Your 4G phone could be impacted by 3G shutdowns this year. Here's what to know (2024)

Queensland IT worker Serge didn't think his 4G phone would be impacted by the gradual shutdown of Australia's 3G networks — until one day when his device suddenly couldn't make or receive calls.

"I was sort of in a bit of a panic," he said. "I'm pulling my hair out. I'm connected to 4G. Everything seems to be working. Why can't I make phone calls?"

Serge said he was warned by his provider to upgrade his phone before telecommunications giant TPG (which now owns Vodafone) shut down its 3G network — but he ignored the warnings, believing his 4G device would not be affected.

More Australians like Serge are likely to be caught out by further 3G shutdowns this year, with millions of Telstra and Optus customers (as well as those using smaller providers on those two networks) to lose 3G coverage in the coming months.

The shutdowns are also causing concern for some people living and working in regional and rural areas.

When are Australia's 3G networks shutting down?

TPG, which merged with Vodafone in 2020, gradually shut down its 3G network between December 2023 and January 2024, impacting its mobile customers as well as smaller providers that use its network, such as Kogan, Lebrara, Internode, iiNet and Felix.

The next major provider to close its 3G network is the country's largest telecommunications company, Telstra, which will switch off 3G on June 30, 2024. This will impact smaller providers on the Telstra network such as ALDI Mobile, Belong, Boost, Exetel, Tangerine and Woolworths Mobile.

Lastly, Optus plans to shut down its 3G service in September 2024, impacting smaller providers including amaysim, Aussie Broadband, Coles Mobile, Dodo, iPrimus and Moose Mobile.

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.

So what is VoLTE?

VoLTE (short for voice over long term evolution) is what most modern phones use to send voice calls over the same 4G and 5G channels that also carry other mobile data.

Essentially, VoLTE allows 4G and 5G phones to usually have better call quality, faster connection times, and the ability to use voice and data at the same time.

After doing some research, Serge said he discovered his Android phone did have VoLTE capability, but the toggle to enable it was in a hidden menu he could only access by putting a specific code into his phone's dialler.

Serge said he also checked the phones of some family members and found some of their devices also didn't have VoLTE enabled by default, which caused issues when their 3G network disappeared.

How do I check if my phone has VoLTE?

Mark Gregory from the School of Engineering at RMIT University said it was "generally not normal" for someone to need to find a hidden menu to enable VoLTE, and you could usually find it in your phone's network settings.

He said if customers were unsure whether their device had VoLTE or if it needed to be manually enabled, they could check with their carrier or their phone's user manual.

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA), which represents Australia's mobile telecommunications industry, said 3G-only phones and some older 4G phones that don't have VoLTE capabilities would be impacted by 3G network shutdowns.

Mr Gregory said while many of the phones likely to be affected were older devices, some of them were very popular.

"These are not just small brands, these are some of the larger brands such as Apple and Samsung, so people need to check," he said.

The AMTA said people should also check if their devices support VoLTE Emergency Calling, as "avery small proportion of 4G phones that support voice calls over 4G (VoLTE) do not support voice calls to emergency services over 4G and it is highly recommended that these be replaced".

"Devices that are not able to be used to make emergency calls are really no longer fit for purpose," Mr Gregory said.

Concerns over 3G in regional areas

The major telcos say their 3G networks will be repurposed to expand the reach of their 4G and 5G networks. But that will take time, which is concerning for some customers in regional areas.

The AMTA did not provide a time frame for those network upgrades when contacted by ABC News, but it said telcos had "committed to equivalent, or better, coverage with 4G, or 5G, in advance of closing 3G".

Mr Gregory said there were going to be "a lot of people affected" when Telstra turned off its 3G services at the end of June — even though they might have appropriate 4G and 5G devices — because 4G and 5G networks don't usually reach as far.

Some farmers have already reported significant drops in 3G service.

Mr Gregory said the telcos were not required to ensure their customers did not lose service as they upgraded their infrastructure to 4G and 5G systems, which he said was unfortunate.

"There's nothing to stop that from happening, other than the customer has the option to complain to the ombudsman, and I strongly recommend that people do that because I'm already hearing that this is happening in some places," he said.

However, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert said telcos were not required by law to continue to offer 3G services, which is why her office could not refer complaints it received about the decision to shut down 3G networks to any regulator.

The ombudsman's office said it would "not be able to handle complaints about having no coverage as a result of the shutdown, requests for the 3G network to stay connected, or handsets and devices that are no longer working and were not supplied as part of a current contract".

Ms Gebert told ABC News that her office might be able to help with problems such as "how the transition from 3G services is being managed by a telco, detriment that has occurred because of not being notified of the network closure, contractual disputes, or paying for a service that cannot be used".

She has previously called for greater government regulation of the telecommunications industry.

Mr Gregory from RMIT said people in the regions who were likely to be impacted might consider switching telcos, trying a signal booster, or using a satellite communications provider.

'It doesn't need to be this hard'

Angus Witherby lives in the northern New South Wales town of Moree, which has a population of around 7,000 people.

He said he had not had consistent mobile coverage in the nine years he has lived there, and he is concerned about the closure of 3G networks because he relies on them for his work travelling through the regions as a town planning consultant.

"In terms of being on the road and in terms of being in smaller communities, I will have a significant loss of coverage," he said.

Mr Witherby said he might need to purchase a satellite internet solution, which would cost him thousands of dollars.

"In the last three weeks I've [punctured] three tyres on our lovely rural roads around here …Welcome to regional Australia," he said.

"Now, if I lose that fortuitous 3G coverage, unless I'm willing to fork the money for a [satellite] solution, how do I get help when I'm maybe 10 kilometres from the nearest dwelling? What do I do if I haven't seen a car for three hours?"

Mr Witherby believes the telcos "don't care" about people in the regions, and he wants the government to ensure affordable internet access for every citizen, especially "in an era where government expects every citizen to interact with them over the internet".

"This is critical hardware to underpin the functioning of our society, both socially and economically," he said.

"It doesn't need to be this hard, where we are continually fighting against a diminution of service availability in the bush."

What's more, a 2023 report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) found that many remote Indigenous communities were still relying on 3G networks, and already had poor or no coverage.

Are the telcos doing enough to prepare us?

Serge believes telecommunications companies need to better explain to customers how 3G shutdowns might affect them.

"With my case, they just said they were switching off 3G and I would not be able to make a phone call. Well, that's not entirely the whole story," he said.

"They should have explained it and said, 'Well, even if you have 4G, you might not have VoLTE, or not have it enabled.'"

Serge is worried other Australians will be caught out as more 3G networks are shut down later this year.

"[The telcos] need to have a different strategy because you will have at least two more waves of people panicking, and going out and buying new phones," he said.

The AMTA said telcos and the wider industry had been "preparing customers for the network closure by providing clear and consistent communications for over two years".

Mr Gregory from RMIT said the major telcos had been communicating the change with customers "reasonably well", but smaller providers — also known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators, or MVNOs — appeared to be less proactive.

"The problem is that when you get the changeover of people moving from one vendor to another, and also with the smaller companies that people are utilising, that there may not be as much information being made available," he said.

"The smaller tiers — the companies that are utilising the Telstra, Optus and Vodafone networks — may not be providing as much information as those big companies. So really it's very important that everyone takes some time to look at the website of the network they're using."

The AMTA said the major telcos were working with their MVNOs "to ensure they are sharing consistent, clear information with their customers as we transition off the 3G networks".