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.
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…
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…