well as from 7am to 5pm on Thursday, 31 July and Friday, 1 August.

Telstra is advising customers that they 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.

Telstra is also encouraging business owners to talk to their bank about connecting their EFTPOS terminals to their NBN or Wi-Fi connection to prevent delays in processing transactions.