Telstra and Optus will delay the planned closure of their 3G networks in order to conduct a final public safety awareness campaign amid concerns that emergency services calls and medical devices could be affected.
This thing should be shelved indefinitely. We’re taking a massive chunk of the coverage area and scrapping it with 0 intention of applying a better solution here, all so people can get their twitter and email faster.
I don’t think anyone’s really suggesting we keep 3g in the metro areas. Almost the entirety of the greater Melbourne area has 4g, with a fair chunk having 5g, and I think most major cities in the country have almost complete 4g coverage.
But in the country, there’s so many places I’ve been through, even in the last few months, where I’ve only had 3g/H+, that I also don’t foresee them rolling out 4g to any time soon, let alone the any time this decade. 3g can travel further than 4g, and a lot further than 5g, which means it’s all well and good that they’ve converted all of their 3g towers to also have 4g dishes, but unless they actually build new 4g towers, it’s still a net downgrade.
The article points out that consumer phones aren’t an issue. Its things like lifts with a 3g fallback for emergencies, with non4g capabikitybthat is the issue.
That’s the issue. They havnt planned for anything except consumer devices. Android is now recommending 2g be disabled for security, also, so less devices will try to connect to older network infrastructure over time.
I dont see how the telco vsnt see what devices are connecting and where, given their Sims are linked tons customer when they ping a tower. Surely they can identify the devices if they wanted. It might be there are just too many.
Consumer phones in regional areas are still an issue.
As @baku said, 3G has better range than 4G (which has better range than 5G).
If someone in the middle of the bush, or on a country road needs to use their 5G phone, they may not have coverage.
I have a friend that had to drive 10km with a cracked skull, ribs and broken arm and leg because he didn’t have coverage on his farm. He now has 3G coverage, but not 4G.
The issue is two fold. The first devices which don’t support 4g, and the second is the loss of coverage with the decommissioning of 3G. That’s what my last comment focussed on.
They are replacing 3g coverage with 4g equivalents (low frequency bands) so it shouldn’t get worse. And I don’t believe there is any other technical advantage to 3g over long distances but I’m no expert…
Better allocation of spectrum is not just for social media. That’s like saying nbn was not needed as what we had before was fast enough for email.
Kind of disagree. NBN didnt cost network to deploy. Well, kind of but kind of not.
What does faster netflix mean to someone in a fringe 3g area when we upgrade their 5GN that they cant get anyway?
Wow, really, because my copper line with a dedicated power source to be always on is now gone from my house.
Irrespective of the nbn, dismissing bandwdth increases as unneeded as peoples internet use doesn’t meet your standards reeks of tony Abbott complaining about nbn as gamers would waste more time online.
I dont think you “get” it. I’m saying people are going to be cut off. 5g simply doesnt reach as far, its coverage range is greatly reduced compared to 3g or even 4g.
And there is no solution for that. the telcos sure as shit arnt gonna go out there and build a bunch more towers for no one except a koala or 2 to regularly use. We’re cutting the service to a not 0% of the population.
This might be fine in Europe, But not a large country like us.
get it. I dont think we should dismiss using more bandwith as pointless.
I also think its unreasonable to expect a private company maintain an unprofitable portion of the network. If we wanted coverage like that, it should be part of their licence to ensure its like for like. I dont know stats in Australia but I known in the USA which is more deregulated than here, they are building .ore towers to maintain coverage.
We are a big country, but as much as the stereotyoe is bush, we have more people in urban areas. That doesn’t make us smaller to provide coverage but I’d be surprised if we aren’t building more towers too. Anybtine there ISNA switch in tech, there will be winners and losers. We need to ensure more winners than losers.
Dismissing the improvements as unnecessary or unhelpful doesn’t lead to constructive discussion.
This thing should be shelved indefinitely. We’re taking a massive chunk of the coverage area and scrapping it with 0 intention of applying a better solution here, all so people can get their twitter and email faster.
Better allocation of spectrum is not just for social media. That’s like saying nbn was not needed as what we had before was fast enough for email.
While, we should not reduce coverage just to increase band with, we should not dismiss the imoirtnace of band with and the limited available spectrum.
Certainly in less populous areas where spectrum band with is not a problem, perhaps we could keep 3g coverage.
I don’t think anyone’s really suggesting we keep 3g in the metro areas. Almost the entirety of the greater Melbourne area has 4g, with a fair chunk having 5g, and I think most major cities in the country have almost complete 4g coverage.
But in the country, there’s so many places I’ve been through, even in the last few months, where I’ve only had 3g/H+, that I also don’t foresee them rolling out 4g to any time soon, let alone the any time this decade. 3g can travel further than 4g, and a lot further than 5g, which means it’s all well and good that they’ve converted all of their 3g towers to also have 4g dishes, but unless they actually build new 4g towers, it’s still a net downgrade.
The article points out that consumer phones aren’t an issue. Its things like lifts with a 3g fallback for emergencies, with non4g capabikitybthat is the issue.
That’s the issue. They havnt planned for anything except consumer devices. Android is now recommending 2g be disabled for security, also, so less devices will try to connect to older network infrastructure over time.
I dont see how the telco vsnt see what devices are connecting and where, given their Sims are linked tons customer when they ping a tower. Surely they can identify the devices if they wanted. It might be there are just too many.
Consumer phones in regional areas are still an issue. As @baku said, 3G has better range than 4G (which has better range than 5G). If someone in the middle of the bush, or on a country road needs to use their 5G phone, they may not have coverage.
I have a friend that had to drive 10km with a cracked skull, ribs and broken arm and leg because he didn’t have coverage on his farm. He now has 3G coverage, but not 4G.
The issue is two fold. The first devices which don’t support 4g, and the second is the loss of coverage with the decommissioning of 3G. That’s what my last comment focussed on.
They are replacing 3g coverage with 4g equivalents (low frequency bands) so it shouldn’t get worse. And I don’t believe there is any other technical advantage to 3g over long distances but I’m no expert…
Kind of disagree. NBN didnt cost network to deploy. Well, kind of but kind of not. What does faster netflix mean to someone in a fringe 3g area when we upgrade their 5GN that they cant get anyway?
Wow, really, because my copper line with a dedicated power source to be always on is now gone from my house.
Irrespective of the nbn, dismissing bandwdth increases as unneeded as peoples internet use doesn’t meet your standards reeks of tony Abbott complaining about nbn as gamers would waste more time online.
I dont think you “get” it. I’m saying people are going to be cut off. 5g simply doesnt reach as far, its coverage range is greatly reduced compared to 3g or even 4g. And there is no solution for that. the telcos sure as shit arnt gonna go out there and build a bunch more towers for no one except a koala or 2 to regularly use. We’re cutting the service to a not 0% of the population.
This might be fine in Europe, But not a large country like us.
get it. I dont think we should dismiss using more bandwith as pointless.
I also think its unreasonable to expect a private company maintain an unprofitable portion of the network. If we wanted coverage like that, it should be part of their licence to ensure its like for like. I dont know stats in Australia but I known in the USA which is more deregulated than here, they are building .ore towers to maintain coverage.
We are a big country, but as much as the stereotyoe is bush, we have more people in urban areas. That doesn’t make us smaller to provide coverage but I’d be surprised if we aren’t building more towers too. Anybtine there ISNA switch in tech, there will be winners and losers. We need to ensure more winners than losers.
Dismissing the improvements as unnecessary or unhelpful doesn’t lead to constructive discussion.
So you’re not an Aussie? Cool ok so you’ve got no idea what this country is like. That makes sense.
Lol, no. Like most if this country, I live in a metro area.
Unlike the USA which has a higher percent living rural or in low population density areas. Its juatbthat we alsonhave a lot of empty space.
Even if I wasnt Australian, my point would still stand, so all youre doing is showing the weakness of yours.
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