Hi all - Telstra and Optus have delayed the shutdown of their 3G networks to October 28.
The telcos were orignally planning to turn off this service in late August, but now say they’re giving consumers more time to get ready for the change, which is expected to lead to thousands of phones losing 000 service and other functions when it comes into place.
Were you one of those set to be impacted by the 3G shutdown? What do you think of the decision to delay it? Keen to hear peoples’ thoughts.
Human nature being what it is, there will always be a group who are not ready no matter how much ‘warning’ they have about a change.
Accommodating them is good especially because of the confusion created about which phones will become non-operative on that day, but how many subsequent times will an accommodation be granted and at what overall cost with ongoing confusion for the 3G devices being left behind? If people depend on delays they will procrastinate until the end game is over.
Those who cannot afford to upgrade? They will be in the same spot on 31 Aug or 30 Sep or whatever date is set.
With government mandating NBN/VOIP phone services that some arguably feel is not fit for purpose, and now a mobile system dependent on specific bands for 000 calls it seems a case should have been made and implemented to subsidise basic phones for hardship cases, or 000 services upgraded to avoid the problem prior.
I heard something on ABC radio last night about the (of the loss of 3G service) currently used for broadacre agriculture: it is more than personal mobile phones which will be impacted…
As I am being reminded constantly that my Oppo phone will have problems once 3G ceases, I am checking out new phones.
But, I am interested in seeing what will actually happen. What will stop working. So I am going to wait and see, as an experiment. But with a new phone choice ready to go and swap the SIM over.
As my mobile is not used that much for phone calls, but mainly SMS and Whatsapp messaging, and I have my NBN landline, not too concerned about it yet.
I think the decision is warranted. There are many older 3G/4G mobile owners which haven’t checked whether their mobiles will be fully functional after 3G is turned off. The communication about this has been poor and there will be many that thought their older 3G/4G wouldn’t be impacted, only to find out recently that they won’t fully function.
There will also likely be some who are yet to know their older 3G/4G won’t fully function when 3G is turned off.
We were only aware that some 3G/4G phones would be impacted in the past week. After checking, fortunately our 3G/4G phone will continue to function.
The additional 2 months hopefully will allow better communication of potential 3G/4G phones being impacted and allow those which have recently or don’t know of the impact, to get themselves ready for the delayed turnoff.
Interesting to hear Greg - will the extra time be useful in helping you find a new phone?
Maybe. I am thinking there may be a scramble as new phone buyers now create a high demand that keep prices high now, but then prices fall as the phone sellers discount when demand falls and stocks need to be sold off.
I replaced our 2014 model 3G mobile with a multi sim 4G/5G iPhone. Although we are still part of the 3G universe as noted in the following.
Experiences of two - the local rural Optus tower cannot make up its mind whether to service Voice calls using 3G or 4G. It regularly services our mobiles (iPhones 8 and 14) using 4G, but on either of us answering a call decides 3G would be better. The transfer from 4G to 3G voice is rarely without failure. Incoming calls are often dropped on answer or part way through. We don’t have the same experience in urban areas where 4G service is assured. Hence some frustration by the decision to delay further.
To note Telstra service locally varies with the wind, weather and which leg one stands on due to a low height tower in the trees. Mostly 3G connection. It will be interesting to see how it goes once 3G is turned off.
The turn off date has moved several times with Telstra’s 30th June 24 deadline already long past. It’s understandable that the change will have an unwanted added cost impact on some consumers. However the industry has long flagged (4+ years) the end of 3G and timings.
To Suggest:
Many of us older ones who are often the most complaining of change have successfully survived the end of the analogue mobile network, CDMA, and the G’s before 3G. How does one distinguish between those who have a genuine need for assistance, and the simultaneous poorly supported complaints of those who see nothing more than an opportunity to make self serving loud noises? The latter distracts from the former in real need, IMHO.
Perhaps the Telco’s have dropped the ball in not offering conversion packages at significant cost discounts to every day customers (needs based)? Ultimately taking 3G off line is a cost saving. Keeping it on is only adding to Optus and Telstra’s costs, which one might assume would go part way to justifying some financial support.
Not really. The radio spectrum needs to be reallocated to newer mobile networks. The Government controls this and instructed the networks to start the process of getting users off 3G back in 2019. Vodafone has completed the shutdown. Just waiting for Telstra and Optus to complete the task.
Predictable.
Probably the right one.
Carriers should be able to account to the government, and thereby to the public, as to how many services will definitely fail if the 3G shutdown happened today. (It isn’t necessarily even in the carrier’s interest to shut down prematurely since, if they know the service will fail as soon as the 3G shutdown occurs, they should stop charging for the service. So it is going to cost them revenue.)
Maybe carriers should get on the front foot and just start terminating services that are using 3G. That might get people’s attention, where so far it has not. It will also allow the carriers to report truthfully to the government in the near future that there are no remaining 3G customers. 
I’m seeing something that might be similar (wobbling around between 3G and 4G). So from a purely personal point of view, I think things will work better when 3G is dead, buried and cremated.
Turns out my refurb iPhoneSE 2020 is affected, Everyday Mobile sent an email confirming it and a fellow on Whirlpool confirmed that my particular device is a US model (A2275) which does not have Band28. I’m going to follow up at Ozmobiles but don’t expect much joy from them. I think I’ll stay away from refurbs from now on, but the October shutdown date does give me a bit more time to save for a new phone.
There is a cost to retaining redundant technology which must be borne. Inevitably that will fall on the use base. Therefore, as technology recedes into obsolesce, we need to accept that there is a flow-on effect. those with 3G-only phones will need to update. The supermarket chains have phones at very cheap prices which work just fine, probably better than a 15 y.o. model.
I certainly do not want to pay a penalty for someone to use a dinosaur-phone.
There are a lot of phones out there that are not dinosaurs. Far younger than 15 years old that will possibly have problems. The culprit is VoLTE and how networks and phone makers keep up with this Long Term Evolution, a step between 3G and 5G.
A post was merged into an existing topic: 3G Shutdown and Mobile Phone Compatibility
We live in a marginal rural reception area where there is a hill and large pine trees between us and the tower. To improve our reception we bought an indoor Telstra Smart Antenna many years ago when 3G was the norm. The $700 gave us 3 bars on 3G instead of none. However, this old Smart Antenna does not work with 4G and Telstra was kind enough to sell us a new Smart Antenna for a reduced $720 after we complained to the Telco Ombudsman. We now have 1-2 bars on 4G instead of the previous none. For another $100 I will have to add an external 4G Antenna to the Smart Antenna to get decent 4G reception.
Useful to relate differing experiences.
One comparison can use an app such as Speedtest by Ookla. As mentioned by others it is not always possible to rely on the bars indicated on the mobile when comparing different services/technology.
We’ve pine forest ( not Mr Forrest) etc. The nearby Telstra tower is low height and hidden. The best service comes from Optus or Telstra towers many kms distant. Both only give one bar at the window (or fail to connect inside). Outside one - sometimes 2 bars works reasonably reliably.
Breakfast time Sunday morning iPhone 14 inside next to window.
Of some interest the Telstra data modem has a better antennae design IMO and the option of external connection. I rely on it often when travelling away from civilisation. It outdoes the iPhone. Yes it will use 3G, but more recently this is uncommon. Pages can take forever to update on 3G compared with 4G when both are available. We’ve travelled Brisbane to Cairns inland and coastal routes in recent 12 months as well as through NSW and Vic away from the main highways. Experiences can differ. Anecdotal and objective.
It may be prudent if your current service is usable to wait until the 3G is turned off on your tower to see if there is any improvement. We ultimately took up an NBN Fixed Wireless service which meets 99% of our in home needs. It was initially a very poor outcome especially in the evenings. A recent tower upgrade in Jan Feb this year has delivered something usable. This also opens up WiFi calling for the mobiles although past experience was not encouraging.
Is it… twiggy?
/spelling joke
Oops - HA Ha! (Good humour).
Thanks, edit made.
Bloody painful the delay in shutting down the 3G network as so many 5G systems are sitting in waiting to go onto the 3G aerials on 850Mhz etc.
Some locations are at crawl speeds on 4G because of lack of bandwidth. You can see all the 5G towers in waiting to be switch on the RFSNA website.
I have noticed that Australian telcos close the oldest network technology every 8 years. Thus, any mobile phone will work for 16 years regardless of the condition of the phone. Thus once 3G closes, we are left with 4G and 5G technologies.
