The TNQ Hub’s Technical Adoption Officer Keerah Steele (right) has been out in the field delivering Starlink kits, a new high-speed, low-latency broadband service, to several trial sites across the tropical north Queensland region.

The purpose of the connectivity trial is to test both the speed and reliability of the service but to also try ease the frustrations around having limited and restricted data.

Normal day to day activities such a paying bills, answering emails, ordering supplied and connecting with family and friends is challenging in many places across Australia and as technology evolves, these challenges become more stressful.

One of these trial sites is Chudleigh Park in North West Queensland. Staff are taking the kit out and setting it up at their mustering camps where they are away for periods of up to 14 days to see if the service can ease some of these challenges faced during mustering season.

Node Partner NQ Dry Tropics is also trialing a mobile kit in areas where there is no internet to see if they can run workshops and field days in places where they normally wouldn’t be able to.

Outcomes of the trial will be regularly captured and reported back to the Future Drought Fund with aim of showing how technology and connectivity can help business productivity and improve resilience.