🇦🇺 3G network closure - Australia

[Charlotte231]

I’m using a Fairphone 3 in Australia and the 3G network is being shutdown at the end of August. The advice from telecommunications providers is that the device may still work for calls/internet after the 3G shutdown, but that it will not work for 000 emergency calls as the phone forces 000 calls through the 3G network.

Is there anyone else in Australia impacted by this? Does anyone know of there is any possibility of addressing this so I don’t have to give up my FP3?

[AnotherElk]

@Charlotte231

it will not work for 000 emergency calls as the phone forces 000 calls through the 3G network

Is this certain?
The Fairphone 3 can do 4G and VoLTE (4G voice calling, if the provider provisioned it for the user), and this 000 calls via 3G seems to apply to phones which can’t do VoLTE, so just wondering.

@Charlotte231

Is there anyone else in Australia impacted by this? Does anyone know of there is any possibility of addressing this so I don’t have to give up my FP3?

@t_pearce

I did however ring my provider (Moose Mobile) and they confirmed that VoLTE was provisioned on my account.
To check use *#*#4636#*#* as mentioned above.
Click the 3 dots and select IMS service status. You should see ‘Voice over LTE: Available’. If not then ring Telstra and ask for it to be provisioned on your service.

This was given for a Fairphone 5, though.
On a Fairphone 3 dial *#*#4636#*#* for the “Testing” menu, choose “Phone information”, then have a look whether “VoLTE provisioned” is enabled. If not, call your provider to check whether they can provision VoLTE for you.

[yvmuell]

Discussion for FP3 here

Returning/recycling a Fairphone 3+ from outside EU

The carrier claims to have already enabled VoLTE, and sent warning SMS and email based on how my phone connects. On the network page in phone settings I have mobile data enabled, 4g calling enabled, prefferred network 4G etc. The status bar shows a 4G icon when I have mobile data enabled). I’m not sure what mroe I can do on my phone to suggest is use VoLTE. This is something that has widespread public alarm in Australia and the shutdown was delayed a year as a result, so I’m fairly confident t…

[AnotherElk]

Well, with this much uncertainty I probably rather wouldn’t gamble with emergency calls.

[yvmuell]

I guess its provider specific and effects all FPs when FPs cant use VoLTE in the network. It seems the provider knows how phones are logging in and might be able to help to get VoLTE working. So when they can confirm the phone was not using VoLTE so far they should be able to help and confirm the other way round?

[Charlotte231]

yes the advice from the provider was that they were contacting those who were identified as having an issue after the closure, and I have been contacted (repeatedly!)

[Charlotte231]

Thanks for this advice - I do have VoLTE provisioned enabled. However, it seems that FP3 may not have VoLTE enabled for emergency calls - as per image below

[yvmuell]

Enabled and confirmed to be registered in the “special” menu or just enabled in the normal settings? When you call does the ohone stick to 4G or goes back to 3G during a call?

Who is your provider?

This screenshot is not defining the issue on your device in my eyes, and still leaves room, so best is to check the menu and call the provider.

[David_Cook]

Thanks for bringing this up. I also have a FP3 in Australia and have received the warnings (I am on Telstra network via Better Life Mobile).
From what I can gather, although the FP3 is capable of 4G, and Voice over LTE (VoLTE), it is not shipped with the required config for Australian networks.

I’ve confirmed this by checking the phone settings that “4G calling” (aka VoLTE) is enabled, and also “VoLTE provisioned” in the Phone information screen as described above.
But when making a phone call, you can check your network status and see that it has switched to 3G during the call.

Therefore I think FP3 and probably all Fairphones won’t be able to make phone calls, but I think data would be fine, so you could still make voice and video calls with other apps like WhatsApp, and maybe text messages.
But this is obviously not ideal, and won’t work for 000. I saw some ambiguous info that suggested 112 might work, but don’t quote me on that. In any case, not being able to make emergency calls could be Bad.

So the config is referred to as MBN in this Whirlpool thread), and it appears it might be possible to add it to your phone somehow. Perhaps if someone has the know-how, they could provide a similar guide for Fairphones.

Until, then I will next contact Telstra and ask what to do…

[yvmuell]

@David_Cook

Therefore I think FP3 and probably all Fairphones won’t be able to make phone calls,

in the Telstra Network, maybe not in others

Fairphones in Australia

No problems. I did however ring my provider (Moose Mobile) and they confirmed that VoLTE was provisioned on my account. To check use *#*#4636#*#* as mentioned above. Click the 3 dots and select IMS service status. You should see ‘Voice over LTE: Available’. If not then ring Telstra and ask for it to be provisioned on your service.

[t_pearce]

Vodaphone shut down 3G in January. So is anyone here using their Fairphone on their network?

[David_Cook]

Thanks, I didn’t see the IMS service status before. I can see:

IMS registration: Not registered
Voice over LTE: Unavailable
Voice over Wi-Fi: Unavailable
Video calling: Unavailable
UT interface: Available

So as you suggest I will contact Telstra and ask for it to be provisionend.

[Charlotte231]

Just spoke to Telstra and they were not very helpful. They said that all they can see is that my device is not compatible with 4G and that it is not going to work once the 3G network is shut down and that I need to replace the device. They couldn’t provide any more info than that.

I guess I can just wait and see what happens on 31 Aug, but not an ideal situation re emergency calls.

[yvmuell]

Maybe call again and again…and tell them thats its not correct that the phone is not compatible per se and only in their network.

We as FP user can only share experience

[OldRoutard]

@Charlotte231

all they can see is that my device is not compatible with 4G

Show them the “Network” section of this document.

[Cassy]

I came here for solutions for this issue also. Prior to finding this post I contacted Telstra and this was their response below. I have followed recommendations to request VoLTE provisions enabled and am awaiting their response.

[Incanus]

According to the specs sheets of the Fairphone models, FP4 and FP5 do support 4G Band 28, the FP3 however doesn’t.

[tfish]

I have a FP5 and I was getting the 3G closure warnings via Aldi mobile (which uses the Telstra network).

After some frantic forum searching a post suggested that the issue is Telstra specific and that Optus and Vodaphone should work. (Potentially something to do with the MBN config mentioned by David_Cook)

I signed up for an Optus eSIM and I don’t get the 3G closure warning when calling via Optus. I did some other tests and I believe switching to Optus has solved my issues, although the ultimate test will be when the 3G actually gets switched off.

TLDR use Optus if you have a FP in Australia?

[IainM]

Yep, I’m late to this sorry, but agree with most of what has been said:

• FP3 doesn’t have Band 28 and won’t do emergency calling (confirmed by Fairphone who also advised there are currently no plans for FP3 to support emergency calling via VoLTE in the future)
• FP5 has Band 28, and registers with VoLTE on Vodafone and Optus but not Telstra
• FP5 implements newer emergency calling protocols so emergency calling won’t be inherently broken as it is on FP3, and would be expected to work in theory but no one can guarantee it works because it hasn’t been tested
• FP4 seems to be in the same boat as FP5 as far as emergency calling and VoLTE capabilities go. I have no access to a FP4 to experiment/verify.
• the Telstra 3498 checker lists FP5 as not compatible. Vodafone 3498 checker lists FP5 as “unknown”. Use at your own risk.

I’ve got FP5 working on Vodafone eSIM (with no 3G network available) but like tfish can’t say whether emergency calling is working or not.

[IainM]

A brief and non-authoritative description of emergency calling to help you understand the risks:

• your phone has a list of emergency numbers from a combination of firmware, SIM data and network data
• when you dial a number that it recognises as an emergency number, it doesn’t place that call by sending the number to the network, it uses a whole different process so that it can use reception from networks other than your own, send additional location data, and so the traffic is treated as a priority
• on FP3 that emergency calling process relies inherently on 2G/3G connections. Once those networks are turned off, all emergency calls will fail, even if your phone has a VoLTE connection.
• for FP5 we seem to be in a grey zone where it doesn’t route all emergency calls via 2G/3G, but we don’t know if the method it does use works in Australia. If that fails there’s the same risk that just because you can make normal calls doesn’t mean you can make emergency calls.