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.
This whole thing has been a mess. Thousands of Aussies had to buy new phones due to them using a phone allowlist instead of a blocklist (arguably they should have just let the phones stop working instead of blocking them outright). The allowlist they used was missing hundreds of 4G capable phones and was missing just about every overseas model of phone. I know 2 people whose phones were blocked for no reason.
Tourists coming to Australia are finding their phones blocked here, preventing them from using their phones in Australia.
000 calls are borked for thousands of Aussies as well.
We are one of the only countries in the world to turn off 3G. And we’re certainly the only one to fuck it up this badly. I’m convinced the big telcos only did this to drive phone sales (many of which will be bought/leased on exploitative plans), because god knows there’s no other compelling reason to shut 3G off.
What a joke.
