The church office and op-shop had their landlines disconnected in November last year and the issue has been a frustrating one for the United Church community ever since.

Rev Wilson has a mountain of documentation tracing the issue but still has not been told why the line was cut  or when they will be getting their phones put back on.

“It all seems to go out into the ether of NBN but nothing comes back,” Rev Wilson said.

Ironically the NBN has even tried to call them.

“We were told by Optus Nowra that for a month the NBN was trying to contact us to ascertain the problem,” Rev Wilson said.

“However, we could not know that because every time they (the NBN)  rang the number they (the NBN) were told the number was discounted and they (the NBN) were the ones who had disconnected it.”

The tale of frustration goes back to October last year.

The Uniting Church office, in October, was notified the old network was being switched off and they, like others groups/businesses in the Nowra CBD, needed to convert to the NBN.

They took a look around on their part of the United Church precinct (the Op shop, Wesley Centre and the church offices) and could not find a telecommunications grey box.

An NBN technician inspected the site and also could not find a grey box.

It was discovered their grey box is at 54 Osborne Street which is the aged care facility.

The technician indicated that even though they were at a different location and a different group on the same property title that things should all be fine - famous last words.

“About two hours later we worked out that we had no phones,” Rev Wilson.

Rev Wilson still does not understand why all their phones were cut off - after being told all would be fine.

They lost their phones in November and had nothing since.

Their only way to connect to their NBN box is to dig a trench through 100 aged care units.

A determined  Federal Member for Gilmore Ann Sudmalis is taking on the case.

Mrs Sudmalis on Tuesday had several things clarified about the situation and was on the phone straight away.

She made contact with Minister of Communications office on Tuesday and basically said ‘fix this situation’.

The Federal Member said this church/community group needed to have its phone lines and she wants positive news by early next week.

Meanwhile, frustratingly for Rev Wilson, an old unused connection box sits six feet outside his window.

“They cannot restore the old lines and are still investigating if they can link into an NBN line six feet outside my window and that is where we have been for nearly six months,” Rev Wilson said.

“Even Kazakhstan has better service than we do.”

The church office and op-shop needs phones because their ultimate aim is the serve the community and help people.

Community groups, training organisations and back to work skills programs run out the facility and it would be nice if they could communicate with the church office when needed.

Rev Wilson said thanks to Nowra Optus’s generosity they got set up with a wireless modem that linked up to the 4G network which got them internet connection.

However, many elderly church members can't access the internet.

“For our own congregation members many of whom are elderly and many of whom do not have internet access they have to know my mobile or our office assistant’s mobile and ring that because there is no landline,” he said.

He said many parishioners are frustrated, confused and can't understand why they can no longer contact their church office by phone.

Rev Wilson is frequently not able to be contacted because he is in meetings or doing other church business.

Council staff have tried to call the church about various issues but could not make contact.

Rev Wilson said it was like 140 years of church history in Nowra had somehow been disconnected from its community.

Another of their issues is cost.

“We as an organisation don’t have a lot of money and so paying for connections is an issue,” he said.

“We would rather put that money into programs to help  homeless people or towards our core business of building up the community rather than have to spend most of our income getting a piece of wire to go six feet from my office.”

He said Nowra Optus has been great and he knows Mrs Sudmalis had tried to do something but said things had stalled.

“We would love a meeting with Ann and for the NBN regional manager to come for a chat and that would be a good help. I would love to speak to anyone who can help this progress,” he said