Not to be political but, here in Australia, the Australian Government passed some new law last year that goes in effect in March, this ban puts all known devices that has ever come in to Australia on a IMEI Blocklist, and so this doesn’t just affect Fairphone owners here in Australia, but others who may come to Australia thinking they’ll be able to use their existing devices to make calls and texts and use data, and so my Fairphone 5 I currently own will also be swept up in this IMEI Blocklist, and being told I should get a new device that is already “pre-authorized” because somehow there’s a massive security concern over certain devices not properly supporting 4G VoLTE and 5G networks for being able to do Triple-Zero calls which is the emergency services number, and so their solution is to just IMEI Ban every device except for the few authorized ones sold by the big major telcos, which is primarily Optus and Telstra, the ban prevents your device from communicating with the cellular network for calls, texts and data. I’m, not sure eSIMs like Saily and others are safe either because they’re tied to the IMEI registered on the device.
As a Fairphone 5 user I find it completely unacceptable that devices like the Fairphone should be blanket blacklisted like this, and I’m not about to toss aside a perfectly functional device that I’ve only had for about 1 year 6 months soon going on 7 months. so what I’m trying to figure out at the moment how to get around the IMEI blocklist. I don’t think it’s possible to replace the cellular adapter that has a completely new IMEI registered to it that will continue to allow the device to work, or in software overwrite the IMEI to a new one that isn’t blocked.
Telco Customers in Australia who don’t have a “compatible” device before the blocklist goes in place have been getting SMS/RCS messages about telling them they have to get a new phone to stay connected to cellular service. No news source seems to be reporting on this fact because last year there was another set of IMEI Blocks put in place for older devices that rely on 3G and 2G networks which they’ve since shutdown, and so that lead to a massive eWaste of phones that still needed it. And now this new ban happening in March affecting millions or rather billions of devices turned in to more eWaste,
Where it is talked about is over on Whirlpool Forums, which is the Australian tech forum thats been around for a long time.
3G network closure - Australia