It has been more than 80 days since Telstra and Optus flicked the switch on the 3G mobile network. Hundreds of regional and remote Australians say they can no longer rely on the network and struggle to make calls.

In short:

Regional and rural Australians say their ability to make phone calls has dramatically reduced since the 3G network was switched off in October.

Telstra and Optus shut down 3G to boost the 4G and 5G networks, claiming customer coverage would benefit as a result.

What’s next:

The federal government says there may be a need for regulatory intervention if the situation does not improve.

  • R00botEnglish
    26·
    2 days ago

    This whole thing has been a mess. Thousands of Aussies had to buy new phones due to them using a phone allowlist instead of a blocklist (arguably they should have just let the phones stop working instead of blocking them outright). The allowlist they used was missing hundreds of 4G capable phones and was missing just about every overseas model of phone. I know 2 people whose phones were blocked for no reason.

    Tourists coming to Australia are finding their phones blocked here, preventing them from using their phones in Australia.

    000 calls are borked for thousands of Aussies as well.

    We are one of the only countries in the world to turn off 3G. And we’re certainly the only one to fuck it up this badly. I’m convinced the big telcos only did this to drive phone sales (many of which will be bought/leased on exploitative plans), because god knows there’s no other compelling reason to shut 3G off.

    What a joke.

    • zurohki@aussie.zoneEnglish
      1·
      3 hours ago

      (arguably they should have just let the phones stop working instead of blocking them outright). The allowlist they used was missing hundreds of 4G capable phones and was missing just about every overseas model of phone

      IIRC the issue is that phones must be able to dial 000 if there’s any mobile coverage at all. A bunch of VoLTE-capable phones either force 3G for 000 calls or aren’t compatible with Telstra’s custom VoLTE implementation, and there’s really no way for telcos to know these things.

      There’s no way for the owner to know, either. A bunch of 4G+VoLTE phones in the wild that people think are fine either can’t call 000 or can’t call 000 on Telstra’s network. So a phone on Optus might work fine on Optus VoLTE, might call 000 fine on Optus VoLTE, but wouldn’t be able to call 000 if there was only Telstra network coverage.

      And there’s no way for Optus to know which specific modem firmware your phone has, so even getting the same model phone and testing it isn’t a reliable solution.

      • R00botEnglish
        1·
        2 hours ago

        Yep that’s the explanation I’ve heard. Telcos shifting this mess onto the consumer is pretty obviously not ideal. They shouldn’t have gone ahead with the 3G shutoff knowing these issues existed.

        They could have waited 4-5 years for the majority of Aussies upgrade to a new phone that supports Telstra’s VoLTE, implemented a fallback system on Telstra’s network for phones that don’t support it, etc.

        But they didn’t.

        Super poor form imo. If our government were serious about protecting Australians they would do something to punish these companies. But they won’t. And our slow slide towards America-style late-stage capitalism will continue.