These are just a few of the consequences of two weeks of Telstra outages in Moss Vale, that have rendered EFTPOS and ATM terminals useless for days on end and QR code check-ins inoperable at some venues.

"My God, it's an absolute nightmare," said Sarah Dennett, owner of Il Pranzo cafe.

"We've had four days at least in the last two weeks with no eftpos at all, no internet, and a few of the days it was cutting in cutting out.

"The ATMs are all out, so we couldn't serve customers - we had to turn people away as they only had card.

"On one day alone we were under by over $1000.

"And what can I do?

"You can't just do that to business - especially in the times like now with Covid.

"I've had enough."

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A Telstra spokesperson said that the outages have been caused by upgrades to the network, and the work is now wrapping up.

"There is currently planned maintenance taking place in Moss Vale and other areas in the Southern Highlands which is part of 5G network upgrades in town, and we are currently in the final stages of upgrading six sites," said the spokesperson.

"When work like this takes place, customers should have received an SMS message informing them of the interruption and with estimates of the duration of the work.

"The site at Moss Vale was completed yesterday, with other site being completed today.

"Residents will have been informed via SMS that outages would be taking place, but these interruptions to the mobile network at intermittent only, and it has not been a complete coverage blackout for two weeks."

But businesses say the extended interruptions are just not acceptable.

Helen Portus, practice manager at Southern Medical Centre, called the situation "really bad, just crazy".

"Our doctors are on call for Bowral Hospital - the hospital routinely calls them on their mobiles and they've not been able to do so," she said, adding that tele-health consultations and appointment phone calls have also been affected.

"We've got an EFTPOS machine that's not working, and it's impacted on our alarm system, which is constantly complaining it can't connect.

"And it's impacting badly on our vaccine fridges, which are closely monitored for temperature, and we've had constant text messages from the monitoring company telling us the fridge can't get through to the system."

She added that there has been no danger to the vaccines, as the power hasn't been interrupted, only the sleep of staff who are being constantly woken by the warning texts.

"We've had to compensate them for the trouble," said Ms Portus.

Meanwhile, disability pensioner and Moss Vale resident Kevin Somerville headed up to stay with friends in Sydney, rather than sit at home with no mobile coverage.

"Without my phone I'm better off in Sydney," he said.

"How can a company the size of Telstra, with all their resources, leave a great part of the Highands with no coverage for so long?

"It's a clear and present danger to our community, especially the infirm and elderly who have no other way of contacting emergency services."

But Telstra said the outages were essential for the rolling out of the 5G network, and showed their commitment to regional Australia.

"Telstra switching on 5G services as part of a national rollout of the next generation of mobile technology, meaning customers with 5G mobile devices can enjoy a better mobile experience," said the spokesperson.

"Rolling out Telstra 5G in Moss Vale demonstrates Telstra's commitment to regional Australia as we expand our 5G network across the country.

"The work occurs during the day for health and safety reasons.

"We know there is never a good time to interrupt mobile services, so thank residents for their patience during these short interruptions while we complete this important work.

"Reports from shopkeepers and residents have mentioned impacts to EFTPOS and ATMs, but it is important to note a major bank suffered an outage this week also."

He suggested customers use wi-fi calling if they have a compatible Telstra mobile device to make voice calls, using their fixed broadband wi-fi connection.

For more information, go to https://www.telstra.com.au/coverage-networks/mobile-technology#wificalling

For outage information, go to https://outages.telstra.com.au/#/

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