It has been more than 80 days since Telstra and Optus flicked the switch on the 3G mobile network. Hundreds of regional and remote Australians say they can no longer rely on the network and struggle to make calls.

In short:

Regional and rural Australians say their ability to make phone calls has dramatically reduced since the 3G network was switched off in October.

Telstra and Optus shut down 3G to boost the 4G and 5G networks, claiming customer coverage would benefit as a result.

What’s next:

The federal government says there may be a need for regulatory intervention if the situation does not improve.

  • SalvoEnglish
    6·
    1 day ago

    It was Regulatory intervention that caused this problem.

    Government: “you need to make sure that your subscribers can access 000” Telcos: “we can only do this if we disconnect 3G” G: “that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever but we will believe you and give you carte blanche to screw over your customers comply with regulatory requirements”

    • quokkaEnglish
      5·
      11 hours ago

      The problem was that some handsets (including ones sold by the networks as “4G”) would drop to 3G for 000. Even same models on different firmware behaved differently. So the regulator said to ban any the networks weren’t 100% sure were compatible. With 30(?) days’ notice. And the online IMEI checker is incomplete/useless too. So now the only realistic place for average consumers to buy known-compatible handsets is from the network operators. At their prices, with their software.