I need to upgrade my 6 year old mobile phone (yes, I hate upgrading something that still works ok), as finally its failing.
If I get a 5G model, will it still be able to access 4G or even 3G?
We live in a bit of a blackspot (ridiculous for 15km from Perth CBD!) and even now sometimes I cant make or receive voice calls, and also spend quite a bit of time in rural and remote areas where coverage is lucky to be 3G.
I dont want to end up with worse coverage than currently…
Welcome to the community @Nic.
The simple answer is yes - with some conditions.
Which network technologies you can access are determined by your mobile provider. Some areas such as ours have Telstra 4G and fall back to 3G. Optus provides a 3G/4G service which swaps between the two, randomly in our home. No 5G service. We live in a rural area outside a major city.
I’ve a current model iPhone 14. It connects to 3G and 4G at home. It’s capable of 5G in the city. It’s an Apple for Australia model. If in doubt before purchasing get the exact and full model number and check it is suitable with your mobile provider.
3G is nearly finished for Telstra.
Your coverage depends more on the radio frequency (carrier band) chosen and other technical considerations than whether the service is 3G, 4G or 5G. The “G” - Generation of the technology determines the maximum data speeds and numbers of simultaneous customers/connections that can be managed. We found that the locations of the mobile providers in our location and charging telcos was the only way to get the least worse service.
Certain mobile phones perform better than others in weak signal areas.
As @mark_m says, a new 5G phone will also do 4G and 3G. I agree with his caveats about actual coverage, and sympathise with your mobile reception problems in Perth. Being in a capital city is no guarantee of good mobile reception! Eg, we’re in Canberra and can’t get Telstra 5G, even though it’s available elsewhere within our suburb. 4G signal level is always pretty low here, too.
However, you will very likely find that the new phone is better at making use of a low signal than your 6-year-old one is.
About buying a new phone: the GSM Arena website is a good place to check phone specifications when you’re choosing a new one. The specification list of any particular phone tells you just about everything about its hardware, from which mobile bands it can use through to physical dimensions.
To review ‘phoneability’ I always recommend Cybershack. They do not review all phones but the ones they do seem a gold standard of reviews whereas Choice focuses on features (camera, speakers, etc) not functionality as an actual phone.
My understanding of this, according to what I was reading only a couple of days ago, is that 5G network is “data only” and has nothing to do with making phone calls. Calls are made using the 4G or possibly 3G network. Perhaps somebody else better equipped in knowledge can expand on that.
I still have all my old mobile phones and they can all still see a signal even though many of them are 3G network compatible only.
In view of this, if you are only concerned about making and receiving phone calls (and not about data and Internet access) then perhaps updating your phone is not really required?? ** Please see additional information about this matter from Mark M below to help you decide. It may be possible to hold off updating your phone for awhile.
The other consideration would be if you are in a mobile black spot, but you have home WiFi, can your existing phone connect into your WiFi network and make Voip or Vowifi calls? Most mobile carriers now support Voip and Vowifi calling.
When 3G is turned off customers will need a suitable 4G mobile. Notices from Telstra and Optus advise the 4G mobile must have VoLTE for voice calling. This is a different technology to how 3G provides voice services. Some older 4G mobiles were sold without this capability.
I use both data and voice on 4G. My current Telstra plan is 3/4G only as is my service which uses the Optus network. I’ve not received any advice I will need to upgrade from a 4G VoLTE capable mobile to a 5G model.
Note: There are various explanations why mobile voice calls may choose 3G over 4G especially outside of the urban sprawl. The best advice is to ensure that when your provider turns off 3G - June 2024 for the Telstra network one has a 4G VoLTE capable mobile. 5G models have had premium pricing (coming down), and are backward compatible with 4G as well as 3G.
That is incorrect, at least long term. 5G voice uses different codecs for HD voice, as well as being about faster data. As a general comment mobile phone once used analogue for voice calls but from 4G they evolved almost exclusively to digital, differentiating digital voice from data.
Australia might roll its own but this manufacturer site is a good tutorial in what 5G is about.
The technology and what is made available and when are two different discussions. For example my much older topic
Only the best and newest for us when necessary, delivered to maximise profit over time. The local transition from analogue to SD to HD TV and VHS to PVRs were good examples of how our companies play their game.
The issue of replacing my phone has come to a head with needing it to be connected to my implanted heart monitor via bluetooth, and sending the data back to base, both of which seem to be both data and battery intensive on this old phone.
I also use the data and gps for connecting to my ebike, as well as the usual smart phone functions.
I use wifi at home to boost data and calls, but it still comes down to the fact the phone’s battery and running system is too old to cope with my current needs.
GPS is one of those features that can more rapidly drain a phone battery, especially when using live navigation or a continuous tracking App. Some mobile models have better battery life than others.
Noted your needs for data and GPS added to
From your mobile device, monthly bill or mobile account do you know how much data you are using each month? Helpful for guidance on future needs.
I solved the problem of battery life when travelling.
When in the car we use a cigarette lighter USB charger and long charge cable to power the mobile. When not in the car I carry a lithium battery pocket charging bank with charge cable plugged in to the mobile for the day. Choice has reviewed these in the past. Simply search the Choice product reviews for guidance on what to look for and capacity.
For Nicole
I don’t know where you are up to in this discussion, but if you need data and don’t want to spend too much money then it’s worth looking at Catch Connect.
Runs on the Optus network
$15 per 30 days unlimited calls and texts and 18 GB data included per 30 days.
I am using this service and no problems with it.
