Residents have been discussing the lack of availability of new landline phone connections for those moving into the district or changing houses but Chorus, which operates the landline system, has expressed no interest in coming to the rescue.
Makarora Valley Community Incorporated chairwoman Heather Pennycook said yesterday she knew of seven houses without a landline, mostly in the southern part of the township.
She considered the lack of landlines, and particularly the lack of broadband, was a
"terrible situation'' for families and those wanting to operate businesses.
"Three of our families needing phones are new families who have just moved to the valley and two of the seven families needing phones are [in] new builds.''
In response to Otago Daily Times inquiries, Chorus media and public relations manager Nathan Beaumont said "the only way this issue can be resolved is if the infrastructure in the area is completely upgraded.
"However, due to the high costs of doing this work - rough estimate is about $170,000 - we have no current plans to upgrade the infrastructure in this area.''
Makarora's communication problem is magnified by its location.
It lies within the 230km-long cellphone "black spot'' between Lake Hawea and Fox Glacier.
That is a concern for emergency services.
Ms Pennycook, who is also the town's chief fire officer, said Makarora was on one of the busiest tourist routes in the South Island - State Highway 6 - which was also considered a black spot for motor vehicle accidents.
It could take a motorist who encountered a crash on the Haast Pass more than half an hour to drive to somewhere where they could alert emergency services, she said.
"Then we all muster and then we've got to drive up to where the accident is, so it can be between an hour and an hour and a-half between when the accident occurred and when emergency services actually arrive.
"Ultimately, when you have got a serious accident, that kind of delay is going to cost lives.''
Ms Pennycook could recall two occasions in the last 15 years when the delay might have contributed to a fatality.
"If you had got there sooner, perhaps you could have saved a life.''
And she recalled a bus crash on ice six or seven years ago when five emergency service volunteers turned up to find they were dealing with 30 in-
jured people.
There was also "a very real danger'' on the winding, narrow road of further accidents after a crash, as cars came around blind corners and "straight into an accident scene'', Ms Pennycook said.
Emergency services were equipped with satellite phones but even those had black spots in narrow valleys.
Ms Pennycook had approached Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean's office, which had "looked into it''.
"They've talked to a couple of ministers and she is coming back to me.
"It's better than nothing.
"At the end of the day we are a small township in the boondocks and everybody seems to wash their hands of us, really.''
Ms Pennycook said Makarora's population varied between 65 and 90, depending on the season.
The Queenstown Lakes and Westland District Councils put their case to the Government for funding of cellphone services along the route.
In July last year, the Government created a $50 million fund to fix ``black spots'' in the country's cellphone network.
