3G Shutdown In Australia: What You Must Do and my thoughts

#3G #4G #5G #Australia #Telstra #Optus #Vodafone

UPDATE: (As it's come up quite a few times): My apologies, I did not (and do not) cover off the use case for people who have imported phones in this video. It's a difficult situation to assess, as the number of phones affected is all but impossible to measure (the only ones likely to have a generalised figure would be the telcos themselves and it's not in their business interest to discuss those figures). I do get that it's a problem for those with otherwise technically compatible phones though.

The death of 3G in Australia... has not in fact been greatly overstated, as it's just a matter of weeks before there's no 3G signals in Australia at all. So what does that mean? Why is it happening, what do you need to do, and what do I think about it?

Timecodes:

00:00 Intro
01:47 When Will 3G Shut Down in Australia?
02:49 What about MVNOs?
03:44 Why Shut Down 3G in Australia?
06:17 What You Must Do About 3G in Australia
08:41 The 000 Problem
11:32 Alex's Take on the 3G Shutdown in Australia

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[lumeronswift]

The biggest crime is that they cut data-only sim usage as well. Plenty of people have phones they only use data with, and don't tap into calls - emergency or otherwise - so only use 4G/5G anyways... but their phones are blocked even from data connections. My family (luckily not me) has to replace ALL their phones and has no connection while out unless they find a public wifi. Even though they paid for 4G data.

10:20 no, two of my family members had recently picked up current-year RedMi phones - top of the line gaming phones, complete with controller handles, fan mount, etc - and they have been hit by this.

[TruthWarrior]

Honestly the network in my regional area is becoming unusable and is impacting productivity at work waiting for and looking for adequate service.
It has become so bad in the last couple of months it gives me anxiety every time I have to retrieve information or send emails.

[nitronut]

No mention about rural areas being cut off from service completely and the vast amount of plant and machinery using it for remote control operation which now must be upgraded at high cost to the farmers. The range of 3G is much further than 4G or 5G. None of this has anything to do with giving people faster speed, its all a push for the 5G surveillance grid.

[darkstars-torpedoes-of-truth]

This is fantastic news for me, purchased a brand new phone 3 weeks ago and now it's obsolete. Just great.

[Meleagru]

Not addressing the white listing issues. There are devices out there that could work, in the sense that they have all the bands and technology but the network operators haven't allowed them to work. I had one of these devices but luckily, i managed to find a way around it.

[johnmunns]

I live in one of 2 areas in Redland Bay QLD still mapped as 3G on the Telstra map, despite many visits to Telstra they still cannot help. Recently had to stop using my old 3/4G Samsung S7 cause it no longer was supported by the Telstra app so now I have later 21 model and reception/data is worse, I still have to travel to Telstra shop to renew plan because of "timing out" issues, have to stand in street and face north (Brisbane) to talk on phone and to use data need to use shop, pub or old phone box or put my chip back in my old Samsung S7 and use 3G. Am standing in street, facing north, in the rain sending this and Telstra cant/won't help, so much for getting a new compliant phone.

[Realist-mc]

I just drove from Shark Bay to Geraldton. Most of the trip was 3G ONLY!! Even that was only 1 or 2 bars. From Oct 28 if you break down, you are pretty much stuffed. Most of rural WA is only 3G.

[GeorgeRainey-sv]

I survived the first 20 years of my life without a mobile phone. this is BS the way optus behave telling you that you MUST get a new phone. mine has been working after the shutdown but lets see if it works in another week or by JAN next year. if does die then either I get a new phone or tell them to stick it. hardly use the damm thing anyway.

[lumeronswift]

8:00 going out and buying one of those garbage devices is bad in two ways - adds to e-waste, and most of those phones can't even watch a YouTube video without stuttering. They're not suitable for any kind of long-term use. And a few million Aussies going out and buying them is just a really nice way for those companies to collect a neat profit on their burner-tier phones...

If you want to recommend something at least reasonable, there are some okay Motorolas around the $129 price point that should at least not die in a day.

[enslaver]

The amount of otherwise phones this will brick is crazy. It's a HUGE amount of e-waste. The phones will just be blocked from working altogether.

[mrlautomotive]

I don’t have to do anything. Don’t even need to have a phone. Try it, it’s very liberating.

[idzan-private]

Same is currently happening in Croatia as well, we are also shutting down 3G network, I know that as I worked in one mobile provider which started it in January of this year in one part of country and now it is on bigger part this summer period (June-September). All 3G devices will work on 2G if they are setup on automatic network connection, while if it is only 3G then it would need to be reconfigured. This 3G shutting down will expand our 4G/5G infrastructure so it could be better than before.
Note: all mobile providers have 5G enabled in all plans no matter what, or at worst 4G on prepaid plans.

[whophd]

Alex, I seem to remember some customers had to pay extra for 4G when it was new (2012-ish) and some 5G customers had to pay extra when it was new (2018? 2019?)

Did this all stop without an announcement? Or were 3G-only (and then 4G-only) users on cheaper plans that are going to be forced out?

[Potsie]

Gday Alex, ..what your video there does not mention is for some phones (i.e. the one I have) will work perfectly well on 4G (VoLTE) on Optus or Vodaphone, but wont work on Telstra! ... and this is a phone I bought brand new in 2020, and I am bloody annoyed that less than 4 years later, it is now obsolete (according to my MVNO, whom uses Telstra)

[ezoezo]

I have a galaxy tab A with a 3 dollar a day optus plan will i sill be able to use my phone/plan

[hawklord]

My Pixel 5 secondhand refurbished from Kogan is fine. About $400 18 months ago.

[DarkerStarSword]

If they go ahead and follow the recently proposed laws to completely block devices that would otherwise work just because the telcos haven't been able to verify the handset can call 000 over VoLTE (since that's based on a database lookup of what the handset was sold with as opposed to the current firmware actually on the device)... prepare for the shitstorm when a lot of people all of a sudden are unable to log into a lot of services because they can't receive their 2FA codes.

[Shattered]

It's not in the telco's intrest to allow imported phones that work perfectly on the 4g/5g network because they want to force is to buy from them and not the more affordable foreign retailers. I have bought a brand new recent release Chinese made international standard 5g phone only to be told by the telco's that it's not known to them so they will effectively block it.

[levonandonian]

3G is the Golden Path, this guy is oblivious to what is coming out his mouth

[mles]

Just had to do this x2 for my inlaws.
Holy heck, "senior" phones have gotten abysmal in the years since I bought their first ones. Often they're a poorly skinned older versions of Android that barely do what you need with diabolically over complicated user interfaces.
Also: I tried the 3498 txt to both Boost and Optus and got "we can't determine your connection type" (serves me right for living in rural Canberra)