The 3G phone network is shutting down from this month (Dec 2023)

[onetrack]

This has to be one of the biggest shafts of the public (once again), as the Telcos start to shut down their 3G network from this month. Vodafone shuts off its 3G network from Fri 15th Dec, Telstra is next with a shutdown of their 3G network in June 2024, and Optus is last with a Sept 2024 shutdown.

 

Now, the thing with this shutdown is - not only does it immediately make a lot of phones utterly useless immediately - it also reduces mobile access for a lot of rural locations.

 

I had been with Boost with my mobile, and when they ramped their pricing, I took up a cheap mobile offer from iiNet (who use Vodaphone now, after TPG bought out iiNet) - and it was only after the swap that I realised iiNet no longer used Telstra, but were now on Vodaphone. 

Now, Vodaphone soothingly reassure us that their "comprehensive network coverage" cover 96% of the population. What that doesn't tell you, is that their network coverage is only about 2/3rds of the land mass, as compared to Telstra.

 

So I switch over to iiNet and drive out to my block at a small country town in the wheatbelt (only 130 kays NNE of Perth) - and I find that Vodaphone only has 3G coverage, which only gives me messaging ability and bugger-all else.

There's a tower in the town, and it's a Telstra tower, and when I was with Boost, I had full 4G service there. Mind you, phone service cut out, just a km or so out of town!

 

Now with Vodaphone being the first to dismantle 3G, I'll have exactly zero mobile service when I'm at my block. There's no mobile service for about the last 60 kms heading out to my block, just a couple of small spots where people apparently have their own towers. What a bloody dead loss this Vodaphone operation is!! If you live in a coastal urban area and never leave it, you're sweet with them! Otherwise, if you want to travel with Vodaphone, you're buggered for phone service!!

 

Fortunately, I just managed to pick up an eBay deal where someone was offering a discount on a 12mth Boost SIM card - $199 instead of the regular $230 they now charge. Plus eBay was offering another $15 discount, so I got 12mths with Boost again for $184.

Originally, I went with Boost just over 12 mths ago, when they offered a deal for $160 for 12mths, as compared to the normal $200 for 12mths, that it cost back then.

But in July, Boost ramped their 12mth plan up to $230, so that was what made me go over to Vodaphone - which was just $15.00 a month. So, Vodaphone and iiNet can get stuffed now, I want as much phone service as I can get, when I travel!

 

I hate to think how many rural people are now going to lose coverage with this 3G shutdown and with many of their old phones immediately becoming useless. I'll wager a lot of people don't even know the shutdown is coming!

 

https://www.9news.com.au/technology/3g-network-shutdown-australia-when-does-it-happen-who-does-it-affect-telstra-optus-vodafone-explained/499635b2-f49d-4ba5-8aa8-15adfb224754

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by onetrack

[Marty_d]

AldiMobile do $19 plans (used to be $15, now $17 for existing users), and they're Telstra.  Mind you 19x12 is still $228 per year.

[nomadpete]

Yes but Aldi does not operate outside populous areas. At all.

Fine in tas though.

When I do my winter migration to the mainland I buy a Telstra prepaid sim for temporary rural/remote travel. And Mrs Nomad has Optus, since some towns are Optus and others are Telstra. The cheapy pretend telcos only serve the profitable areas.

[facthunter]

Pick the eyes out of it and avoid the Hard Yard.  Nev

[octave]

10 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Yes but Aldi does not operate outside populous areas. At all.

 

I have Woolworths (Telstra) and it works everywhere my Vodaphone used to work but much cheaper.

[old man emu]

Nobody's coverage is perfect. Travel along our major rural highways and you'll run through many areas where here is no service. And I don't mean out at West Bumfuck. 

[willedoo]

I'm with Aldi and it says 3G on the phone. According to the Telstra coverage map, 4G is available in the area, and Googling my old Galaxy S5 says it's 4G capable. I'm hoping Aldi will just switch over to 4G when the time comes and make the transition relatively painless. I'm right on the cut-off point on the map for 5G; it shows it available right up to the neighbouring property but not mine.

[red750]

I took my old iPhone 6 to the Vodaphone shop in Forest Hill Chase and was told it is 4G compatible.

[onetrack]

Here's another angle to the 3G shutdown. A lot of services that currently use 3G for transmission will be affected. Typical is voicemail and account/balance checking, where you dial #111#, #121# or #100#. There will be other system access numbers using the 3G network, that I'm not currently aware of. 

All the Telcos are saying they're working on changes to these systems to accommodate the 3G shutdown - but once again, I reckon there'll be more losers, especially in the rural and remote regions.

 

Then there are the multitude of devices in the IoT spectrum that rely on the 3G network. Typically, things such as security systems and cameras, flood control, sewerage and water level systems, ticketing machines, emergency warning dongles for old people who are living alone, and who have fallen over and can't get up. There is a hidden major cost to all these systems needing to be upgraded, even though they work just fine now.

 

https://boost.com.au/blogs/help-topics/111-exit

 

https://www.telstra.com.au/support/pre-paid/100exit

 

https://telconews.com.au/story/the-reality-of-australia-s-3g-shutdown-needs-to-sink-in-before-it-comes-back-to-bite-our-essential-services

[red750]

Not sure network seniors "panic buttons' run on.

[ClintonB]

14 hours ago, old man emu said:

Nobody's coverage is perfect. Travel along our major rural highways and you'll run through many areas where here is no service. And I don't mean out at West Bumfuck. 

try the pacific HWY, one of our major routes between state capitals, signal is on, off all the way. and yet you can see towers-so good line of sight and have no service.  Now Cel-fi has released a model specifically for 5G after i have 2 of the bloody things that work best on boosting the 3G signal.

[nomadpete]

49 minutes ago, ClintonB said:

try the pacific HWY, one of our major routes between state capitals, signal is on, off all the way. and yet you can see towers-so good line of sight and have no service.  Now Cel-fi has released a model specifically for 5G after i have 2 of the bloody things that work best on boosting the 3G signal.

Therein lies the problem created by privatisation.

If all those towers were owned by one supplier, there would be far greater coverage, at a lower overall cost.

[kgwilson]

I have a cheap deal with Amaysim. $10.00 a month for unlimited calls & texts & 4 GB of data that rolls over. I have over 100 GB credit at present. Amaysim use the Optus network. Not quite as extensive as Telsta but there are areas where it works an Telstra doesn't.

 

Also I've been with iiNet for 13 years for internet & landline & since the TPG takeover they have decided to get rid of Email. Service which has always been exemplary has taken a dive as well. In September next year my email address I have had all that time is gone & I"ll have to get one through the messaging company and pay for it, or use one of the free services like Gmail. Good organisations build up a reputation and then get swallowed by corporate giants whose only interest is to get as much out of its customers that it can possibly squeeze while whittling services down to a point just above where there would be a mass exodus.

[Jerry_Atrick]

6 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Therein lies the problem created by privatisation.

If all those towers were owned by one supplier, there would be far greater coverage, at a lower overall cost.

 

I am a capitalist-ish. But I do not believe public utilities should be left to the almost free market. And they certainly should not be foreign owned. Maybe I can be accused of being a nationalist.

[old man emu]

Here's a stab in the back for the uptake of EVs for inter-city travel. It seems that in order to use a charging point, you have to download an app specific to the owner of the charge point. There was an article published recently in the Australian edition of the Daily Mail in which the journalist discovered that the app for the charging point at Sallys Corner on the Hume Highway, 125 kms direct line from Sydney, would not work because it was on the Vodaphone network, and there was no coverage. 

 

The journalist, of the female persuasion, was delivered from her dilemma by a Knight in Shining Armour. It seems that this journalist's drive from Sydney to Melbourne and back, for personal reasons - not an EV assessment, was horrid in terms of the charging process. https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbEVQeUhnWEtFQmhNMmZreVJJNTJsblhvYU9kd3xBQ3Jtc0trOVdZOEVIZWtJZHRkMkFfR1ZQTnFwZ1RFOUdIcVRqbk0weVVHbmc5SGxad1hqcjU1TTlQRGRDdGk5Mmd3bEw3bDdvbkJvUE5IbzlrTEpCWXk2X3ZNUmJuSVZlbmY3SExvRDcwQ3hCcTZQYlV1YlNWbw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Ffemail%2Farticle-12769167%2FHyundai-Ioniq-5-road-trip-Melbourne-Sydney-expensive-slow.html&v=IS5JPqZcdI0

[willedoo]

50 minutes ago, kgwilson said:

I have a cheap deal with Amaysim. $10.00 a month for unlimited calls & texts & 4 GB of data that rolls over. I have over 100 GB credit at present. Amaysim use the Optus network. Not quite as extensive as Telsta but there are areas where it works an Telstra doesn't.

 

Also I've been with iiNet for 13 years for internet & landline & since the TPG takeover they have decided to get rid of Email. Service which has always been exemplary has taken a dive as well. In September next year my email address I have had all that time is gone & I"ll have to get one through the messaging company and pay for it, or use one of the free services like Gmail. Good organisations build up a reputation and then get swallowed by corporate giants whose only interest is to get as much out of its customers that it can possibly squeeze while whittling services down to a point just above where there would be a mass exodus.

I'm with Internode, part of the same group. The latest email from them said they are taking no new customers and will eventually migrate all existing customers to iiNet. I've found the Messaging Company to be very poor after registering with them. Continual server dropouts trying to retrieve emails, log in problems, open the email app and it can take up to 15 minutes before emails download from their server, even registering was problematic. There's nothing there that would encourage me to pay them for bad service next year. I've set up a couple of gmail accounts and will eventually change my contacts over to that. gmail is also a nice short name to type for log in. Over the years, I've found the internode.on.net address a nightmare to read out to someone over the phone., but everyone recognises gmail.com

[red750]

I have email addresses with optus and yahoo. Optus was first, when my wife worked or them, but limited storage requiring regular deletion of emails, and limits on the size of image and video files caused me to open the yahoo address. No such limits. I kept my optus address as it was used to open some other online accounts and is registered with them. They are also used as emergency backups for each other.

[old man emu]

I use gmail. It's the easiest email extension to give over the phone. The first bit of an email address should be something that is both short and identifies you. I hate those email addresses like joeblow25783. I have two words in my personal one, separated by a full stop. It's a bit long but references my online screen name.

[spacesailor]

I've been with " hotmail " forever . But some ' idiot company 's ' won't recognise that server .

Making you have to have a second email address.  Gmail of course! .

 

 

Has anyone else,  have a lot of problems with A ( bllooody ) I . 

spacesailor

[red750]

Mine are my screen name, here and half a dozen other sites, and the other is my surname and screen name as one word, all lower case.

[facthunter]

Should you be telling everyone that?  Nev

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, facthunter said:

Should you be telling everyone that?  Nev

He didn't say which internet mob his emails are with. I bet you can guess my personal email address.

[facthunter]

The LESS they know the better.   Nev

[willedoo]

I was reading about the far north Queensland community of Wujal Wujal being flooded. They said they've switched from 4G to the 3G network to conserve the town's batteries until they are evacuated. Not sure what they mean by that. I thought they might have solar with battery storage for the township power and it powers something to do with the phone network.

[onetrack]

With only weeks to go before the 3G network is shut down for good, the authorities have determined there's still at least 60,000 handsets out there, still running on 3G, which become useless the instant the 3G network is shut down.

 

I note the article below says nothing about other 3G devices still relying on the 3G network, that aren't handsets! Note also, the number of people still complaining that a 3G shutdown is going to leave them worse off, as regards communication, even if they have upgraded to 4G (and even 5G) handsets.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-16/3g-switch-off-phone-reception-check-devices/104478336