When farmer Will Picker broke his back on his NSW farm there was no mobile phone reception – forcing him to crawl for 1km to get help. It’s these sorts of stories that are putting pressure on federal MPs to sign on to a private member’s bill, intended to force Australia’s telcos to improve patchy mobile coverage and shoddy customer service. Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to Will and his partner Hannah Sparks, and Guardian Australia’s rural and regional editor Gabrielle Chan about the real – and sometimes dangerous – cost of Australia’s poor mobile performance