šŸ‡¦šŸ‡ŗ 3G network closure - Australia

That is really interesting @kade

Is your FP4 successfully registering for VoLTE on Telstra?
Thereā€™s a guide on how to check at How to Check for Working VoLTE Calling on Android | Medium

@IainM everything points to my phone being fully connected, VoLTE symbol appears and IMS check confirms its available

I have not tested the emergency calls functionality, but regular calls go through with the normal clarity/quality.

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Was the EU SIM the first in the phone? Was it ever connected to mobile data, VoLTE with this SIM? It seems as long as the first inserted SIM is in the phone the settings will be somehow kept?

No, the eSIM was only added two years after the phone coming online here in Australia.
Iā€™m quite sure I activated it first back here, not in Europe with another SIM.
I ported all the data and settings from another Australian 4G phone when setting up my FP4, thatā€™s the only thing I could think of where other settings might have been retained, but I wouldnā€™t think data or settings would be ported to that extent.

My wife is on a FP4 which we purchased in July 2023. It has only ever been connected to Telstra Wholesale via Exetel and has not skipped a beat in the 3G switch-off. During the lead-up to the switch off, when I was receiving the recorded message before each outgoing call, she was not -which gave me and the support team at Exetel (who I spoke to a few times) a false sense of security that the FP5 would work given the FP4 did. Optimistic fools that we wereā€¦

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Anyone know how accurate this website is? https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/AU/fairphone-5

If so, would Vodaphone (out of Vodaphone and Optus, given Telstra isnā€™t an option) offer the best coverage?

I think itā€™s accurate as a snapshot of right now.
But Iā€™d expect band usage among the networks to change over coming months as they repurpose the frequencies that are freed up by the 3G shutdown.

But none of that tells you about the coverage of each network. Coverage is mostly about how many towers they have and where. Bands come into only insofar as lower frequencies carry less data but go further, and high frequencies carry more data but get blocked easily.

I canā€™t vouch for it specifically, but this tool seems to let you compare different network coverage maps fairly easily.

EDIT: In aggregate itā€™s a simple fact that Optus coverage is much better than Vodafone. All the 4G bands of both carriers are supported by FP5, so that will remain true for us. The map might be useful for checking localised coverage in places important to you.

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Thanks so much, @IanM!

I wanted to add I also jump shipped to Optus, and itā€™s working fine (the only wrinkle being I needed another phone to receive the SMSes being sent. Oh, and their coverage in the country still isnā€™t great). And thanks @IainM for the detail that you gave, which gave me the confidence that this had a hope in heck of working.

FP3+ on Felix (Vodafone) still working. 3498 response: ā€œGood news. Your mobile phone is compatible with our 4G/5G network. Please remember to keep your device software updated.ā€

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Thanks @Thomke
Iā€™m tempted to sign up for a 7 day free trial on Optus with my old FP3 to see if itā€™s the same with stock FairphoneOS.

My fp3+ wonā€™t work with optus!
Ive managed to get a Vodafone data sim to work perfectly, but the signal is non existent where I live.
So was hoping I could get optus to work. I had to fight the snotty nosed sales person just to be given a data sim, and just like telstra it wonā€™t work at all!

This was very enlightening and took me down a bit of a rabbit hole trying to research this apparent lack of support on Telstra for FP5 specifically.
After installing adb and gaining root access, I was able to search the device for any reference to Telstra within the internal configuration
adb # find / -type d -name "Telstra"
I got two hits.

/data/vendor/modem_config/mcfg_sw/generic/AUNZ/Telstra
/vendor/firmware_mnt/image/modem_pr/mcfg/configs/mcfg_sw/generic/AUNZ/Telstra

Checking the contents, I get

1|FP5:/data/vendor/modem_config/mcfg_sw/generic/AUNZ/Telstra/Commercial # ls
mcfg_sw.mbn

I find it very interesting that these mbn configuration files apparently already exist on the FP5 device however it still refuses to work with Telstraā€™s network specifically

I wonder if thereā€™s any specifics with regard to telstraā€™s implementation. It seems odd they would include a configuration for telstra and yet it doesnā€™t work?

Edit: Adding onto this after having researched further: I believe the block may in fact be on Telstraā€™s side. I tried entering my IMEI into https://www.telstrawholesale.com.au/3G-Network-Closure-Blocked-Devices-Checker.html and it identified my exact Fairphone model and confimed it was blocked. So it seems that I need to call them up on a borrowed Optus sim (lol) and ask them to unblock. Unfortunately, this probably means fighting through customer support to reach someone technical

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Hi everyone,
Just to add my two cents worth !

Iā€™m a Telstra customer (currently) and recently changed from a Fairphone 3 to a Fairphone 5, which I bought in Europe in August. When back in Aus it worked fine although I never tested dialling 000.
Since the 28th Oct, Iā€™ve been blocked from the Telstra network with the sum of useless advice I was given by them all - buy another phone !
So recently I tried AldiMobile which uses the same network (Telstra), and got the same result, i.e. being blocked. Iā€™m still waiting for some feedback from them.
I tested with an Optus card this afternoon and everything worked fine. I suspect the result will be the same for other providers who use the Optus network.
That also includes a Swiss simcard which uses the Optus network.

In all the tests Iā€™ve done so far, dialling 000 for both phones (FP3 and FP5) has always worked fine.

Hope all this helps someone in the same mess as I was in !!

JohnR

Personally I wouldnā€™t waste my time/breath trying to get Telstra to unblock it. Theyā€™re not going to. Itā€™s a legislative requirement that came into effect on October 28.

Itā€™s curious what youā€™ve found about the Telstra mbn - would be great to dig a bit into whether the Telstra mbn is the same on the FP4, and whether it got correctly loaded by the FP5 or if forcing the phone to use it would have enabled FP5 to operate on telstra in the pre-IMEI-blocking world. But itā€™s all a bit academic now that the IMEI block is legally required.

Just be mindful that calling 000 doesnā€™t test anything relevant while the Optus 3G network is still operating (no matter which networkā€™s SIM youā€™re using). Optusā€™s shutdown is proceeding patchily and is still live in plenty of places. I donā€™t think thereā€™s a form date for full and final closure but they said months from the October 28 commencement of closure date.

Well I was told by the Optus assistant (for what itā€™s worth) that in Perth the 3G would be removed 12 Nov. Is there some way I can check that ?

I tried the optus free trial on my end and texted ā€˜3ā€™ to 3498 and got the message ā€œour records show your device is not a mobile phone and youā€™ll need to get in touch with optus customer support to confirm if your device is compatibleā€

I donā€™t have a good feeling that Optus will remain open for FP5. as according to Australiaā€™s 3G shutdown: Why your 4G/5G phone is now blocked

"In essence, if Optus (or its partners) didnā€™t sell a phone or test it, it would be blocked, even if itā€™s a supported hardware model.

Optus is even blocking officially supported phones that are on its device support list.

If the phone was not purchased from Optus but another telco, itā€™s blocked, even if itā€™s also a supported model with that other telco."

Looking around, the only messages I am seeing regarding success for customers getting their phones back online has been sparse reddit posts from customers saying that contacting their ombudsman and complaining repeatedly worked.

It seems like a big mishandling, given that Australian customers arenā€™t the only ones who are going to be using European phones in Australia. Tourists are, most of the time, going to just purchase a temporary prepaid sim card or take on roaming services and are probably going to be shocked that you need to purchase a whole new phone just to get service in Australia

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Agree itā€™s a big mishandling.

But donā€™t be disheartened by that response from 3498.
The fact that you are able to send that message means FP5 is not IMEI blocked. Disallowed devices are not allowed to commence operation on the network.

The response from 3498 is just because 3498 queries a database that correlates phone number to IMEI to future network compatibility, and the phone number to IMEI relationship only gets refreshed every few weeks. Give it some time, and you should get a positive response from 3498 on Optus.

Iā€™m not aware of one, but that could be ignorance on my part.