All three major telcos have been warning customers to make sure they upgrade from 3G-only devices, but also to check if their 4G and 5G devices have something called Voice over LTE (VoLTE), so that they don’t get caught out when 3G networks shut down.
Telstra and Optus 3G shutdowns
Telstra: June 30, 2024
Other affected carriers using the Telstra network include:
- ALDI Mobile
- Belong
- Boost Mobile
- Exetel
- Lycamobile
- MATE
- More
- numobile
- Superloop
- Tangerine
- Woolworths Mobile
Optus: September, 2024
Other affected carriers using the Optus network include:
- amaysim
- Aussie Broadband
- Catch Connect
- Circles.Life
- Coles Mobile
- Dodo
- iPrimus
- Moose Mobile
- Southern Phone
- SpinTel
- Yomojo
The 25 most common devices which may be affected
According to the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association.
- Alcatel 2038
- Alcatel OneTouch 2045
- Apple iPhone 5
- Apple iPhone 5C
- Apple iPhone 5S
- Aspera A42
- Doro PhoneEasy 623 OPTUS
- Doro 6521
- Google Pixel 2 XL
- Huawei E5331
- Huawei E5251s-2
- Huawei Y6 Prime
- Nokia 301
- Oppo A57
- Oppo F1s
- Oppo F5 Youth
- Optus X Smart
- Samsung Galaxy J1 Mini
- Samsung Galaxy S5
- ZTE Blade A0605
And there are a bunch of plans that are 4G only anyways.
The ones with 5G also cost a lot more.
What is the “ones” that you are referring to?
Are there plans that differenciate between 4g and 5g?
Or do you mean phones, or towers/infrastructure?
Because both the modems in phones and the infrastructure goes down as their production is scaled up. I don’t think there’s any new mainstream modem chipsets that don’t support 5g anymore.
I was talking about plans, so I meant the plans with 5G will usually cost more.
Cheapy plans/providers are usually 4G only. But with the relatively short range for 5g, unless heaps of 5g towers/access points are added, a lot of people won’t notice any difference except maybe battery drain.
Maybe the Telcos will add 5g access points to all their customers routers. Maybe the NBN could add it to their modems. There’s been talk about adding it to power poles and street lights lol. Of course, anything out of a town or city will be pretty unlikely to get 5g.
Yes, most of the pre-paid carriers I have checked have more expensive 5g plans. I am with aldi mobile which does.