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Customers suddenly find their new phones can't make calls or send texts (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 2 weeks ago by fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] dugmeup@lemmy.world 93 points 2 weeks ago (31 children)

This isn't regulatory. It's Optus deciding that if they didn't sell the handset or its foreign bought it is will be blocked. Because of reasons...

And don't ask questions because software is hard, and telecom is too technical for the plebs.

It's nothing but a blatant cash grab hidden in a thin veneer of technical babble because it's tough for modern journalists to question engineering.

[–] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 50 points 2 weeks ago (26 children)

Just days ahead of the shutdown, Australia's media regulator ACMA finalised a new "direction" (basically a rule) that meant telecom companies had to refuse service to all phones that relied on 3G for making emergency calls.

The idea was to prevent people from mistakenly believing that phones were fully working, only to realise they were unable to make emergency calls when the crucial moment came.

Australians with older 4G phones may also be caught out because of the way the phones are configured.

It is up to the telcos to work out which phones are affected, notify the owners, block their phones, and help make other arrangements such as low- or no-cost replacement phones.

However, as Telstra and Optus noted during a Senate inquiry into the shutdown, telecom companies are unable to tell which individual devices suffer from this problem unless have they sold them.

I'm not saying it's not partly on the providers, but validating that a bunch of obscure phones that aren't sold in your country meet new regulatory requirements is not as easy as you're making it out to be.

[–] LorIps@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

That's the reason why every other fucking country still has either 3G or 2G activated. 4G is just a shitshow for making calls.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 weeks ago

Well, 2G and 3G are being shut off in the United States as well. I believe AT&T shut down their 2G network in 2017 and shut down their 3G network here recently. And T-Mobile in the United States shut down their 3G network in 2022. And while their 2G network is still currently running, it won't be forever. I believe Verizon is also in the process of shutting down or has already shut down 2G and 3G as well.

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 7 points 2 weeks ago

Where I live, 3G is going to be phased out, but 2G is staying seemingly indefinitely. Not only for the old phones, not only for all the dying villages that are not getting any upgraded equipment, but also for all the automation dependent on it. Apparently quite a few places did it like this.

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