GRAHAM Laslett's agronomy business is run from his iPad and he relies on the Telstra network across the State to update his recommendations to his clients.
Combined Agronomic Service uses the Agworld platform and it's not unusual for Mr Laslett to have to try four to five times a day to sync one client's account, and the problem increases with multiple accounts.
"We're very lucky to have what we've got, don't get me wrong, but we're being left behind out here," he said.
"The industry has changed, if you look at the scale people operate on, what has allowed it to happen in part is the technology, but it is also constraining us.
"Yes Telstra covers 97 per cent of the population but the remaining 3pc are generating significant income in terms of agriculture, fishing and mining.
"It's not just because we want to go on social media, it's because we want to be productive.
"The technology is there, it's been developed, but it's the service that's holding us up."
It is not just internet that is an issue for Mr Laslett, who works across WA and experiences service issues in all areas.
"The hard part is if my client is in a poor service area that's one thing, but I am too and we end up trying to talk to each other in that situation," he said.
"Between the two of us we can try all day but not really manage to get a conversation in."
He said as a business operating in a modern world there was an expectation of immediacy and accessibility, but this wasn't always a reality.
"I'm dealing with people in Perth and interstate and they just can't understand it when I have to say 'Hang on, I just need to drive back up the hill'," Mr Laslett said.
"They get quite cranky with you about it and don't want to deal with you almost because you've got this intermittent phone call and in the period you've dropped out you've had three other calls come in which you can't return.
"The whole world expects you will answer this phone call right now or send something through right now."
Mr Laslett said he had reached the point where it was not an issue with Telstra as a service provider, but moreso a lack of infrastructure to service the population.
His client Paul O'Meehan, who operates a large scale farming property near Borden, said the Agworld software had changed the way he farmed.
"It's great software, but trying to make it all work is tough out here," he said.
"At my end, one iPad will pick it up and the other won't get it.
"The technology is just fantastic but it's being let down by the system."
Mr O'Meehan is concerned the problem also has social implications.
"You've got all these young blokes coming out of school, where they've had constant contact, and they come out here and it's pretty isolated and they can't talk to friends," he said.
"They end up going back to town.
"There's more to it than just the business, the whole social fabric revolves around communication these days and we're being let down."
Both Mr Laslett and Mr O'Meehan said funding needed to be directed to fixing the issue and addressing what they consider is a "third world" situation.
