Why isn’t Optus, Telstra or Vodafone following in the respectful footsteps of India's Jio?
A tailored app like Jio4GVoice provides high call quality calls and cancels the need to buy an LTE-enabled device. Are Australian telcos tech illiterate or just greedy?
IT and Networking Specialist James Parker should be appointed as an adviser to the tech illiterate, Australian, globalist serving government which is in the process of creating 100% preventable national chaos by agreeing to an ‘experimental’ 3G shutdown:
They've rolled out 5G and they want a return on investment and not a lot of people are interested in 5G. So, this is a convenient option. Let's just get people to buy new devices.
The rights of consumers are just being eroded away just like with device support and repairability. It's all a part of a broader narrative.
How many people have replaced their device unnecessarily because of false and misleading information from the telcos?”
This policy essentially penalises customers for using devices that work but were not purchased directly from the telcos or their partners.
Once in effect, this would further concentrate profits and market control to the telcos and major handset makers, and severely limit competition and choice in the market.
Under the updated ECSD direction, telcos must identify and notify users of phones deemed incapable of accessing emergency services, assist them in finding alternative devices, and ultimately cease service to these phones.
This will likely impact devices that have been manually updated to work for VoLTE Calling and Emergency Calling as they aren’t ‘officially’ supported.
With this policy change you can now no longer use any device you want from any provider in the world, even if it may work perfectly!
James Parker
US Military Telecommunications Specialist - 5G comments
Note: In 2020/21, a concerned, anonymous US Military Telecommunications Specialist called ‘V’, who was involved in the implementation of the internet, gave a series of enlightening interviews on a range of pertinent topics. She could see that the copycat ‘truther’ channels were all being led in the opposite direction of the truth and felt it was her duty to intervene.
When the topic of military grade 5G was discussed, ‘V’ stated that 2G and 3G were more than adequate for the world’s civilian population to efficiently run their phones and internet with, and were also somewhat less harmful to our health than 4G, 5G, 6G ….whatever G.
Various claims made in glossy, enticing, ‘must have 5G’ marketing campaigns by telecommunications companies, were not entirely true, either. Some people may also remember the Vodafone executive whistleblower whose detailed video exposing the 5G liars, was promptly deleted.
How interesting to learn from James that this reckless 3G shutdown decision essentially stems from a return on investment from the (hideous) 5G rollout and that nobody seems very interested in 5G anymore.
Opinion - Australian WEFtile telcos place profits-before-people
Why isn’t Optus, Telstra or Vodafone following in the respectful footsteps of India's largest telecom network, Reliance Jio Infocomm, and offering customers a tailored app like Jio4GVoice which overrides the requirement of an LTE-enabled device and still provides high call quality?
Why is Nappyland Australia still so tech illiterate, confused, anti-competitive and profits-before-people focused at the corporate and political executive level? Some circles are alleging that the anticipated 5G return on investment is a fizzer, interest is waning and that telcos are now quietly desperate to claw back some money with unnecessary phone sales. At a time when artificial inflation is hurting many Australian families and individuals alike. Again.
Advanced esoteric circles are saying that 5G phones have the death frequency – all part of the depopulation club’s military soft kill bioweapon. Thus the urgency for all to take up 5G. (The ancient ones know the frequency of death and life.) Other commentators are saying that the harmful elements of 5G are being removed while others are questioning why we need 5G at all for civilian use.
Fortunately, we have brilliant, up and coming tech educators in our midst, namely James Parker & Hugh Jeffreys, who are keeping the community informed about the current state of play in relations to the deceptive, Masonic, ‘G-Games’. While mainstream legacy media appears to be conveniently MIA again.
This experimental, unnecessary 3G shutdown is leading Australia down Chaos Road and the federal communications minister is refusing to listen to reason. Perhaps she is being forced to greenlight this experiment by the unelected, billionaire WEFtile blackmail cult that is behaving like precocious, selfish, deceptive children in a sand pit.
Will incoming Optus CEO Stephen Rue have the skills to navigate Chaos Road or will he stumble through he darkness with fellow execs like Gladys Berejiklian in her newly created role of Managing Director, Enterprise, Business and Institutional? Remembered with disdain for her pivotal role in enabling the theft of Australian land tiles. And other deceptive scams.
Preventable national chaos
As MIA media is failing to support James Parker’s quest to alert Australians about the experimental 3G shutdown, please watch and share this 14 minute video with host Hugh Jeffries and guest James Parker to understand the issues involved. If you prefer reading, a transcript is also provided.
You could even email a link to your local MP who may be tech illiterate but still has a functional brain.
Highly Recommended Viewing
Australia To Block Internationally Purchased 4G/5G Phones As Part of 3G Shutdown - Starting 1st Nov
If your provider is unable to verify VoLTE support for your device, it may be blocked from Australian networks from the 1st of November 2024.
(Sep 19, 2024 - Run time: 14 mins)
Acronym Alert
VoLTE - Voice over Long-Term Evolution
Voice over LTE (VoLTE) is an Internet Protocol (IP)-based data transmission technology that delivers both call and data services over a 4G network. You can make a call while accessing the internet and enjoy faster call connection time and higher quality voice and video calls. Woo hoo.
If you can use your phone, of course.
Transcript Excerpts
The 3G shutdown will make Australia one of, if not the only country in the world, without a 2G and 3G network
Australia was set to shut down its 3G network in July 2024 but was delayed due to an alarming new realisation that millions of 4G and 5G devices can't call emergency numbers without an active 2G or 3G network.
Regardless, Australia is pushing ahead with its shutdown of 3G, with new laws coming in place to require telcos to cease providing service to any devices they can't confirm as having full support, including that of emergency calling. What that means is, even if you have a 4 or 5G phone, it may be blocked from Australian networks as soon as November 1st 2024.
The 3G shutdown will make Australia one of, if not the only country in the world without both a 2G and 3G network, instead having full reliance on Voice over LTE (VoLTE), a non-standardised system, but with many other countries looking to follow. With similar shutdowns in upcoming years, all eyes are on Australia to see how this pans out.
3G shutdown is a benefit to all AMTA stakeholders
The advertising material from the telcos and the Australian Mobile and Telecommunications Association (AMTA) has never informed Australians about the full extent of the 3G shutdown and its impact. It should be noted that the AMTA is an industry body representing service providers, device manufacturers, retail outlets and has connections with phone recycling companies. The shutdown is a benefit to all those stakeholders.
But even this 5G Sony Experia won't work after Australia shuts down its 3G network. I built a test into my phone diagnostic app iTest that allows anyone to see if their device will work post shutdown, by checking for Voice over LTE support. This Sony isn't using it and instead is relying on a 3G network to make and receive calls, despite being a 5G phone.
Most people would never even recognise if their 4G or 5G phone is using 3G to make calls. 11 months ago, I covered some of the issues of this 3G shutdown. However, with disturbing new developments and possible banning of internationally purchased devices, I had to do a follow up.
Not all 4G and 5G phones support Voice over LTE and instead rely on 3G
To recap… 2G and 3G networks contain a standardised calling method known as circuit switched calling. 4G and 5G networks have no standardised calling method as they're only data standards. They rely on a separate system known as Voice over LTE and not all 4G and 5G phones support Voice over LTE and instead rely on a 3G network to make and receive calls.
Voice over LTE is not a standardised system. Different phone carriers or different device models can come with different Voice over LTE support. Your phone must support the network you wish to connect to, your sim card must be provisioned for Voice over LTE and your network provider must also support Voice over LTE, and of course, the setting must be switched on in Settings.
Telcos don't know the exact number of devices that support Voice over LTE
If that all sounds confusing, it is. And in fact, the telcos don't even know the exact number of devices that do fully support Voice over LTE and what phones partially support it and those that don't at all.
But in 11 months, a new discovery has only made matters worse.
Some devices can call over Voice over LTE perfectly but are unable to make an emergency call to Triple 0 or 911, whether that be because they're hardcoded to use the older 3G network or because the phone doesn't fully support your carrier’s Voice over LTE system.
(Alec Bennetts, ACCAN - Australian Communications Consumer Action Network )
Michelle Rowland MP - Federal Minister for Communications - ignorantly resisting sensible calls to halt 3G shutdown
… Australia and New Zealand – longstanding colonies of the dark enslaving empire which are often used as testbeds for new forms of oppression.
Stuart Bramhall, US Journalist: Fake food alert: the global mafia’s new assault on our health, Sep 2024
(Not on our watch.)
Legislation that would ban devices telcos can't verify
And this is the reason the government is now reviewing legislation that would ban devices telcos can't verify. From international phones, to phones that they just didn't sell, or came from another carrier.
This will cause mega amounts of unnecessary E-Waste, completely destroy the used phone market and provide phone carriers in Australia with a complete monopoly on phone sales.
Australian telcos are using the 3G shutdown as an opportunity to sell more new phones
Australia has three phone networks – Telstra, Vodafone and Optus. Vodafone and Optus use a generic Voice over LTE system but Telstra uses a proprietary one, meaning not all phones will work with Telstra. They must come loaded with Telstra's special modem software that allows it to work and this issue is prevalent with a lot of carriers around the world.
I have a Galaxy Note 7 from Verizon which supports Voice over LTE with Verizon but not my phone carrier, so it won't work post 3G shutdown. A 4G only carrier in India (Jio) has overcome the issues of not supporting 3G by creating a separate app which allows for calling over Voice over LTE for phones that do not support it.
Australian telcos have refused to do such a thing, which implies they don't care about the amount of devices they're rendering useless and are using the shutdown as an opportunity to sell more new phones.
Saving Australia's 3G network
I spoke with James (Parker), the man trying to save Australia's 3G network and he is partly responsible for the delays to the shutdown. He's a telecommunications expert who has been fighting the shutdown from the very beginning, making submissions to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), giving testimony in government hearings and inquiries, to writing his own articles on this issue.
3G Shutdown: ‘I probably should alert the government about that’
Hugh: James, tell us why are you trying to save the 3G network.
James: Well, it kind of all goes back to June of last year. I thought, okay, this is June 2023. Telstra announced, next year they want to shut down their 3G and like, okay, well, I probably should alert the government about that.
There are 4G devices that don't have the ability to make calls or emergency calls and I was the only person in the entire country to contact the government, warning them about this issue, prior to February of this year. The industry was downplaying the issue, saying it was going to be like the 2G switch off, which was obviously not going to be correct.
Hugh: We're being told we must have phones that support Voice over LTE but is it really that straightforward?
James: Everyone's assumed that Voice over LTE is one standard or one setting on the device. It's just as simple as going into the settings and turning it on and it will work. But that's just not what happens.
Hugh: The shutdown has been delayed twice now but for what reason?
James: At the inquiry, it was revealed there's hundreds of thousands of 4G phones that the telcos believe can't make any calls… Farm equipment and industrial equipment, water meters and utility meters and machine industrial equipment, lift phones, thousands and thousands of lift phones, was talked about in the Senate.
There's about 40 or 50,000 extra devices the industry wasn't aware of that were impacted - iPhone models… maybe an iPhone 11 or 12. Their latest version of iOS supports VoLTE but they're US/Canada models and because they're using Intel modem and not Qualcomm modem, they don't support Band 28. So, if you go into the bush and you've only got Telstra’s Band 28 coverage, if that device can't connect Band 28 - you can't make an emergency call.
Industry didn’t realise that not all iPhones are the same and don't all support the right bands
You had the industry just some months ago not realising that not all iPhones are the same and they don't all support the right bands. So, if they didn't know about that and they weren't on top of that, what else are they unaware about? You know, big headline number of a million affected devices resulted in some more scrutiny and then a delay, which the industry voluntarily delayed.
Hugh: Some other countries shut down 3G already so what makes Australia any different?
James: It was convenient because Optus, in their submission to the 3G shutdown inquiry, cited the UK, that some UK providers had shut down their 3G network but ignoring that the UK still has a 2G network and that network is expected to be maintained until about 2033. So, the providers have been cherry-picking their examples.
Most of the world has not switched off both 2G and 3G
Hugh: Are there any countries that have shut down both 2G and 3G?
James: Most of the world has not switched off both 2G and 3G and this is sort of a bit of an experiment here. We may be on paper, the second or third cab off the rank to do it.
Hugh: Would you say the shutdown so far has been a bit of a mess?
James: There were people on the Vodafone network that woke up one day in the middle of January with brand new 4G and 5G devices, that didn't have any call service anymore. If you test those devices, they might also be on Telstra’s support list or Optus’s support list but when you go to put a Vodafone SIM card in the phone, it loads a different modem software and suddenly that device can no longer make an emergency call.
People posted online recently that some months ago, people got 2023 or 2024 model 5G phones and they were receiving text messages through the SMS system saying that your device is impacted and you need to upgrade, to now only be told a few months later, oh sorry, we were wrong about that we've now got in contact with the manufacturer your device will work. Sorry for the confusion.
James: So how many people have replaced their device unnecessarily because of false and misleading information from the telcos?
Hugh: My sister-in-law faced that exact same situation. She was told her 5G OnePlus 8 Pro won't work after the shutdown but now it appears to be supported.
James: My providers sent a marketing email saying, it'll be Mayhem, here's our Mayhem sale. Now It's time to upgrade.
There are even devices that have been sold at JB HI-FI and Harvey Norman in the past 2 or 3 years that are $1,000 plus phones, that are sold under the network unlocked category, that are 4G and 5G and support Voice over LTE but they don't work on Telstra because Telstra doesn't support a generic open market Voice over LTE profile.
So, if the Telco doesn't believe that device can work because they assume it's running an older version of software and it's running a modem configuration that doesn't do emergency calling, they just will block it because they have no idea what works.
Is there a commercial bias for the switch off?
James: So you will now be prevented from running custom software like xOS Samsung devices like Note 9s with custom roms (operating system). The Voice over doesn't work because the way that Samsung implemented their provisioning systems is sort of closed source and proprietary. None of this stuff is properly open source…
Hugh: Do you think there's a commercial bias for the switch off?
James: They've rolled out 5G and they want a return on investment and not a lot of people are interested in 5G. So, well, this is a convenient option. Let's just get people to buy new devices. The rights of consumers are just being eroded away just like with device support and repairability. It's all a part of a broader narrative.
They were asked a question I wrote which was, how many roaming devices are there in Australia connected to their Network and Telstra didn't know that answer. They have to provide that in writing or notice and when they did that, they said in the month of July, there were 2.3 million international roaming devices connected to Telstra’s network.
It will be the case that there will be hundreds of thousands, potentially millions of phones from roamers in other countries that come here, that won't be able to make an emergency call. And it just takes one national tragedy to happen before we start saying, maybe we shouldn't have switched this network off.
Fighting for consumer choice to stop Australia banning 4G and 5G devices that presently work fine
Hugh: Thank you, James for coming on and sharing your expertise on network infrastructure and the issues facing the 3G shutdown. I believe James has done some great research and testing maybe even more than the telcos have. He's now fighting for consumer choice to stop Australia banning 4G and 5G devices that presently work fine.
So if you want the choice to use whatever device you like, from whoever you purchased it from, I would suggest signing James's petition.
Petition Link: Stop Telco 4G/5G Device Blocking & VoLTE Restrictions - Australia's 3G Shutdown
I created a test in my application (iTest)
Hugh: There was really no easy way of telling if your device will work after the shutdown. There's a number that you can text that's supposed to tell you but as James pointed out to me, it's not accurate. So, I created a test in my application (iTest) that allows you to check if your device is presently using Voice over LTE when making calls. You simply dial a phone number such as voicemail, wait around 5 seconds and hang up. If the test fails, it used 3G or 2G to make that call.
We still don't know the exact number of affected devices, only that it's over a million
It surprised me how many phones still have a reliance on 3G networks despite being 4G or 5G phones. But like James said, it could be the result of my network not using an open Voice over LTE standard, preventing the phone from calling over Voice over LTE.
Some phones may mention if it's enabled or even show you an icon during a call but my phone makes no mention of Voice over LTE during a call. No icon shows and searching Settings returns nothing but it's enabled and working, as reported by i-Test. Even phones that show 4G LTE in the menu bar, don't necessarily support calling over 4G.
Testing the Samsung, it falls back on 3G when you place a call. It's a Verizon US model. It supports what Verizon calls Advanced HD calling which I presume is Voice over LTE but it only works on the Verizon SIM card in the US, rendering this phone useless after the shutdown of 3G here in Australia.
This brand new Nothing CMF supports Voice over LTE with my Australian sim. Running the test, it passes but with Voice over LTE having such poor compatibility and no standardisation, we still don't know the exact number of affected devices, only that it's over a million.
Other devices may continue to work after the shutdown but won't be able to place emergency calls. The current recommendation being, not to test your phone to see if it can call Triple 0, leaving people in the dark until the network is down and it's all too late for people to voice concern.
Even the Australian network provider Optus didn't believe Voice over LTE could be solely relied upon just a few years ago. Now they're going against their own advice. A million devices needing to be replaced. That will sure drive inflation higher, not to mention the waste that will come out of this. This shutdown needs to stop.
Notable Comments
My Dad's heart implant has a monitoring device in his room, to detect reading/alerts and upload them via 4g to the monitoring firm, they have no idea if their devices will work after 3g shutdown... they're in the dark. This will devastate regional Australia, where 4g coverage is largely non-existent.
This is giving me flashbacks of how the Australian government butchered the NBN roll out back in 2018. The fed is really braindead when it comes to anything technological in Australia. They always seem to make the worst possible anti-consumer choices at every turn. Almost smells like corruption.
Your guest has accurately assessed the types and quantities of devices affected by 3G closure. It's also true that VoLTE is a mess. What he gets wrong is that the industry as a whole has known about these challenges for over a decade and the non-telco players have DONE NOTHING to mitigate the problems inherent in their solutions, instead preferring to keep making a quick buck and then screaming about telcos once it's already too late.
What about cars and OTHER VEHICLES that RELY on 3G for their services (SOS, data and other)... Insto-Bricked? (no longer functional)
(Reply) That is a big issue in the EU at the moment, cars with Emergency Calling (e-Call) generally rely on 2G or 3G to make emergency calls. Without 2G or 3G those cars won't be able to call 112. There are major compatibility issues with make Emergency Calls on 4G. France isn't switching off 3G until 2028/2029 however many other EU countries are looking at late 2025/2026.
2G isn't getting shut down. 3G shutdown won't matter as all e-Call has 2G fallback. A lot more than just cars use 2G to communicate so it isn't going anywhere soon.
Sounds like some Australian politicians got some juicy contributions to their "re-election" campaigns.
How unlike the Australian government to introduce short-sighted, poorly thought out legislation and make foolish decisions that end up doing more harm than they help. I for one, am shocked.
It's like Australia researched the AT&T whitelist and went, "alright, how do we do that but make it worse?"
I’m so glad someone is talking about this. I spent hours googling to figure half of this stuff out, and still even the local Optus dealer wouldn’t believe it was true. Hopefully this video raises awareness of the insanity of Australian telcos.
Thousands of medical devices are about to go offline. Like CPAP machines.. they can no longer be updated nor can the data be reviewed by respiratory specialists. You'll now have to remove your SD card and take it to the manufacturer so they can upload the information for you.
My Xperia 10 II stopped receiving signal coverage in January 2024 because Vodafone shutdown their 3G network. Everything on the phone still worked, except making and receiving calls, which is kinda the point of a mobile phone. I was forced to buy a new phone specifically made for the Australian market.
Legitimately one of the stupidest decisions I've seen in a while lol. 3g and 2g are old standards, but they're good in emergencies, get better signal strength, and work at longer ranges. Supporting older, cheaper devices is also a great thing. I'm in Canada and I constantly lose 4g connection even in my city and get bumped back to 3g. I cannot imagine how terrible this will be for Australians.
The blocking of phones that can't call 000 is really baffling. So instead of being unable to call 000, I'll be unable to call anyone at all? Is that supposed to be an improvement?
It's not that the phone is unable to call on VoLTE, it's the carriers not provisioning VoLTE to that phone.
3G in Croatia is only being shut down by one network and that is T-Mobile/T-Com. All other networks don't even dare to touch 3G as here we have lots of older people still using older/dumb phones.
Thank you for making this informative video mate. Tech support at Telstra doesn't even know why some phones won’t work on their 5G network.
But just driving a couple of hours out of Adelaide, we no longer have 5G or even 4G my phone drops to 3G. I’m on Telstra so how are people going to use 5g/4g when it doesn't work in the country. It's very premature to have everyone move over something Telstra hasn't even fully provisioned to the whole country yet.
Recently did a 2 week road trip around QLD and 4G/5G is just not there. 3G was available almost everywhere, but 4G was only near the larger towns. Aussie mobile plans are already overpriced, but soon they won't even work in slightly remote areas. Scam.
Links
Emergency Call Service Determination Legislation (The law requiring telcos to block devices their can't verify)
James' Medium article: Australia’s 3G Shutdown - Telcos to Block Working 4G/5G Phones!
iTest: Easily test hardware functionality and device specifications with iTest
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hughjeffreyssoftware.iTest
IOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/itest/id6484069424
HUGH JEFFRIES
Website: https://www.hughjeffreys.com
Store: https://www.hughjeffreys.com/store
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Patreon: / hughjeffreys
Until next time.
