The impending 3G network shutdown

[Freizeitpilot]

 

Yeah, nah, it wasn’t.

[marshallarts]

For anyone interested, you can text the numeral "3" to 3498 and you will get back a text telling you whether your phone will be OK post 3G.  Not sure how reliable it is, I think it's a Telstra thing.

[onetrack]

The Testra "3G test" seems to work well. I'm with Boost, which is a division of Telstra anyway. I tried the 3498 test, and it came back with a message identifying my phone brand and model, and reassuring me I wasn't at any risk of loss of communication with my phone model.

The interesting part though, is that the message doesn't address the fact that it's a service that is being withdrawn, so those services still using 3G for operations will simply no longer provide the requested service, if they have made no plans to move to some other bandwidth or communication protocol.

 

4G phones need to have VoLTE capability (and have it enabled), to be able to utilise the 000 emergency service after the 3G shutdown.

 

How do I enable VoLTE on my mobile phone? - Telstra

WWW.TELSTRA.COM.AU

---

Find out what is VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and how to enable it on your mobile phone.

 

 

If you want to find our your phones technical specifications relating to bandwidths built into it, GSMArena will provide you with the information pertaining to all the bandwidths your phone is capable of - provided you know the exact model of your phone.

Once you have found and brought up your exact phone model on GSMArena, look at the RH end of the first line in the specifications - "NETWORK - Technology" - and you'll see a menu button that says "expand". Clicking the "expand" button gives you the full list of bandwidths that phone has installed.

Be aware that mobile handsets of any particular model can have up to 20 different versions of that model, depending on the bandwidths it's capable of operating on, and where it was designed to be used in the world. The model code supplies the version information.

 

 

GSMArena.com - mobile phone reviews, news, specifications and more...

WWW.GSMARENA.COM

---

GSMArena.com - The ultimate resource for GSM handset information

 

 

Edited July 26, 2024 by onetrack
addendum...

[onetrack]

There's a good article on the ABC News site today about the 3G shutdown. If you're a total dinosaur and still using a 3G phone, the telcos are actually giving away 4G phones to those customers still using 3G phones, to ensure they aren't left abandoned!

 

An item I thought interesting was the fact that the RFDS is a bit cheesed off about the 3G shutdown - and the dubious performance of the 4G replacement service - that they have opted to go over to the Starlink satellite service, at a pretty sizeable initial and annual cost to them.

 

Australia's telcos are giving away free phones and gift vouchers, in last-minute bid to shift customers off 3G - ABC News

WWW.ABC.NET.AU

---

Telstra and Optus are offering free mobile phones to vulnerable Australians as they prepare to switch off the 3G network within weeks.

 

[tillmanr]

I travelled in NE USA and Canada last month and noticed my phone was using 3G.

Not everyone has shut it down.

[spacesailor]

Too many people using old tech ' dumb ' handset's. 

spacesailor

[tillmanr]

In some places I think that communication is more important than mindless social interactions. 

[Freizeitpilot]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-12/3g-shutdown-connectivity-complaints-from-wa-farmers/104585296

 

 

Hmmmmmm. Have we been conned by the telcos ?

[Freizeitpilot]

SMS only in the short to medium term, but still a safety enhancement for remote area flying.

https://www.telstra.com.au/exchange/telstra-to-bring-spacex-s-starlink-satellite-to-mobile-technolog

[BrendAn]

On 02/04/2024 at 8:24 AM, Carbon Canary said:

I believe one of the issues is that 3G operates at 700mhz and 4G operates at 850mhz. 4G has approx a 10 fold performance gain, but coverage may not penetrate as far in the 3G areas it replaces…..but I’m no expert in these matters.

 

As others have mentioned, generally ANY coverage is poor once you leave populated areas anyhow.  Maybe Starlink is the answer.

everyone that has starlink loves it.  trent palmer even had it in his kitfox. his mates all had free wifi when they were flying in groups.

[marshallarts]

10 minutes ago, BrendAn said:

I believe one of the issues is that 3G operates at 700mhz and 4G operates at 850mhz.

I don't think it's as simple as that.  Both 3G and 4G can work at several different frequencies.  The providers have been saying that the old 3G towers would be re-purposed for 4G (or even maybe 5G), which suggests to me that it is not frequency-related, and that 4G can use the same frequencies and it's only the data transmission protocol that changes.  The antennas on the towers would have to be designed for the specific frequencies they were to use, so if the frequency had to change then so would the antennas.  It's hard to see Telstra et al running around changing antennas all over the place.  But I'm no expert either, I just do a bit of work with a guy who works in the RF sphere extensively.  I'll ask him what he knows - it would be good to understand this.  And of course RFGuy is very active here, maybe he can cast some light on it.

[Freizeitpilot]

I saw a daisy chain of about 40 satellites go over the Hunter Valley west to east a few months ago. I assumed it was a recent Starlink launch.

[SGM]

As a generalisation, the lower frequencies (700mhz, 850mhz) penetrate structures further and tend to wrap around obstacles better. They tend to dominate in regional and remote areas (4G), whereas 3500mhz is more useful for high-demand city environments (5G). 

Sometimes when flying I historically got Telstra 3G coverage.  This is maybe enough for a text but rarely enough to use webpage to get METAR etc.  Those 3G sites are now progressively shifting to 4G so it will be interesting to see if the transition (and the corresponding change in user demand) gives any better coverage.  

Some other random thoughts
1. All three mobile network providers are trialling SMS via Low Earth Orbit satellite - handy for letting someone know where you are, not so handy for contacting CENSAR or getting weather.

2. It will be interesting to see how TPG's(Vodafone) network sharing deal with Optus changes narrows coverage gap - that's due to go live in 2025. I can think of times when I have had Voda coverage but not Telstra.  And getting 4 bars on your display from anyone does not guarantee mean you can make a call or download data - just ask people who went to "Beyond the Valley" music festival.

3. The only Telstra reseller that has access to the full Telstra network is Boost (others like Aldi, Belong etc just get access to parts of the network). To see the difference go the map with the slider about halfway down this page https://www.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/Guides/Telstra-mobile-network-coverage.  Note Boost has now been fully acquired by Telstra.
4. Phones that Telstra rates as "Blue Tick" or with a "Regional" have been tested in low coverage scenarios... you can find them on the Telstra website.

[coljones]

On 26/07/2024 at 1:47 PM, tillmanr said:

I travelled in NE USA and Canada last month and noticed my phone was using 3G.

Not everyone has shut it down.

In some areas in the US they are probably still on party-line phones.

[BurnieM]

Number of bars only measures signal strength.

It does not measure how much capacity is unused on a particular base station.

 

Users in rural areas often attach a directional yagi antenna to their 3g/4g/5g broadband modem/router so they can point at a lessor used but weaker signal out of town base station.

 

Regardless, I would not be relying on mobile phones for critical comms.

Have a look at something like Garmins inReach Mini 2.

 

Edited January 10 by BurnieM

[skippydiesel]

9 minutes ago, coljones said:

In some areas in the US they are probably still on party-line phones.

The USA, supposedly the greatest democracy & economy today, is characterised by appalling poverty AND obscene wealth. Features that few administrations have acknowledged or tried to seriously tackle - a situation unlikly to change under the coming onslaught😈 

[red750]

35 minutes ago, coljones said:

In some areas in the US they are probably still on party-line phones.

Red states most likely. They are about 59 years behind the times.

[facthunter]

Guns speak louder than Phones.  Nev

[marshallarts]

3 hours ago, SGM said:

(others like Aldi, Belong etc just get access to parts of the network)

Yes, I found this out recently in graphic fashion.  I'd been with ALDI for a year or so, quite OK around town and even on some drives in regional WA.  But on a recent road trip across the paddock, where Telstra has reasonable coverage almost all the way across the Eyre Hwy, ALDI had zilch - not a dicky-bird of coverage between Norseman and Ceduna.  I wasn't impressed, so in Port Lincoln I bought a Telstra SIMM and prepaid plan that wasn't too much more expensive than the ALDI plan, and bingo, coverage everywhere.  It was chalk and cheese.  Good to know that Boost uses the whole Testra network though, thanks for that.

Edited January 10 by marshallarts

[spacesailor]

My Aldi sim , Motorola had no problems on the Nullarbor hwy .

quite pleased with present frothed daughter. 

spacesailor

[marshallarts]

Hmm well that's interesting, what model Motorola, and which Aldi plan?  My phone at that stage was a Motorola Moto G31, not bought from Telstra, and not 5G-capable.  It was on the Aldi $19/mth plan. After changing it over to the Telstra SIM, I also got to thinking a 5G-capable phone might be a good thing, so I bought a Motorola G34 from Telstra - not something I ever thought I'd do, but the (very reasonable) price was almost the same as what I had paid for the G31.  Nobody else seems to sell the G34, which makes me wonder if Telstra had that variant developed specially to suit their network, i.e. the specific set of frequencies/channels it can use.

Edited January 10 by marshallarts

[tcsmith]

One of my friends just told me that he has signed up for Starlink.

 

New zealand refused Fibre networks nationally , and are using Starlink.

 

He told me that he travels with his offroad Caravan and 4WD Rig to a lot of remote areas and always has Comms and TV and NAV.

 

Pricing he gave me looks reasonable.

 

Has anyone else gone this way?

 

Cheers

 

Terry

[BrendAn]

1 hour ago, tcsmith said:

One of my friends just told me that he has signed up for Starlink.

 

New zealand refused Fibre networks nationally , and are using Starlink.

 

He told me that he travels with his offroad Caravan and 4WD Rig to a lot of remote areas and always has Comms and TV and NAV.

 

Pricing he gave me looks reasonable.

 

Has anyone else gone this way?

 

Cheers

 

Terry

a lot of people in our area are on it and rave about it. my cable nbn is fine but some parts of town don't have it and are using starlink instead.

[onetrack]

If you want to find out your phones technical capabilities, GSM Arena is the go-to site. It will give you the full technical specifications of every phone made and the important part is it will tell you the models applicable to your country.

Some of the phone manufacturers produce up to about a dozen models of phones, depending on the country, because networks vary so much, world wide.

 

It's not likely that Telstra or any other carrier gets phones specifically manufactured for them, they simply add their branding/logo to the home screen of standard phones. But the phones our carriers sell are Australian models, people get caught buying cheap phones in overseas locations, they may or not work here, and if they do appear to work, they may not have all the frequencies we use here installed.

 

The frequencies being used here are constantly changing. There are so many 4G frequencies now, the manufacturers refer to them by a 1 or 2 digit number, instead of the actual frequency.

 

GSMArena.com - mobile phone reviews, news, specifications and more...

WWW.GSMARENA.COM

---

GSMArena.com - The ultimate resource for GSM handset information

 

When you find your phone model, go to "Network" and click on "Expand" at the RHS to see the range of frequencies your phone is capable of handling.

 

[Red]

On 26/07/2024 at 10:10 AM, tillmanr said:

In some places I think that communication is more important than mindless social interactions. 

Often the same thing, dependent only on your opinion of what is and isnt mindless.