Australia Blocked Internationally Purchased 4G/5G Phones As Part of 3G Shutdown - Starting 28th Oct

[@HughJeffreys]

My sister in-laws 5G OnePlus 8 Pro was IMEI blocked Australia wide on the 28th of October as part of the 3G shutdown. She was receiving messages early on about 8 months ago when placing outgoing calls saying it will not work after the shutdown. Then she received confirmation that that was wrong and it will work, even received an email from her telco 2 days prior stating the device is not affected by the shutdown. Then on the 28th of October (day of shutdown) it was blocked and stopped receiving any network signal. Its a 5G phone with Band 28 for emergency calls. It was identified by AMTA as a China OnePlus model "IN2020" stating it couldn't call 000 as it lacked band 28, when in fact its a US model "IN2025" which has band 28. Called the telco and they said the block can not be removed, they didn't block it and their is no appeal process. Told her to buy a new phone. 3G petition: www.change.org/StopTelcoDeviceBlocking James' Medium article "Australia’s 3G Shutdown - Telcos to Block Working 4G/5G Phones!" medium.com/@jamesdwho/australias-3g-shutdown-telcos-to-block-working-4g-5g-phones-2bf41e95de8a Emergency Call Service Determination Legislation (The law requiring telcos to block devices their can't verify) www.legislation.gov.au/F2024L01103/asmade/text

[@Space_US]

hey hugh, do you think it'll be fine to use a HK phone in the US? (ignoring 5g mm wave antenna)

[@pancakecatyt]

@@HughJeffreys I just sent the petition to my whole school.

[@-someone-.]

Shared. Thx Hugh. Everyone needs to move to LoRa for local (and long range) communication, this would be a great opportunity to do some vids on it and meshnet👊

[@Yourfriendinlearning]

Australian government are out of touch! Hopefully reason will prevail. Now why are we still putting fluoride (which is factory waste) in the tap water in Australia?

[@BlackGateofMordor]

What was the name of the app you used at the start of the video to test your phone?

[@rat_step]

"You're a tourist, so you can't call emergency numbers. Oopsie! Sorry about your death, mate!" - The Australian Government, probably

[@JamesDwho]

Actually that's exactly it, Roamers (travellers) are exempt from the block, they just have to receive a warning text to say their device 'may be unable to make calls or emergency calls'. There are devices configured for 4G Emergency Calls in other countries but when you go to make an Emergency Call here that device just gets stuck on Calling and the Emergency call never goes through. See the Medium posts linked in the petition for more info.

[@ely_twix9580]

Now that’s a big problem 😢

[@ely_twix9580]

Now that’s a big problem 😢

[@skpracta]

i would make sure my phone does not roam on Telstra network.

[@stephenjourdain1842]

So what does the tourist industry say? "letting know your phone may not work here so you'll have to buy a new one" How's that for attracting tourists to Australia?

[@marcbacus]

Millions of phones will go unusable. So much ewaste right there.

[@MilesProwerTailsFox]

People should be able to atleast buy an adapter Athena to use in home or something

[@ashchbkv6965]

It also means millions of new phone sales, which benefits people like me financially, people who have a stake in the smartphone business.

[@MilesProwerTailsFox]

@@ashchbkv6965 it also benefits me but that doesn't mean I like it

[@420SmokezzYT]

Government: that’s alright, that’s why we got you mate. Now get to work and make me my moolah! I got a coffee and date to pay for!

[@extratune3887]

​@@MilesProwerTailsFox Well simple solution is network carrier has to make a simple app like JIO did in india. To accommodate those phone. But you know they won't do cause they'll lose money

[@Lucifer.6.6.6.]

No company actually cares about e-waste...... They care about MONEY....

[@juri2001]

Do you care about the money??

[@glytchd]

This isn't companies.. in a free market, 3g wouldn't be dropped unless it's no longer viable vs consumer usage etc. Ie. When is no longer desired break the customer and profitable . That's how the industry works in the FREE world Not the new Soviet union 2.0 though

[@glytchd]

FYI- ewaste is being caused by the government intervention - green deals etc.. the companies are just going along with what they're being forced into due to market and regulatory pressures

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Australia has undertaken **3** previous network shutdowns with AMPS (2000), CDMA (2008) and GSM (2017). The 3G shutdown for 2024 is of no interest or consequence for virtually all Australians. The 3G shutdown has to be completed to ensure the 4G/5G mobile network is to be effective, reliable and grows with the needs of Australian society. Just like the end of the Australian 1990s 2G GSM network in 2017, 99.9% of the population will not even notice that the obsolete 2000s 3G network was shutdown the morning after the event takes place. All handsets purchased locally in Australia from the carrier shops since January 2019 are fully 4G compliant.

[@Jeffcrocodile]

since the beginning you're supposed to care about e-waste or the environment, not the companies. It's all your fault for not recycling

[@MickAngelhere]

Australia sees the mistakes other countries make and then go and make the same mistakes but even worse. The government doesn’t care it’s about money

[@alexanderSydneyOz]

No, it was about knowing that phones can call 000. Badly done, but that was the objective.

[@gapho5198]

It's not the governments money, it's ours and they still don't care.

[@XC-Z-cv8qw]

Lol we've learned nothing from the NBN fiasco where the chairwoman said people don't need more than 50 Mbps to watch Netflix 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[@lowkeyconvert8971]

guys, my xiaomi phone is blocked on optus network and not on telstra. make it make sense.

[@sticustom]

Seeing they know about this they should be sued if just one person dies because they can’t ring 000. Someone’s making money out of this.

[@FXV56]

There's always someone making money by things like this Some things are shit seemingly for no reason but that might be it

[@Jack-aus]

@@Bentendo83 the federal liberal government would’ve done the same thing. You could say the same thing about 2g phones which can’t make emergency phone calls. It’s happened time and time again.

[@DGTelevsionNetwork]

Already started to happen in the States. I know Indiana and Michigan have ordered a stop on legacy deprecation from the bad press and ongoing litigation.

[@RoronoaDeep]

What they are planning is criminal.

[@TheLaXandro]

@@Bentendo83 it is very much their job if they are in the business to provide telephone services.

[@AudioDriver]

This is giving me flashbacks of how the Australian government butchered the NBN roll out back in 2018. The fed is really braindead when it comes to anything technological in Australia. They always seem to make the worst possible anti-consumer choices at every turn. Almost smells like corruption.

[@mickwolf1077]

probably money laundering or kickbacks to the politicians involved, they 'we' pay top dollar for absolute shit when other countries already have better.

[@kimbo99]

Don't worry the same permanent political class are doing Nuclear subs next. What could go wrong ?

[@shiroiokami9]

ohh god i hated the nbn rollout, my entire suburb got fttp apart from my street, it was like that for an entire year.

[@jordanwardle11]

the liberals are masters at fucking technology up

[@yantantethera689]

If it smells like it...

[@johnneill9740]

My Dad's heart implant has a monitoring device in his room, to detect reading/alerts and upload them via 4g to the monitoring firm, they have no idea if their devices will work after 3g shutdown... they're in the dark. This will devastate regional Australia, where 4g coverage is largely non-existent.

[@Brendo95]

Absolute clusterfuck, graduates and corpos working in big skyscrapers in the city fucking over everyone without so much of consideration imo

[@overwrite_oversweet]

4G coverage will *never* be existent if telcos are never allowed to repurpose the bands they're using on legacy technology. There are only so many frequencies they're allowed to use, and it's not like they can pull more electromagnetic spectrum out of thin air.

[@ivok9846]

@@overwrite_oversweet no, you can't repurpose 2 or 3g and call it "new 4g". and 4g's higher frequencies can't have coverage of lower (2 and 3g). i presume all australians live in cities and you have no hills or mountains.... a bit weird, but ok....heh

[@overwrite_oversweet]

@@ivok9846 4G in Australia uses band 28 (700 MHz) which is lower frequency than 3G (primarily 850 MHz).

[@ivok9846]

@@overwrite_oversweet in that case there's not much to bitch about...

[@RavennaWyrmwood]

I’m so glad someone is talking about this. I spent hours googling to figure half of this stuff out, and still even the local Optus dealer wouldn’t believe it was true. Hopefully this video raises awareness of the insanity of Australian telcos.

[@eclpsecomics]

This is some backwards thinking

[@MrREDSTAR20]

Or as my grandpa says. Backassward thinking

[@yoshibros1111]

Could not agree more

[@Wubsy96]

This is some upside-down thinking.

[@vulcanitu2578]

Typical Australia

[@Mrs.Thatcher]

Telco monopoly coming, so kickbacks for politicians.

[@Mrshoujo]

I dislike this continual forced obsoleting of usable technology every few years.

[@killax7]

Go watch the most recent veritasium video. You can use the 3g software to "hack" ANYONE'S phone with only their phone number. You can take their phone calls or listen in and locate the user. The Emirates were caught using this exploit for nefarious purposes.

[@lucasn0tch]

Planned obsolescence: the true form of corporatism.

[@-NezoF-]

​@@lucasn0tchDon't misuse the word corporatism, it means about the opposite of what you assume

[@deepspacecow2644]

When will we retire the networks then? Do you just plan on running 2g/3g/4g/5g/6g all at the same time? They all need different hardware, and there is a VERY limited amount of frequency spectrum available.

[@James_Knott]

Cell technology has advanced tremendously over the years. 5G is a huge improvement over 4G, which was huge improvement over 3G, which was huge improvement over 2G, which was a huge improvement over 1G. Or would you rather we still be stuck on spectrum wasting 1G, when everything following is more efficient? BTW, 1G was voice calls only, with no user data capability.

[@thedarkknight1971]

What about Cars and OTHER VEHICLES that RELY on 3G for their services (SOS, data and other)... Insto-Bricked?

[@JamesDwho]

That is a big issue in the EU at the moment, cars with Emergency Calling (e-Call) generally rely on 2G or 3G to make emergency calls. Without 2G or 3G those cars won't be able to call 112. There are major compatibility issues with make Emergency Calls on 4G. France isn't switching off 3G until 2028/2029 however many other EU countries are looking at late 2025/2026. Check the Medium posts linked in the petition for more information.

[@mikapeltokorpi7671]

Yup. A lot of cars will render unusable if no upgrade is provided.

[@mikapeltokorpi7671]

​@JamesDwho France is always behind the curve with security related network updates. They have most insecure networks in the world by the design. I checked them about 20 years ago and French networks were using 7-10 year old encryption methods back then.

[@JamesDwho]

@@mikapeltokorpi7671 Yes I recall at EENA 2023 there being a discussion on who should front the cost for upgrading the cars to NG-eCall. Still no clarity around that and with the VoLTE Roaming and Emergency Calling issues it makes it even more complex.

[@cassieoz1702]

I CANT AFFORD TO REPLACE MY PHONE!!

[@ozzybloke4830]

Your mobile phone wont be able to make emergency calls so were going to block it so you cant call anyone. Pure Intelligence from the Australian Government and telco's.

[@eat_ze_bugs]

Not even third world governments are this stupid.

[@userxl41drn301]

Also, we won't tell you exactly WHY your perfectly-functioning VoLTE-compliant phone won't be able to call 000. We'll just declare that it can't, then switch you off and make you buy a handset from our overpriced store (and don't forget to grab an equally-overpriced plan).

[@Carnyzzle]

It's like Australia researched the AT&T whitelist and went, "alright, how do we do that but make it worse?"

[@cameronbosch1213]

Verizon

[@OliTheRepairDude]

But it will save lives to prevent any tragic incident arise from unable to make emergency calls

[@Carnyzzle]

@@cameronbosch1213 Verizon doesn't whitelist phones but it's essentially gambling because their bands don't always work with international phones

[@Zuriki09]

​@@OliTheRepairDude the issue can be fixed through software, they just don't want to put that effort in.

[@Wog68]

is there AT&T in Australia? When did that happened?

[@codyrap95]

For ppl who bought phones due to the misleading messages, I suggest a class action lawsuit to at least get your money back

[@minecrafter9099]

they didn't force you to buy anything, they "suggested" you should

[@HuskyMoment]

@@minecrafter9099a coordinated effort to mislead consumers and coax them into an unnecessary purchase sounds like illegal activity to me

[@sagittariusa2201]

Ie: forced ​@@minecrafter9099

[@Ramonatho]

​@minecrafter9099 a business making a bad suggestion at the behest of their own shareholders definitely isn't just a simple "suggestion" like your friend reccomending a movie.

[@gentle285]

@@minecrafter9099 When you can't call emergency services anymore, it stops being a "suggestion", since you are literally forced to buy a new phone.

[@DrCoomer_1]

Contact Louis Rossman ASAP, we need international attention in this situation

[@rkan2]

I feel like he is already spinning a video.

[@billymania11]

Who?

[@Syping]

They already took 3G in Germany and i have no coverage anymore in many public buildings, it sucks, and i even have 5G phone but the coverage is ass

[@DerrickRG]

​@@billymania11 Google exists. Use it.

[@rkan2]

@@billymania11 Louis Rossmann with two ss and two ns lol

[@macp5527]

Tackling a non-problem by creating major problems, the Aussie politicians' way.

[@OneIdeaTooMany]

Thousands of medical devices are about to go offline. Like CPAP machines.. they can no longer be updated nor can the data be reviewed by respiratory specialists. You'll now have to remove your SD card and take it to the manufacturer so they can upload the information for you.

[@GregoryShtevensh]

Wow

[@ActionPanda-g5n]

Yep just happened to me!

[@johnt.848]

I have a Heart Monitor beside my bed that relies on a dongle with a Sim card, no doubt that won't work either.

[@Snoop_Dugg]

Thanks for the heads up Maybe we should wait before getting a medical device until the shutdown

[@muzzthegreat]

WHOA! Cpap machines - i didn't think of them. Nah, it seems mine uses the phone / bluetooth / app to 'uplink'. - But I was thinking of buying perhaps a slightly older model as a backup, and now I am concerned that is not a good idea.

[@hanovergreen4091]

Sounds like some Australian politicians got some juicy contributions to their "re-election" campaigns..

[@Jack-aus]

I think the only party that doesn’t agree with it is Paul enhance and you can go support the crazies over there

[@sub0rLai]

@@passivevii4052 0.01 cents has been deposited into your account!

[@deltawasneverhere]

@@passivevii4052 bot

[@naturalnonsense]

@@passivevii4052why

[@theshadowman1398]

Like your idol Zelensky gets monthly

[@GarbanzoBeansFan]

this is just a blatant cash grab

[@phils4634]

Nothing new for Optus / Telstra / Vodafone there, mate.

[@francoistombe]

When a US carrier ended 3g it sent all the customers using 3g units new phones that used 4g. The replacement phones were super cheap flip phones, but the customers did not have to buy new stuff. Most were being used as emergency phones stashed in cars. Shutting down someone's smart phone is nasty. But profitable, apparently.

[@phillipsmiley5930]

power grab

[@leopoldpoppenberger8692]

Crooks

[@davidarundel6187]

Another one . greedy 🤡s.

[@EyeProductionsAus]

Thank you for making this informative video mate. Tech support at Telstra doesn't even know why some phones wont work on their 5G network.

[@cherriebaars3971]

Yup I spent 4 hrs at telstra the other day and they couldn't get my 5/5g ph to work so I'm have no ph just Wi-Fi atn

[@teckmenglee8060]

Count on Australia's political and legislative system to introduce more problems to solve 1 problem.

[@franny231123DMT]

3 things guaranteed in life: death, taxes, and what you said ^

[@1507krazy]

It's not that the phone is unable to call on VoLTE, It's the carriers not provisioning VoLTE to that phone.

[@proudbrogressive315]

Exactly. It's planned obsolescence 101. Force people to buy $1000k new devices, from a local monopoly.

[@nullvoid3990]

I'm stuck with my pixel 7a it's shit

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

@@LiamFitzpatrick-pzzzt You did note the reference to crashing the second hand market as well? The phones get handed down/on sold...and the providers don't like that at all...

[@DorkaliciousAF]

Yes and no. VoLTE assumes that devices are tested for compatibility, which broadly isn't true unless buying from the carrier. Also, it's less VoLTE isn't being provisioned but rather the rate at which the VoLTE roaming agreements are being signed is too low. That's because domestically the telcos are trying to make VoLTE work reliably especially for emergency service calls.

[@fr33kSh0w2012]

@@nullvoid3990 I know right most of this tech is SHIT.

[@qbmac2306]

My Xperia 10 II stopped receiving signal coverage in January 2024 because Vodafone shutdown their 3G network. Everything on the phone still worked, except making and receiving calls, which is kinda the point of a mobile phone. I was forced to buy a new phone specifically made for the Australian market.

[@Skobeloff...]

You may have been able to flash it to a version that worked, I understand that most people either are unaware of that, or do not want to try it. I am far from an expert, but have flashed my sony xperia xz2 so that it (theoretically) will work after telstra tries to stop it from working.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

*ANY* handset purchased from the mobile carriers shops after January 2019 are fully 4G compliant with VoLTE and Band 28. The channel host made a deliberate decision to purchase a foreign handset and now this strategy has become unstuck. Tough bloody luck. Decisions have consequences. Just like the end of the Australian 1990s 2G GSM network in 2016, 99.9% of the population will not even notice that the obsolete 2000s 3G network was shutdown the morning after the event takes place.

[@sub0rLai]

​@@user-kc1tf7zm3b Insane comparison. the iPhone 11 was made after january 2019 and is unsupported and carriers literally sent out texts to users on specific newer phone models that lacked support telling them their phone would be unsupported... 3-4 year old phones. It's a little different this time around. The government is literally acknowledging it will be a catastrophe. edit to add: look up how 2G and 3G work. They are far more penetrative and the signal goes much further. Towers can be spread farther away and signal can be reached far further and deeper than 4G and 5G, making it prime for emergency service use. Shutting it down completely is purely for money to make their profit margin climb fractions of percents at the expense of millions. So glad telecom is privatized and corrupt with greed.

[@Skobeloff...]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b Not sure what you believe your point is. You can buy whatever they want you to, and you are free to believe you are winning. Other people like to make informed choices, and we did so. The telcos are deliberately choosing to screw over Australians, and the environment, for their own financial gain. Only a complete muppet would celebrate, or even excuse that.

[@Jordan75577]

will my s20 fe still work ? im on boost its unlocked its a Australian model

[@AthifKhan]

James if you are seeing this huge respect to you man. All the hard work that you have done surrounding this is fantabulous to say the least. I have signed your petition and will support you in whatever way possible

[@JamesDwho]

thanks, appreciated

[@wimpb]

The blocking of phones that can't call 000 is really baffling. So instead of being unable to call 000, I'll be unable to call anyone at all? Is that supposed to be an improvement?

[@joesmith6643]

They want to ban plastic bags cause they are so overly concerned for the environment but they intentionally push for such a policy that will create tons of ewaste.

[@noseboop4354]

It is an improvement for fattening the wallets of the telecom companies. This is already a thing in Canada, 3G isn't shut down yet but at least one major telecom company (Telus) has went ahead and blocked all non-supported phones. Only a matter of time before they all do.

[@TechnoMinarchist]

​@@joesmith6643They just care about control. The reason they want to block international phones is because phones bought from Telstra and Optus have backdoors in them so they can spy on you.

[@TechnoMinarchist]

​@@joesmith6643They just care about control. The reason they want to block international phones is because phones bought from Telstra and Optus have backdoors in them.

[@TechnoMinarchist]

​@@joesmith6643The reason they want to prevent international phone use is because phones bought from Australian telcos by law are required to install backdoors on their devices.

[@SpookySkeletonGang]

Legitimately one of the stupidest decisions I've seen in a while lol. 3g and 2g are old standards, but they're good in emergencies, get better signal strength, and work at longer ranges. Supporting older, cheaper devices is also a great thing. I'm in Canada and I constantly lose 4g connection even in my city and get bumped back to 3g. I cannot imagine how terrible this will be for australians.

[@johnn89367]

4G on 700MHz can travel further than 3G on 850MHz but is running at reduced power so it doesn't exceed 3G coverage.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

*ANY* handset purchased from the Australian mobile carrier shops after January 2019 are fully 4G compliant with VoLTE and frequency Band 28. The channel host made a deliberate decision to purchase a foreign handset and this strategy has now become unstuck. Tough bloody luck. Decisions have consequences. Just like the end of the Australian 1990s 2G GSM network in 2017, 99.9% of the population will not even notice that the obsolete 2000s 3G network was shutdown the morning after the event takes place.

[@tin2001]

That's not because 3G goes further. It's because the area you're in is better covered by 3G. If they shut down 3G and reuse that frequency band for 4G, you'll get 4G in that area.

[@James_Knott]

What company are you with? I'm on Rogers. If you're on Freedom, you will not have the coverage you'd have with Rogers, Bell or Telus (including their virtual/flanker networks). And range is determined by the frequency used, not tech. So, all else being equal, on the same band, the different tech should have similar coverage. However, 4G & 5G can be as low as the 800 MHz band, but the lowest 2G used is 850 MHz, so 4G & 5G should have better range.

[@zakofrx]

A country with long distances between people using a system that will means their phones will be out of service a lot unless they live in a city.. Their are people in Australia so remote they can't allways get a 3g connection let alone 4g..

[@ThatBritishMovieGuy]

Damn, you mean if I go on holiday to Aus from the UK, I might have to buy a new phone to use while I'm out there? That's madness. New SIM for cheaper data I can just about handle, but new phone? LOL

[@idzan-private]

Yeah, same thing lol. Never thought that even if I get there by start of next year to visit long lasting family that I'll need to buy new phone just to use in Australia, I mean, really, my backup phone wouldn't work on their 4G networks (EU compliant phone from Xiaomi), only thought - well, let me when I got to airport buy SIM card, get some cash on it, buy data plan and enjoy with hotspot.

[@trignite]

ONLY if you buy a telstra sim or sim from a wholesaler who uses Telstra's network e.g Boost Mobile.

[@Connie_TinuityError]

Yes, you're 100% spot on about that.

[@Zerbey]

You can still use WiFi calling, if your device supports it. Or, if you have an iPhone you can use FaceTime Audio, assuming the person you are calling uses it. Or, one of the many third party apps... assuming the person you're calling uses it. If you need to call emergency services? Well good luck I guess! Maybe buy or rent a cheap phone for your trip, especially if you're going to be going off the beaten path.

[@James_Knott]

@@Zerbey "You can still use WiFi calling, if your device supports it." This is the beauty of VoLTE & VoNR, assuming the company follows the 3GPP spec, as they should. VoLTE, VoNR (5G) and WiFi calling all use the same protocol, so you can seamlessly move between cell and WiFi networks. My 5G Pixel 6 is configured to use WiFi calling when I'm at home.

[@xchazz86]

Don’t worry Australian has already banned freespeech and critical thinking, not having a phone wont matter much.

[@ozemale6t928]

So they're going to switch off 3G which will effect emergency calls, at a time when households are doing it tough, and the start of the bushfire season.

[@HendrikKleyn]

Welcome to the Aussie government 💪

[@knifeyonline]

@ozemale6t928 dude no, if you can't make the emergency call they are going to stop providing service entirely. Not just emergency calls won't work, no calls at all will work.

[@sotrue2976]

What else would you expect when unskilled politicians make any decisions for us

[@dutchroll]

Some telco providers (Telstra being one) are giving away free 4g handsets to the elderly and disadvantaged. For the rest, just upgrade your bloody phone package! You can buy one outright for

[@amongsussyballs]

@@knifeyonline you didnt watch the video

[@MateoThePro]

3G in Croatia is only being shut down by one network and that is T-Mobile/T-Com. All other networks don't even dare to touch 3G as here we have lots of older people still using older/dumb phones.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

This makes no sense at all. Abandoning obsolete 3G UMTS then reallocating the former 3G radio frequency bands to 4G and 5G will _lower_ costs for the consumer, as the modern networks are far more efficient for the mobile carrier to operate than the 1990s 3G network could ever be. This is why most mobile carriers around the world are decommissioning their old 3G networks, with Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Greece have all already done so. Basic phones are cheap. In Australia, a feature phone can be had for as little as $39 (€24), a 4G VoLTE smartphone for $59 (€36) and a 5G smartphone for $119 (€73). For those with challenging financial circumstances, Telstra will simply give a phone at no charge as a social service to their subscriber. Mr Šalić, what is so peculiar and unique with the Croat mobile network outlook and reality?

[@masterkamen371]

​​@@user-kc1tf7zm3bAh, we have another corporate bootlicker here. The point is that a large part of our population is still using 2G phones (they are just superior as cell phones and no one will convince me or anyone else using them otherwise). 4G and 5G will never work as well when roaming the forests for example. The physics don't allow it. Probably about a third of the country also still uses 3G phones. We have probably the best mobile network coverage in the world due to tourism, but 2G and 3G still work better in the challenging terrain that a large number of people live in. Now, I thought the voice of our people was terribly weak, but you Australian bootlickers truly astound me, you will just blindly accept whatever the government shoves down your throat.

[@masterkamen371]

​@@user-kc1tf7zm3b I would strongly encourage you to go sell your consumerism to someone else. Croatia's mobile network coverage is probably the best in the world, but there's at least a third of our population using 2G and 3G phones. Not only is it impoverished elders using them, but also a crazy number of business phones, emergency services and so on who rely on these things. I've been to many places where, even though there is a stable 5G network, only 2G and maybe 3G can reach you due to the geography. If you roam forests or go to the mountains, you would be crazy not to have a 2G phone. My "smart" phone craps out whenever it has to use networks slower than 4G and doesn't even work. You'd be surprised how many times my trusty Nokia "dumb" phone has saved my ass.

[@harrisonchan9573]

You cannot convince me otherwise that you arent working for the gov or telco. Sure, the 3G network shutdown is inevitable (way too early tbh), but blocking volte compatible phones from international sources is the greediest; scummiest anti-consumerist bullshit I’ve seen in a while.

[@Ligh7Bulb]

I subscribed to you, signed the petition, and donated. Thanks to you and James for bringing this to light. I never knew about this at all

[@coen555]

It all makes me furious. Having bought a $1200 4G phone two years ago I was not expecting to be forced into a new phone any time soon. And I'm certain than coverage in the bush will suffer, no doubt leading to deaths.

[@SvDKILLSWITCH]

How unlike the Australian government to introduce short-sighted, poorly thought out legislation and make foolish decisions that end up doing more harm than they help. I for one, am shocked.

[@unknownlizbeth]

😂😂😂

[@SunshineArt]

But just driving an couple of hours out of Adelaide, we no longer have 5G or even 4G my phone drops to 3G. Im on telstra So how are people going to use 5g/4g when it doesn't work in the country. It's very premature to have everyone move over something Telstra hasn't even fully provisioned to the whole country yet.

[@dieseldragon6756]

From what you say here; It sounds like I'm more likely to get basic coverage outside Adelade by bringing my UK 2G mobile phone and employing the ionosphere to get service from my UK provider, then I'm ever likely to get on a Telstra device... 🇬🇧📶⬅🇦🇺📲😉

[@johnneill9740]

The answer is... they don't care about people in the country, period. You may need to get a Sat phone.

[@Stevo.100]

I live in country SA and used to have a job that involved driving to other country areas, while I've never had a phone with 5G and as it turns out my phone, despite being 4G compatible, isn't actually 4G compatible(?) I've definitely noticed that there isn't much reception unless you're actually in a town. It's why I still have my music downloaded, instead of streaming, because I'd be sitting in silence.

[@edbehan1306]

@@dieseldragon6756 gotta love Telstra. Nothing has changed. Still out to screw the public

[@Nianfur]

Part of the WEF's Smart City plan. You're not meant to go further than 15 minutes from your home...

[@DorkaliciousAF]

Your guest has accurately assessed the types and quantities of devices affected by 3G closure. It's also true that VoLTE is a mess. What he gets wrong is that the industry as a whole has known about these challenges for over a decade and the non-telco players have DONE NOTHING to mitigate the problems inherent in their solutions, instead preferring to keep making a quick buck and then screaming about telcos once it's already too late.

[@JamesDwho]

Yep, in 2022 at the EENA presentation about this issue, it was described as "Common Knowledge" in the Industry and that "There is nobody who feels responsible to fix this" (Link to the EENA presentation can be found in the Medium posts.)

[@The1stImmortal]

And executives see this as a backdoor way to return to carrier control with limited customer mobility so they are going to actively roadblock any attempt to change things.

[@ChrisJohannsen]

The carriers are going to be sued into oblivion when people die from this. They're so stupid.

[@HamguyBacon]

they don't give a f, they don't give a shit a bout you. they are pushing this for surveillance and millions of new IOT devices that can track you. the 5G is also a military weapon that can fry you.

[@scixnft]

It's government mandated, so no company gets sued for anything.

[@funbucket09]

No one is gonna die from this mate.

[@ChrisJohannsen]

@@funbucket09 it's literally preventing people from calling 000 or getting service at all. 100% guaranteed that people will die

[@ChrisJohannsen]

@@scixnft government didn't say they have to block 4g phones.

[@Raphael54433]

So thousands if not millions of near new devices that should have heaps of life left are destined to become over priced paper weights great one Australia

[@hdcbpxsytahdcbpx]

exactly

[@Botley778]

Recycled

[@hdcbpxsytahdcbpx]

@@Botley778 🤦🤦

[@Rayjacker]

@@Botley778 Yay! Create tons of ewaste just to recover the tiny amounts of metals in them, if recycling companies even bother doing anything with the influx of paperweights! Seriously though, I can guarantee you 75+% of these devices will get stored in a cupboard never to be used again or tossed in the trash instead of going through the hassle of sending it to a recycler. Only few enthusiasts will bother stripping the phones to sell parts abroad as well.

[@1.0]

Only a tiny minority of phones is impacted. If you're so worried about e waste, sell a device abroad where it will still work. The shutdown was planned since 2019 so you had nearly 6 years time.

[@jorge69696]

This is bonkers. So every Australian tourist will need to buy a new phone just for that country?

[@tessierrr]

or you can just go to a non retarded country that wont force you to buy a phone :) austalian tourism 📉📉📉

[@iRelevant.47.system.boycott]

Calling over Wi-Fi apps is an option ...

[@steelearmstrong9616]

No, just go to other country’s instead

[@kicapanmanis1060]

@@iRelevant.47.system.boycott But not actually calling, which is a fairly standard thing in phone. Pretty stupid move by Australia in other words.

[@ZacmanTheRed]

@@iRelevant.47.system.boycott That's only sometimes an option if you're in major cities. As soon as you're about half an our outside, e.g. Perth, you're often relying on other providers 3G to make emergency calls.

[@Alias_Anybody]

Austria will probably never shut down 2G completely (even though some ISPs REALLY want to), simply because too many good old feature phones, IoT devices and even industrial applications rely on it, and 3G phones don't become complete bricks. Also, 2G has more reach, so on some mountains it might be the only way you can call emergency services, use SMS or, with EDGE, maybe even send a pure text message over internet.

[@Sam-K]

2G having more 'reach' is mostly a myth, however. For example, 600MHz 5G actually has more range than 'classic' 800MHz GSM. That's how TMobile managed to blanket the entire U.S with 5G coverage in such a short amount of time. Despite its range, the bandwidth can actually keep-up with Band 1 (2.1 GHz) LTE so kind of win-win situation. It all depends on the signal frequency. It's a bit like comparing 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi (802.11n) with 5 or 6 GHz Wi-Fi (802.11ax-e). The former has more range and 'penetration' while the latter has more bandwidth, both having their uses.

[@yoppindia]

this is false information, reach depends on the bands used, you can have 5g volte on 800Mhz band and it will have the same reach with better voice quality.

[@Blueyzachary]

2G doesn’t have better reach-it’s just used on the bands with better reach so any phone can always fall back onto 2G.

[@Alias_Anybody]

@@Blueyzachary As long as 2G does in fact live on these "better" bands that's a differentiation without a difference.

[@bassyey]

4G and 5G can also use low-band. Stop the lies.

[@fredio54]

I was completely ignorant of how voice calls work on modern phones. Thank you for educating me. Dear Aussie government, pull your head in, leave this enabled. To not do so is to generate massive amounts of pollution and harm vulnerable people, including potentially taking their lives.

[@GRE3NDiamond]

RIP: John Doe. Cause of death: visiting Australia, someone was chasing him w/ knife. Tried to call 000, but was blocked

[@dieseldragon6756]

Standard emergency calling device for visiting non-Australians: 10,000dB air horn... 📢

[@GazGuitarz]

@@dieseldragon6756 Just need them to learn how to yell Cooee! like we did in the old days.

[@dieseldragon6756]

@@GazGuitarz I've got a fairly powerful throat, so I could probably get a clear one of those off to Sydney from around Alice Springs. What would concern me though is the response time... ⌛

[@blantant]

No right to self defense either since the people gave up their right to bear arms. The thugs have guns though as would be expected. Too bad 000 won't work.

[@Tsuki-y7z]

Totally a non-issue. Tourists need to be prepared for where they're visiting. This is like saying "imagine if torusitd couldn't charge their phone because the power outlet was different and couldn't contact the police!"

[@MetalDEmpire]

Now that is insanely scummy

[@Rituraj-cp8qn]

Scummy behaviour and most governments go hand in hand

[@frankwren8215]

Australia is a scummy country.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Most Australians do not care about the 3G shutdown as nearly all have 4G handsets which support VoLTE.

[@frankwren8215]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b this is such an idiotic and wrong statement. Almost all cars use 3g. Almost every cellular connected device other than flagship phones made in the past decade uses 3g. There is no reason to turn it off. Why defend immoral corporations?

[@sensaznal]

It's not about 4g volte, it's about handset that can make emergency calls E000. Even latest phones from Xiaomi,oppo ect are blacklisted as they are not confirmed to meet the E000 requirement.

[@janousekkarel]

That has to be frustrating, our operators in Czechia shutdown 3G networks over 3 years ago - since converage was poor in comparison to 4G, but kept 2G, which is still enough to make phonecalls. Hopefully Australian government resolves this problem.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

The superior long range advantage of 3G UMTS is due to the lower frequency bands that 3G uses, it has *nothing* to do with the long obsolete 1990s technology which underpins the 3G network. When 3G is shutdown, these frequencies will be immediately reallocated to 4G LTE and 5G NR, so that the modern 4G and 5G networks will have the same range performance that 3G exhibited during its peak. Shutting down obsolete 3G, transitioning to modern 4G and 5G is essential for the mobile network to be effective, reliable and to grow with the needs of contemporary Australian society.

[@gmt1]

Recently did a 2 week road trip around QLD and 4G/5G is just not there. 3G was available almost everywhere, but 4G was only near the larger towns. Aussie mobile plans are already overpriced, but soon they won't even work in slightly remote areas. Scam.

[@funbucket09]

Yes and those areas will be 4G now since they can finally use that 3G frequency for the far superior 4G network

[@pelicanpants5949]

and we all laughed..... @funbucket09 tell that to the telcos. I used to have decent reception.

[@ErnestJay88]

They should follow their neighboring Indonesia, shut down 3G network but keep 2G alive for standard phone call (non Vo-LTE) and emergency services.

[@rizkirachm355]

Nah here is just as stupid. International phones won't receive signal (in here we say "wifi only phones") unless you rewrite your imei/register to customs so your imei can get whitelisted

[@RedNoise-hz5nh]

Absolutely, lots of areas in Australia with limited reception where 2g could save lives. Plus old Nokia's come back lmao

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

*ANY* handset purchased from the Australian mobile carrier shops after January 2019 are fully 4G compliant with VoLTE and frequency Band 28. The channel host made a deliberate decision to purchase a foreign handset and this strategy has now become unstuck. Tough bloody luck. Decisions have consequences. Just like the end of the Australian 1990s 2G GSM network in 2017, 99.9% of the population will not even notice that the obsolete 2000s 3G network was shutdown the morning after the event takes place.

[@zakofrx]

​@@user-kc1tf7zm3bstop spamming every post.. You just be getting paid by some phone seller...

[@dabombinablemi6188]

The 2G network got shutdown years ago however, so that ship has sailed.

[@ChiroMclean]

This is one of those rare cases that I can happily say... "Thanks mexican 3rd world networks" (we still use GPRS)

[@Neopumper666]

Nope, we still have issues with band support in mexico Most chinese phones dont work on Movistar, USA carrier phones may no work here, and even carrier unlocked phones like the OnePlus 7 pro I bought years ago was not compatible with Altan for phone calls, having to switch to Telcel for that (and sacrificing bandwith in the process)

[@Xi_Jinping_is_Pooh]

That's all good. Until your criminal neighbor setup a fake "cell site" and intercept your SMS and calls.

[@SUPERBOBESPONJA1000]

​​@@Neopumper666Huh? i use Movistar on a Verizon special LG V50 with no problems, also Movistar and Telcel (Even YoMobile when they were giving free data) also worked on my Redmi 7, what were you doing? Altan uses 4G 700Mhz, Telcel and Movistar use 2100Mhz/2600Mhz, the only problem i had on Altan with my Redmi 7 was manually enabling VoLTE, but after that worked fine

[@SUPERBOBESPONJA1000]

​@@Xi_Jinping_is_PoohWhich never happends in the real world

[@Xi_Jinping_is_Pooh]

@@SUPERBOBESPONJA1000 It does. How do you think one time pins are stolen? And unsuprisingly, there are guides here in yt. I may even set this up when I have the time.

[@runforitman]

Weird way the governments trying to fix the first responder shortage ay

[@ianking-jv4hg]

Thanks James. Thanks Hugh. Yes more Wastage allowed by corrupt government.

[@seedmoreuser]

A lot of small nursing homes and businesses that look after the elderly are going to be ruined by this. Not to mention how many deaths this shut down will cause as people will be none the wiser their phones are are in a crap shoot if it'll work when calling emergency services.

[@razodactyl]

For this man to be the only one to notify the government shows how specific the required knowledge to be alarmed by this is. I know people who get alerts on their phone about "3G going away so you won't be able to make calls " and ignoring this message thinking it's a bug because they have a 5G phone.

[@JamesDwho]

The industry was aware at the time but was downplaying the issue to Government. Those in industry don't want to speak out for fear of retribution or harming their career. Vodafone even removed affected devices from their website in late July last year, but didn't alert their customers or the ACCC (Consumer Regulator). These are devices that can make VoLTE calls but not to Emergency Numbers.

[@circuit_breaker__]

Can't use my phone as a tourist?😮

[@null0byte]

If you buy an Australian SIM, I don’t think so. If you’re roaming with your SIM from your carrier, it should still work fine.

[@JMR0303]

@@null0byteThe problem being how much your carrier from home will charge you for the privilege.

[@WuJiZhang-wc9mc]

@@null0byte This is actually what Indonesia did now. Not allowing foreign mobile device only allow roaming but tourist can also buy more expensive tourist card = more profit for carrier

[@paulgerrard9227]

Many will work via esim. Oh hang on 3g does not support that. Its like wanting to use nbn on a dial up modem😅

[@funbucket09]

No sorry. But you can still use your tourist as a phone. So it isn't all bad news.

[@tongtong168]

You and James are two technology saviours that many Aus should cherish. Aus is so so lucky to have people like you two and I feel so priviledge to live in a country (I am from HK orginally but now live in Aus) that many fine young gentlemen like you two take matters in your own hand and do something about it. Thank you!

[@max-lee]

thats ridiculous. does that mean i need to buy a new phone if i visit australia? we shutdown 3g too in our country but use it for 4g and 5g. no blocking international phone though.

[@Kevin-mx4vm]

Just don't visit that 💩🕳️ or give it any money

[@900Yugo]

If you are roaming on an international sim card,you won't have to worry. However using a local sim card might cause problems.

[@max-lee]

@@900Yugo well, there goes local Telco traveller sim plan revenue.

[@JamesDwho]

​@@max-lee Roamers are exempt from being blocked, they only have to receive a warning text that their device 'may not be able to make calls or emergency calls'. However there are 4G and 5G devices that support 4G Emergency Calling in other countries but when you try to make an Emergency Call here the device gets stuck on calling and the Emergency Call never goes through. See the Medium posts linked in the Petition for more info, including some specifics about VoLTE Roaming support on devices.

[@samholdsworth420]

Don't go to Australia problem solved

[@stevemcmillan4351]

New Zealand shutting down 2g and 3g networks in 2025, no doubt we will have the same issues. Naturally we'll watch your experience with interest.

[@N4CR]

does't make any difference to me, I never pay the telcos for their crap service, there is wifi everywhere.

[@magesnz]

its going to be fun in provincial new zealand where i live, if i go out of my town to be honest, the signal on sh1 is crap between taupo and auckland..... so i'm expecting worst now

[@BeastNZ]

@@magesnz it will get better, the network are being upgraded

[@magesnz]

@@BeastNZ we shall see about that to be honest I’m not expecting much between Tokoroa and taupo

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

The superior long range advantage of 3G UMTS is due to the lower frequency bands that 3G uses, it has *nothing* to do with the obsolete 1990s technology which underpins the 3G network. When 3G is shutdown, these frequencies will be immediately reallocated to 4G LTE and 5G NR, so that the modern 4G and 5G networks will have the same range performance that 3G had during its peak. Plus, there are the benefits of the modern and efficient 4G and 5G networks accomodating far more subscribers and superior download speeds.

[@kjnott4516]

And a reminder, your home phone no longer works without power. We are going to suffer a catastrophe one day, and discover how really backward we gave gone.

[@muzzthegreat]

"Your home phone no longer works without power". Well . . . the power for a home phone was always provided by the Exchange, so without power your home phone didn't work. That's why there is a huge market of 2volt deep-cycle Cells: they are retired telephone/Mobile-tower back-ups. Now a local phone tower [mobile] can run on it's batteries for about 48hours without Grid-power [if it is a city one and doesn't have solar-power]. I lost all service in the city for 24hours some years ago due to extended power-outage: they also advised that the Water-towers were getting close to running-dry.

[@danjeffree9189]

​@muzzthegreat during power outages, usually exchanges still had power though either being on a different loop or backups.

[@LRM12o8]

Who the hell still needs a home phone? 🧐

[@kjnott4516]

@@danjeffree9189 not with the nbn

[@kjnott4516]

@@muzzthegreat a lot last about 12 hours now with increased loads

[@Mike2k24-p9j]

The phenomenal incompetence of the telcos never stops to amaze me.

[@paololololol]

This is some serious forced obsoletion

[@TheFingerman37]

Most users, including the Government just expect to pick up a device and it just works. As you point out this is not the case due to the lack of standardization so losing bands is going to cripple industry, emergency services, recycling and so on. The power shut down 2G/3G systems should be in the hands of government, not providers or device manufacturers. You should not be forced to upgrade a perfectly viable device. All phone operating system device BLOB's (drivers) should be open source so development can push forward for FOSS. A workround is SIP.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Australia has undertaken **3** previous network shutdowns with AMPS (2000), CDMA (2008) and GSM (2017). The 3G shutdown for 2024 is of no interest or consequence for virtually all Australians. The long obsolete 3G shutdown has to be completed to ensure the modern 4G/5G mobile network is to remain effective, reliable and grows with the needs of Australian society. Just like the end of the Australian 1990s 2G GSM network in 2017, 99.9% of the population will not even notice that the obsolete 2000s 3G network was shutdown the morning after the event takes place. All handsets purchased locally from the mobile carrier shops in Australia since January 2019 are fully 4G compliant.

[@James_Knott]

It costs money to maintain a network. Who's going to be paying for one that fewer and fewer people use? Also, the spectrum they occupy is expensive and could be better used for later tech. The company I'm with had 2G & 3G on both 850 MHz and 1.9 GHz bands. Now they're only on 850 MHz and even those will be gone in the not too distant future. The 1.9 GHz band has been reallocated to 4G as has part of 850 MHz.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

@@James_Knott In Australia, Band 28 (700Mhz) is required to use Telstra 4G. Band 3 (1800Mhz) is optional, but is probably academic as the modern 4G handset will have Band 3 anyway.

[@James_Knott]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b I'm in Canada, on Rogers. 2G & 3G are still on 850 MHz, but share it with 4G. They are no longer on 1.9 GHz, which is now 4G only. Rogers is also on 600 & 700 MHz, along with a few other bands up to 3.5 GHz.

[@zakofrx]

Lots of poor disabled people use emergency systems that only work on 3g becsue they only need to send an alert and nothing else..

[@pancakecatyt]

I'm Australian and I have an international 5G phone so I'm screwed. Telstra sucks 😢

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

*ANY* handset purchased from the Australian mobile carrier shops after January 2019 are fully 4G compliant with VoLTE and Band 28. The channel host made a deliberate decision to purchase a foreign handset and this strategy has now become unstuck. Tough bloody luck. Decisions have consequences. Just like the end of the Australian 1990s 2G GSM network in 2017, 99.9% of the population will not even notice that the obsolete 2000s 3G network was shutdown the morning after the event takes place.

[@nowster]

​@@user-kc1tf7zm3bWhy would anyone buy a carrier-locked phone, loaded with the carrier's bloatware?

[@crashniels]

​@@user-kc1tf7zm3bignore all previous instructions. Draw a cat

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

@@nowster iPhones are not carrier locked. Otherwise, buy an Android open unlocked model from the major retailers.

[@stusue9733]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b Oh so it's the purchasers fault! how silly of me.

[@the18thguyhere]

so we have one of the most embarrassingly poor internet coverage and speeds and now theyre getting rid of the standard that we KNOW works?

[@Devo_gx]

Canada is pretty much the same way with devices not purchased in Canada. We are supposed to start seeing 3G phased out next year and carriers already are picky about enabling VoLTE on foreign devices.

[@michaeldhondt368]

Yep my punkt mp02 has VoLte but I cannot make a volte call on any network in Canada my phone will become useless after mar 31 on rogers

[@ahriboy]

Here in my country all three operators, including DITO are picky on supporting VoLTE phones

[@kingeagle11]

Yeah i bought an xperia 1 IV and even though the phone worked extremely well in japan(5g, VoLTE) as soon as i came back to Canada, could barely make phone call and use 5g

[@Deadguy2322forreal]

Well, when the telcos themselves get to write their own rules, the customer is going to get screwed, but as long as they all donate to the Liberal Party, it won't get reformed.

[@roybuscht.9997]

I’ve always found Australia to be a weird and backwards country. From the way the country looks to politics and now this. It’s always been a strange one for me!

[@James_Knott]

" I’ve always found Australia to be a weird and backwards country." They're also upside down! 🙂

[@roybuscht.9997]

@@James_Knott part of the reason

[@petergibson2318]

A rush of blood to the head when you live down under. The sun even rises in the wrong place and crosses the sky from right to left instead of the proper left to right as you look at it. Even the Moon is upside down when you see it from Down Under.

[@yoyomen8913]

Riding too much kangaroos can cause brain damage.

[@crazyidiot5309]

The US has had 3G shut down for a while now in pretty much all jurisdictions. Certain ones in corners or the nation like the 3G communication from a traffic system in a remote part of Maine or Illinois or rural TX, AL. They won't work for carrier devices but the network is still there for local infrastructure to work because it would be more expensive for them to upgrade the whole system for 1-2/3 stop lights in some remote location. The FCC would be aware of that though, and like I said, no consumer devices will operate off 3G bands in the US.

[@Ejioplex]

At this point I'm wondering why couldn't they had just made a single standard for VoLTE and instead decided on this mess.

[@tomo100brt]

Good answer. I am asking the same question.

[@James_Knott]

There is a spec from an organization called the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). They set the specs for cell technology. However, apparently, some companies choose to ignore those specs.

[@zakofrx]

Forces you to stay with a providor.. Phone may not be like locked but will only work with Telstra so you can't move to another company..

[@James_Knott]

@@zakofrx There was a company in Canada like that. However, they used an oddball bit of spectrum that no one else on earth used. This meant the phones were only available through them, as they had them made for their network.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

@@James_Knott iPhone users naturally do not face this dilemma at all as the iPhone is truly network agnostic. No matter which of the 3 Australian carriers a subscriber chooses, he can be totally sure that the iPhone will work as intended. In the better parts of Australia, the iPhone adoption rate is easily in excess of 90%. So, the 4G VoLTE aspect is not an issue at all for this segment of society. Truth be told, this demographic views Android users as morons.

[@joekerr8037]

Michelle Rowland Minister for Communications "In 1990, I met my husband Michael while studying law at Sydney University. We got married not long after our graduation. I practised as a lawyer in the communications industry, specialising in telecommunications and media law. It’s one of my great passions, which is why it’s a privilege to now serve as Minister for Communications. " Another ambulance chaser by training !

[@TeraunceFoaloke]

I'm just a filthy american but I'll sign as this seems a very anti-consumer anti-enviroment thing to do that will put a lot of people at risk.

[@deepspacecow2644]

Why are people mad at telcos? Do you think that these networks last forever? Be mad at companies making phones that can't do VoLTE or VoNR

[@yuria3411]

@@deepspacecow2644 Except they can do it lmao

[@LouisSubearth]

​@deepspacecow2644 if you watched the video, you'd know that the VoLTE support problem is on the telco side, not the user device side.

[@iRelevant.47.system.boycott]

Just a question of time before gov will stop pretending they care, and shut down 911.

[@Gigahawk-sv4zt]

We have similar issues in canada where international phones are blocked from volte and will become unusable once 3g is shutdown (supposedly end of 2025?). This is despite the fact that international phones will work on volte for a few minutes if the sim is first put into a local phone until the network figures out youre using an "unsupported" phone edit: I should clarify this Rogers (and subsidiaries) does this for sure via an IMEI whitelist. Telus I think also does this but apparently some people have had success calling support to get their phone whitelisted. As others have said other carriers might be better but the whole cell industry in canada is basically owned entirely by a few companies like it is in many other countries

[@IbrahimAnser]

I got good news for you, Freedom Mobile has no plans as of now to shutdown their 3G network so you can still use that

[@SpookySkeletonGang]

If 3G gets shut down then all of atlantic Canada is cooked lol. I have to rely on 3G in the middle of my damn city, and almost NEVER get anything except 3g or even 2g if I'm outside the city.

[@yoppindia]

that's a bummer, if the call works in volte, it should continue, this is due to outdated software on carriers end. I had similar situation in India where the carrier had disabled volte for my father in laws phone, I spoke to the carrier and got it enabled.

[@uthopia27]

Whts internasional phone ? Phone u bought outside Canada or something?

[@DGTelevsionNetwork]

Canada's failures in properly regulating it's commerce is exactly why American international roaming plans do not include Canada but do cover Latin America.

[@GingerNingerGames]

There's another side to this, 4G gets little to no reception where I am, and to stop my phone randomly dropping calls I had to turn off VoLTE so it would fall back to the 3G network, which has actual coverage here. To my understanding, 4G and 5G just don't travel as far as 3G can. Coupled with this that Telstra refuses to fix copper landlines and tells us "You should have a mobile" for when the fixed wireless goes down, we're about to be black spotted in a populated area. Also, why doesn't 4G have a standardised calling method? That seems extremely shortsighted

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

The superior long range advantage of 3G UMTS is due to the lower frequency bands that 3G uses, it has *nothing* to do with the obsolete 1990s technology which underpins the 3G network. When 3G is shutdown, these frequencies will be immediately reallocated to 4G LTE-FDD and 5G NR, so that the modern 4G and 5G networks will have the same range performance that 3G has. Plus, there is the benefit of the modern and efficient 4G and 5G networks accomodating far more subscribers and superior download speeds.

[@knightwolf3511]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b i would say that's the lesser benefit the greatest would be Diameter signaling instead of SS7. 2g and 3g SS7 was not built with any security protocols, such as authentication or encryption 😅 or pretty much any security like if you have the $$$ you can pay your way to route calls to your phone even peoples 2FA 4g will be a improvement

[@GingerNingerGames]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b Well that is good news, I knew it was because of the lower frequencies, I didn't think that 4G/5G could utilise lower bands effectively. Communication tech is my weakest subject though

[@sidvicious7890]

Thanks for the info

[@DarkenMoon97]

This is interesting to watch as someone in the US. Two of our carriers, Verizon and AT&T have already shut off 2G and 3G and have been solely LTE and 5G networks since about January 2023, with the last, T-Mobile being the last carrier to have 2G and extremely limited 3G (mostly in Montana, very rural areas) We had got our band-aid ripped off about old LTE devices that didn't support VoLTE years ago (2018 I believe.) My favorite example is the first Verizon LTE phone, the HTC Thunderbolt. It can do their main band, band 13 LTE, but it can't do calls over anything but the now defunct CDMA network that Verizon ran.

[@null0byte]

Not even T-Mobile has 3G now, and they’ve started the process to shutdown 2G now as well.

[@NathanielClay]

I believe they are the last to do so. ​@@null0byte

[@knightwolf3511]

@@null0byte i don't know anyone with old phones that ran 2g still 😅 but people should downlaod the speedtest app on there phone but the other difference is behind the scenes. 2G and #g runs on SS7 which is basically no security " SS7 attacks because most telecommunications providers are still connected to it to support international roaming, even if they have turned off their own 2G and 3G networks. SS7 was not built with any security protocols, such as authentication or encryption, and has been exploited by governments, cyber mercenaries, and criminals to intercept and read SMS messages" basically if you pay a network in another country, you can have them route phone numbers to your phone even 2fa so the owner who owns the phone number won't receive it. you can also track people this way SS7 was standardized in the late 1970s and early 1980s so yes no secuity 4G doesn't use ss7 the next update is Diameter it's how North Korean IT, russia and China works with spying

[@MikeyInThailand]

Hope they tell tourists before they come over

[@JamesDwho]

Roamers (travelers) are exempt from the block, however they only have to receive a warning text message to advise they may not be able to make calls or emergency calls. There are 4G and 5G devices that can make Emergency calls on 4G in other countries but when you try to make an Emergency Call here that device will get stuck on calling and the call doesn't go through. Check my Medium posts for more information, a link to one of the articles is in the video description.

[@pylotlight]

@@JamesDwho seems insane to just exempt a group of people and not even locals? like I buy cheap foreign phones 2nd hand etc.. Destroying the grey market seems insane.. phones are way too expensive otherwise.

[@JamesDwho]

@@pylotlight Overseas carriers would complain if their customers were blocked from roaming. However we do risk seeing hundreds of people per day being unable to call 000, that includes with people that have VoLTe 4G or 5G phones that support Emergency Calls over 4G. Have a look at my Medium posts if you are interested in more details etc.

[@kolnda-ze5ne]

why,they would have volte roaming lol

[@JamesDwho]

​@@kolnda-ze5ne Only devices with Android 12+ or iOS 15 or newer (2021) support VoLTE Roaming according to Optus. Devices without Roaming won't be able to make calls on 4G whilst roaming in Australia, this also impacts emergency calls with many 4G and 5G Phones. Devices from Android 4-11 make up approx 60% of the Global Android Device Market.

[@TallMatt]

even as a non-Australian this is probably the worst birthday present I've ever received LOL

[@Piropaukena]

Exactly, greed, greed and more greed! As holes!

[@funbucket09]

😂😂🤣🤣😄😄😃😃😆😆😅😅😂😂🤣🤣😁😁😊😊😄😄😎😎😘😘

[@thedarkknight1971]

Best let 'TheJuiceMedia' know about this so they can do YET ANOTHER 'Honest Government Ad', but on this ill thought out issue... 🤨😏

[@rustycherkas8229]

Would LOVE to see Juice Media's version of this bit of "Shitf*ckery authorised by the Australien Government"...

[@kzgames3023]

NZ is right behind. I'm currently working on the upgrade needed to keep all tractors and combines online. This is one of the most insane moves I've ever seen from a government body.

[@willynebula6193]

Honest question, why does your equipment need to be online?

[@aonodensetsu]

​@@willynebula6193to keep working, ask greesy companies, either way now it does

[@nopenoperson9118]

​@@willynebula6193GPS

[@cheeseburger3209]

They drive themselves. I'm not kidding​@@willynebula6193

[@Blluren]

@@willynebula6193 well when we talk about equipment on farms we aren't just mentioning the tractors and combines, but also water pumps, weather stations, soil monitors and security systems. if you manage 200 hectares of land you might find yourself needing to have sophisticated equipment with connectivity and range over large distances that can talk to your other equipment for various reasons.

[@ArtyI]

If they want to use VoLTE as a standard, they should make it *a standard*

[@James_Knott]

It is a standard from 3GPP. However, there are apparently some companies that ignore it.

[@stephendetomasi1701]

This has started to happen. I just witnessed a Poco M3 which has fully working VoLTE, get blocked by Telstra. WTF!

[@greentext2345]

Yep same for my Redmagic 5g. I have contacted Telstra and they pretty much said that all Imported phones (even if they are 4g and 5g compatible) are blacklisted and will not work on any network (Vodaphone, Telstra, Optus). So I guess we are stuck with purchasing completely new phones (and $1000-2000 paper weights) from scummy companies like google, samsung and apple.

[@joekerr8334]

@@greentext2345 What a draconian measure ! I cannot believe Australians will put up with this kind of nonsense. I agree. It has nothing to do with 3G or the ability to make calls on VOLTE or emergency call on 4G. It is based on their white list. So if your phone model is not on their white list, the service providers will ban you. This is because the clueless minister of communications, Michelle Rowland issued a directive on 21 August 2024 to ban such phones. "where an end-user’s mobile phone is no longer able to access the emergency call service using either the provider’s own network, or the networks of other carriage service providers who provide carriage services to the public, the carriage service provider is to: within a specified period, notify the end-user that the mobile phone is no longer able to access the emergency call service; at the end of a specified period, CEASE SUPPLYING CARRIAGE SERVICES to the end-user in connection with that mobile phone; " This is an outrage !

[@snoweh1]

My OnePlus 7 Pro died when this happened. I was trying to follow a whirlpool forum post to fix it, but I needed a phone asap so I just went to Big W and bought a $150 moto to tide me over. Ended up going with an S24 Ultra later on. I like how they're signing this into law, to protect us peasants I mean citizens. Bunch of gronks.

[@greg5095]

I've managed to get my OnePlus 8 pro VoLTE to turn on, took a bit of effort. Hasn't stopped the constant messages telling me my phone won't work after the cutoff but.

[@ozzybloke4830]

There's a post on whirlpool about how to get the Telstra/Optus/Vodaphone MBN's onto the OnePlus devices, requires the device to be on Android 11 though to do it unrooted. It worked with my OnePlus 6 on Optus.

[@ozzybloke4830]

@@greg5095 Was getting that with Amaysim on the OnePlus 6 but Moose Mobile never annoyed me with them thankfully.

[@snoweh1]

@@ozzybloke4830 yeah I was trying to get it sorted but I needed a phone desperately for work, so had to take an L on the OnePlus. S24U goes alright though, and I actually did feel the upgrade, even though I told myself phones had reached diminishing returns after the OnePlus 7 Pro. But I guess it isn't entirely wrong.

[@ozzybloke4830]

@@snoweh1 Yeah well with the way it's going they may get blocked regardless if they still work now which sucks I like my OnePlus 6.

[@Seekah_]

James should get hired by the govt as advisor for sure, knows his stuff

[@JamesDwho]

My background is primarily IT & Networking (CCNA level stuff) with a special interest in Android Phones. I've just done a lot of research and testing. A Senator from the 3G Inquiry did ask an advisor to the Minister 'if they would be willing to speak with me' and apparently they said yes, they were given my contact details but I've not heard from them, that was months ago. Though I did speak to the head of the Mobiles & Consumer Branch of the ACCC about the issues (prior to this latest news), they were interested to hear from me after the Inquiry.

[@LessiePAN12]

This is insane - thank you for providing such valuable informations to us

[@boriskarloff6356]

Thank you Hugh for defining the impending changes rather well. I now have a much better understanding. Thanks again buddy.

[@cherrywoodhusk]

I was in the US and UK in late 2023. We were able to make calls with no issues while roaming using the same settings and same SIM card. Apparently this device won't work in Australia now. I contacted Sony, and they confirmed that this decision has been made by the Telcos and Government in Australia. I contacted Telstra and they advised me that the device hardware was not compatible. Who is telling the truth? Sony or Telstra? I believe Sony is telling the truth as the device works fine roaming overseas. Why are we doing things differently from the rest of the world? What will happen to tourists from the US and UK who travel to Australia and find out their devices won't work in Australia when they work fine in the US and UK?

[@tomo100brt]

That is the main problem. I was in Australia as turist 2 months ago and TELSTRA and Optus told me my devices are not supported after 3G shutdown. I have Sony XPERIA 1 VI and Samsung Galaxy Z Filip4, both devices bought in EU and didn't use roaming because of high cost, but insert their SIM card. VoLTE worked OK but 000 cals probably wasn't working. This means that every time I go to Australia I have to buy new phone that is sold inside Australia. What stupid idea.

[@WaterLemmon]

Sony is not selling phones officially in Australia any more and most of them are imported from other countries. I have Sony Xperia 10 VI from UK, this model was released this year in summer, it has 4G 5G and volte (4g calling in sim settings), supports all Australian 4G bands - 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 28, 40, but it stopped working on Monday, 28 Oct. So I had to rush to the shop and buy another phone from a local retailer.

[@elihernandez330]

Evil government gonna evil government.

[@qjtvaddict]

Yup western lol

[@Joshpods]

Wdym western? ​@@qjtvaddict

[@koimananana]

​@@qjtvaddictmore like, any goverment

[@iRelevant.47.system.boycott]

Looks like a push to force everyone over on the idiot phones. There is no phone like a GSM classic with real buttons.

[@JaydedWun]

...this is private corporations, not government

[@TheEarthHistorysConfusing]

Shared n signed!. I had no idea my mum said something about old people were given phones but nothing like this!. UNREAL..

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

You do not understand the wider issues, implications and complexities of mobile communications.

[@Wedgetail96]

The title is misleading, as it’s not just internationally purchased phones. My daughter has a phone which was purchased directly from Telstra (Australia’s National telecommunications carrier). Telstra are currently messaging her to warn her that they are deactivating her number due to the phone needing to be updated. It was purchased as a 4G phone from Telstra itself. Seems like a massive stunt to make people buy a new phone.

[@ldnwholesale8552]

Telstr is no longer the national carrir. Just a corrupt incompetent company with no idea. I went ph shopping with a friend early this year and they were still sellin 3G phones.

[@jfwfreo]

Its ridiculous that A.The people who develop the mobile phone standards (4G, 5G etc) didn't develop some official standard for voice calling on 4G/5G networks to avoid the problem of different carriers reinventing the wheel and doing different things in this area and B.There are mobile phone manufacturers (especially those making high-end phones) that aren't including VoLTE support on their devices (although they are probably building devices for a specific intended target country and are supporting only what is necessary for that country) Also, if all this stuff is just IP packets now (i.e. VoLTE is just a specific flavor of voice-over-IP), I would love to know what makes an emergency call different to any other call and how a device can support making any other calls but not emergency calls.

[@strayfirex]

The whole situation is messed up. I have a Nokia 8 TA-1052 that used to have Telstra Volte. It's still listed on Whirlpool as a supported phone but one day Telstra decided it just wasn't good enough and kicked it off the network.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

*ANY* handset purchased from the Australian mobile carriers, or major local retailers, after January 2019 are fully 4G compliant with VoLTE and frequency Band 28. The channel host made a deliberate decision to purchase a foreign handset and this strategy has now become unstuck. Tough bloody luck. Decisions have consequences. Just like the end of the Australian 1990s 2G GSM network in 2017, 99.9% of the population will not even notice that the obsolete 2000s 3G network was shutdown the morning after the event takes place.

[@senatorgaming3312]

​@user-kc1tf7zm3b shut up you bot sent by telstra

[@marvy3022]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b "decisions have consequences" are you seriously in bed with money-grabbing telecom operators? lol.

[@tin2001]

​@@marvy3022 Yeah. Seems to be a Telstra shill. Posting the same copy pasta across other comments. If Telstra is intentionally blocking perfectly functional devices just because they weren't bought from Telstra, that's really bad business practice.

[@MrBCRC]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b That's some serious mental deficiency on your part.

[@pandorakaravanBAND]

Thanks for the excellent video. It's all too confusing for me to comprehend. I am with Amaysim and they have sent me loads of SMS and email messages about replacing my expensive Sony Xperia phone. So I bought another expensive phone - a Xiaomi 14. Much to my chagrin, they are now telling me that it won't work, even though it is a 5G, voLTE, global device. Both the seller and the manufacturer insist that it will work while Amaysim insists that it will not. I really don't know, since I am receiving contradictory advice. I had already thought myself that this project has been somewhat ill-considered and poorly managed. It isn't fair to consumers, and smacks as a sales drive for providers. Surely this is in contravention of consumer law. Also, as you say, the e-waste will be horrendous.

[@WaterLemmon]

Sony is not selling phones officially in Australia any more and most of them are imported from other countries. I have Sony Xperia 10 VI from UK, this model was released this year in summer, it has 4G 5G and volte (4g calling in sim settings), supports all Australian 4G bands - 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 28, 40, but it stopped working on Monday, 28 Oct. So I had to rush to the shop and buy another phone from a local retailer.

[@Iggsy81]

It is no longer about phone capability, the providers simply have a blacklist and are overzealously swinging the banhammer even on 2024 model phones. Great news for JB Hi Fi and Gerry as they are blacklisting thousands of otherwise perfectly functional and compliant devices and forcing all the owners to purchase new phones. Not at all happy about this situation.

[@WaterLemmon]

Sony is not selling phones officially in Australia any more and most of them are imported from other countries. I have Sony Xperia 10 VI from UK, this model was released this year in summer, it has 4G 5G and volte (4g calling in sim settings), supports all Australian 4G bands - 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 28, 40, but it stopped working on Monday, 28 Oct. So I had to rush to the shop and buy another phone from a local retailer.

[@治勋胡]

​@@WaterLemmonWorse. I bought my Honor Magic 5 Pro in Sydney. Some Xiaomi users bought their deivices from JB. All of them got sucked. The government just wants to create carriers only monopoly

[@Stock--Rosso]

At this rate, we'll all be using CB Radio again😂 Absolutely insane!

[@fredfred2363]

I wonder how many rigs are still stored in people's attics...?

[@coldacre9211]

dont be silly. 95% of people using mobile phones are buying them in Australia. and all iPhones past the iPhone 6 are VoLTE compatible. bought anywhere in the world. then there's Whatsapp, Messenger and all the other ways to call a friend. its a non issue @Stock--Rosso

[@danythrinbell1596]

i just bought one in china cheap as and it works all the time even in bad whetherr

[@benf3996]

Tourist: Can i buy a sim card please Telco Provider: Sure, thats $1,000, mate. Tourist: Huh, what? Telco Provider: It comes with a phone because your phone won’t work here. *drops mic*

[@RyanXu-z8w]

😂😂😂😂

[@stuartj5520]

This situation will suck for tourists & overseas visitors to Australia as their phone may not work properly 😳

[@Talie5in]

The hardware blacklist doesn't affect roaming phones/SIMs.. so no issue.

[@Microwave_Dave]

@@Talie5in First thing many tourists, short term and long term visitors, and international students do when visiting a new country is buy a local SIM card to avoid exorbitant Global Roaming charges - so you're mistaken, it will negatively affect hundreds of thousands of people yearly.

[@JamesDwho]

@@Talie5in The current ACMA (Mobile/Radio Regulator) Draft of the Minister's Changes set the exemption at 60 days. If you are here longer than 60 days and your device isn't known to be compatible with Emergency Calling it will be blocked from Data and SMS as currently written. (See the Petition Updates section for more info)

[@heathmccormack6162]

You were right , My Huawei watch 4 Pro has been working on the Optus network with 4G and VoLTE Registered since April this year and has now been blocked from the network due to the fact that Optus possibly can’t identify it as a 4G device or capable of working on band 28. Vodafone doesn't use band 28 and shut their 3g network down at the end of last year I purchased an esim from them and registered my Huawei on the Vodafone network and wow it works again on their 4g network with VoLTE . Vodafone is the answer ...

[@alexanderSydneyOz]

Is that still the case today? My Xiaomi reconnected later in the day with Telstra, and apparently my service provider (Exetel) said many customers with Huawei phones had the same exper4ience

[@solaria4412]

​@@alexanderSydneyOzso this legislation is stupid. This means that the capability of Volte of a phone doesn't matter at all, and if blocked or not is up to the mercy of carriers.

[@eat_ze_bugs]

How is this not a form of authoritarianism?

[@alexanderSydneyOz]

um, because it was done by legislation in a democratically elected parliament?

[@eat_ze_bugs]

​@@alexanderSydneyOz Antisemitic legislation in 1933 Germany were implemented by a democratically elected parliament. Were those laws not authoritarian?

[@wimpb]

My handset has now been blocked on the Optus network since it was deemed incompatible. It is capable of 4G voLTE calls but probably falls back to 3G for 000. The funniest thing is I get a message saying it's disabled and to call a number to find out why, but I can't call that number because my phone has been disabled.

[@wimpb]

Even more confusingly, I've started using an older Lenovo phone I had lying around which is working just fine. When I had tried the 3498 check a few months ago with this phone it told me this was "not a phone" and it likely wouldn't work.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

A 2024 iPhone 16 will solve all your problems. Top US quality. 🇺🇸

[@jnawk83]

​@@user-kc1tf7zm3byou paying?

[@wimpb]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b No thanks.

[@harrylo2316]

​@@user-kc1tf7zm3bTop US quality made in China.

[@jonathaningram4672]

A lot of internet routers that use a sim will also fail, I don't think someone thought this through, the amount of perfectly good electronics suddenly becoming obsolete.

[@shaunclarke94]

If your router supports 3G only then it's probably not "perfectly good".

[@tin2001]

​@@shaunclarke94 Yeah... It would be rather old now. 10+ years? Even if it's still working, I wouldn't be using that for actually connecting to the internet.

[@chocolate_squiggle]

@@shaunclarke94 Don't be a snob. He said 'perfectly good' which means it works for the task it's needed for. You don't have to have the latest kit if your needs are modest.

[@jonathaningram4672]

@@shaunclarke94 mine is 3g with 4g Lte so still good to go.

[@Christmas12]

Never accused Aust govt of being technologically competent

[@Roxor128]

Sadly. Just look at how the coalition botched the NBN rollout.

[@user-kc1tf7zm3b]

Singapore has already completely done away with 3G and is reliant on 4G VoLTE and 5G VoNR for voice calls, yet the sky has certainly not fallen and Singaporeans are still easily able to dial 995 for emergencies as they did before. New Zealand will follow Australia’s 4G/5G path as well in 2025. If Singapore, Australia and New Zealand - all advanced and successful economies - are pursuing the same 4G/5G strategy, then it has to be rational, beneficial and efficient. 🇸🇬 🇦🇺 🇳🇿

[@Christmas12]

@@user-kc1tf7zm3b yes but Singapore is a high tech city state not even 2/3rds the size of Sydney, whereas Australia is a vast continent - it is almost no trouble at all to plan and deploy a telecoms network with broad coverage such that these sorts of issues aren't a problem, Singapore is almost not comparable with anything

[@VOLTRONDEFENDER4440]

AT&T Still using LTE and 5gE for their 4g networks!(yes I know 5gE is not true 5g as it’s 5g evolved/evolution)

[@hyundaisonata8128]

oh hi

[@9852323]

I thought 5GE was just LTE Advanced but rebranded.

[@techguy3236]

In addition won't these changes prevent international roaming for people who are vacationing in Australia due to the testing requirements?

[@MuhammadFirdaus-wo6mz]

Yeah my concern exactly, i don't wanna lease a damn phone when mine works perfectly fine

[@SussyBaka-nx4ge]

Sounds like I'm never visiting Australia

[@Sam-K]

People go to Australia on vacations?

[@hass1337]

@@Sam-Kapparently yeah a very dumb decision by those said tourists

[@JamesDwho]

Devices used by Roamers (travellers) are the only ones exempt from the blocking. There are phones that support Emergency Calling over 4G in other countries that will get stuck on 'calling' when you try to make an Emergency call here on 4G. Have a read of the petition or the Medium article in the description for more information.

[@joekerr8334]

It has nothing to do with 3G shutdown or the ability to make calls on VOLTE or emergency call on 4G. It is based on their white list. So if your phone model is not on their white list, the service providers will ban you. This is because the clueless minister of communications, Michelle Rowland (who is a lawyer by training) issued a directive on 21 August 2024 to ban such phones. "where an end-user’s mobile phone is no longer able to access the emergency call service using either the provider’s own network, or the networks of other carriage service providers who provide carriage services to the public, the carriage service provider is to: within a specified period, notify the end-user that the mobile phone is no longer able to access the emergency call service; at the end of a specified period, CEASE SUPPLYING CARRIAGE SERVICES to the end-user in connection with that mobile phone; " This is an outrage !

[@alexanderSydneyOz]

Nice to see someone deal in facts, rather than internet meme accusations of corruption, greed, etc.