3G In Australia Is Dead What's Next?

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

That video was broad to try to cover off some basic questions, but I got a slew of more specific ones -- and with the very last of the 3G towers stopping working today, I figured it was now or never if I was going to answer them. So here we go.

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Resources:

Telstra on the 3G shutdown

Optus on the 3G shutdown

Vodafone/TPG on the 3G shutdown

ACMA ruling on 000 access:

ABC Article on Refurb Phones not working:

Timecode
00:00 Intro
00:28 Is 3G REALLY dead in Australia?
01:56 Do 3G-only areas now have NO coverage?
03:31 Why are Telcos blocking phones that can't dial 000?
06:15 Why are NEW phones being blocked?

[theurbanyouth]

They're blacklisting phones that telecos supposedly can't "verify" have VoLTE when calling emergency services, not that it's necessary known they can't. They just use the claim they can't "verify" as an excuse to blacklist international phones that do in fact have the ability to use VoLTE for emergency services.

[peterjackson]

In my opinion the legislation was rushed with last minute changes affecting thousands of consumers with perfectly working devices now blocked. For instance my device is VOLTE capable for emergency calls and it is blocked for no good reason apart from the telcos are too lazy to check device capabilitys properly. For those whining about us buying phones overseas yes we do it not because of cost but because the models sold here basically suck, you can buy phones with much much better cameras and specification's overseas.

What should happen now that the 3g network is shutdown instead of arbitrary blocking of unknown devices there should be a test number setup by the telcos and if you can call that number after the shutdown your device then should be whitelisted & unblocked.

[sammyfromsydney]

The way the law has been written has nothing to do with protecting people and everything to do with profiteering and the sooner people stop making excuses for it the better.

[Magnus-qrlj]

My analogue phone was the best coverage, since then it has all been downhill!

[estellebright]

iPhone is going to be harder to swallow for some folks given its international nature and generally fairly expensive. I traveled to China a few months ago to visit my family, and I couldn’t use their local 5G network at all using roaming on Telstra. At best was 4G and coverage sucks. So, it is going to be chaotic in the months ahead, especially within Android landscape. Yes, those shiny Chinese Android devices may not work at all in Australia moving forward.

[paulmckinstry]

Watching with great interest from NZ, where our 3G networks are due to be shut off over the next 12 months. Ironically, my current phone is a newish handset I sourced from Australia: so it would work there going forwards, but will potentially cease to work here in the near future!

[UniCrafter]

So their argument is someone might think they can ring triple zero but aren't able to? We can't just consent to the possibility our phone might not work? But on their end, they can't guarantee coverage? Such a weird logic flow

[SteveUcdhihifvshi]

Also lets be clear, the reason why telcos cant provide services is because they lobbied for it to be that way.

[peterengland]

What about ioT that used 3G GPS trackers, Smart electricity meters, Security Alarm Systems, Vending Machines for Efpos payment, Medical Devices that report via 3G (CAP machines). These are all now obsolete .

[dappers]

Phone died this morning in WA inserted Vodafone Sim which prompted upgrade to android 14 phone now functions correctly with ALDI SIM

[gtaivmostwanted]

Few things of note

in tasmania Telstra shut down 3g without converting allot of towers to handle the same range with 4g
we now have allot more blackspots with 0 signal thanks to that and they wont fix it anytime soon either

on another note international models of phones will work perfectly in australia the reason they state they cant is because optus and vodaphone use an open standard for their carrier network but telstra's is propriatry meaning for a phone to work on telstra it has to be setup or atleast have their configuration

Nobody was actually warned here about VoLTE being the new "Standard" as its not actually a standard most countries still use CDMA and 3G as the main fallback for calls due to 4G and 5G not being able to carry as far

[hippopotamus]

I purchased a brand new Xiaomi Turbo 3, 1 month ago. It was turned off last night.

[atandrachetan]

i just had my phone blocked today, by Vodafone as its not on there list but my phone is on Optus list as being ok does that mean if i switch providers it will work, it is a Samsung Galaxy J5 Pro with 4 g volte lite and is showing that it can make emergency calls, does anyone know,

[DavidTorkington-ju]

3g is still working in Caloundra area, both Telstra and Optus. If I switch mode of my mobile on Optus network (Coles Mobile) to 3g mode only, the phone works fine. Same with my wife phone on Telstra network (Woolworths), if I switch to 3g only it still works fine. I have made calls bothways between these phones all still working. I also have an older 4g phone, a Galaxy S4, model GT-19506, this phone has been blocked by both Telstra and Optus (using the Woolworths an Coles SIM cards. Tested 3g at about 5pm Qld time on Thursday 7th November.

[Yt_montyplays]

Good video (what to expect from a comment) 👍

[XK]

Yeah well my 4g phone that worked really well before absolutely sux now. I'm missing calls...

[QuinnKallisti]

Guarantee, everyone will buy a new phone, despite probably not needing one... To use 4G, then when the telcos dont upgrade the dead zones, because they are planning to use starlink sattelites for data and calling in the future.. Everyone will all have to buy a new phone again, because they dont have a phone compatible with the sattelite coverage.

[TasmanianHillBilly]

Nope I don't believe you lol. I work in outback Australia and many of the 3G networks are still up. Hell, I literally watched half this video on 3G. Current location, Oonnadatta.

[JE-ticz]

Will the “Harmony OS based smart phones work in Australia

[RF-nn]

I thought it would only affect calls and maybe SMS, now my 4/5G won't work and I have zero reception. My phone won't connect anymore. Rediculous