It has been twenty years since the 3G mobile phone and data network was adopted in Australia, but now Vodafone, Telstra, and Optus are all turning off their 3G networks.
5G and 4G networks are still available, and if a handset was bought in the last couple of years, they should still work, but for consumers still working with a phone that is 20 or so years old, it might be time to upgrade.
About every ten years, a new generation, such as 5G, back in 2019 and 6G technology was only launched recently.
According to the Daily Mail, when new technologies are made available, the old networks are reused to support the brand-new networks, called ‘re-farming.’
As surprising as it is, M2M Connectivity’s Sales Director Anthony Petts shared with TelcoNews that he guesses there are somewhere around two million and three million devices still dependent on 3G in the nation Australia, inclusive of business devices.
“The reality of the 3G shutdown is that once the signal is switched off, all 3G-based services and devices will cease to operate,” Petts said.
“This includes flood monitoring systems in regional Australia, GPS systems on ambulances, ‘man down’ dongles in care homes, and even traffic signal systems.”
Editor & Tech Commentator for EFTM.com, Trevor Long said to find out about your old flip phone, candybar phone, or first-gen smartphone, he said check with the manufacturer.
“The bigger risk is to people with extremely old phones, which – despite 5G being five years old, and 4G being a decade more than that – don’t even connect to 4G,” Editor & Tech Commentator for EFTM.com, Trevor Long said.
He also said those using medical devices that still use the 3G network could be a big risk.
“There’s a risk people will think this doesn’t apply to them because they only got the device five years ago, yet in fact, they might be left with a device that simply fails to work at the most important time in a year from now.”
As with the standard devices, Long suggests calling the manufacturer to find out for sure.
From the perspective of the major telcos, Telstra said: “As customers move from 3G to take up the benefits of newer technology, we’ll be repurposing the 850MHz spectrum, currently used to provide 3G coverage, to support our 5G rollout.”
They said that some wearable devices, like Samsung Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active2, and Apple Watch Series 3, 4, 5, will be affected.
