Comment on Hundreds complain about failing mobile phone service since 3G switched off

CameronDev@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• Salvo@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  It was Regulatory intervention that caused this problem.

  Government: “you need to make sure that your subscribers can access 000” Telcos: “we can only do this if we disconnect 3G” G: “that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever but we will believe you and give you carte blanche to screw over your customers comply with regulatory requirements”

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  • quokka@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    The problem was that some handsets (including ones sold by the networks as “4G”) would drop to 3G for 000. Even same models on different firmware behaved differently. So the regulator said to ban any the networks weren’t 100% sure were compatible. With 30(?) days’ notice. And the online IMEI checker is incomplete/useless too. So now the only realistic place for average consumers to buy known-compatible handsets is from the network operators. At their prices, with their software.

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    • Salvo@aussie.zone ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      …And the governments Knee-jerk legislation was due to the Telcos not investing enough in redundancy.

      When a little bit of a wind can bring down the mobile network, maybe it is time to build more cell towers and make sure they have a stable battery backup.

      I had a family member recently purchase an imported Lawn Mower and its Wireless features bought down his local cell network.

      IANA Telecommunications Engineer, but making critical Infrastructure secure and redundant should be a high priority.

      The Mirboo North outage and the mower issue only effected one of the 3 mobile network providers; starting with O and ending in S.

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