Telstra to shut down 3G mobile network by 2024 (AU)

[coppice]

With just two days to go until the shutdown, let me share of what will stop working when this happens. This even includes medical devices like fall alarms and pacemakers, and Aussies living in the most remote parts will be the worst hit

Whilst there will be some devices that will stop working, people and organisations have had ample and repeated notice. Whatever devices remain, most probably have been forgotten about. I think the real impact will be minimal. As for those living in remote parts, I tend to disagree. Old mate on the tractor already lives outside the coverage area and whatever signal he does get is opportunistic. There are technologies available which will allow him to extend his own coverage, whether it be through the use of a mobile repeater (which does not need a licence to operate) or calling over WiFi. Worst case, he could use a satellite phone for emergencies. Even the newer iPhones allow messaging via satellite to emergency services. Just sounds like whinging for the sake of not wanting to change.

We shouldn't be hanging onto old and obsolete technology just to keep a few happy.

There are a lot of people with an embedded modem somewhere in their systems who have no idea how it works, and that they need to take action. Cars are a good example. People subscribed to the service from Mercedes in the UK seem to have found things suddenly stopped working, which is bad on the part of Mercedes, who should have taken action. However, the actual service users, who is now inconvenienced, had no way to know this would happen. I mean, if you bought a car in the last 10 years, surely its going to have an LT modem, right?

[Halcyon]

With just two days to go until the shutdown, let me share of what will stop working when this happens. This even includes medical devices like fall alarms and pacemakers, and Aussies living in the most remote parts will be the worst hit

Whilst there will be some devices that will stop working, people and organisations have had ample and repeated notice. Whatever devices remain, most probably have been forgotten about. I think the real impact will be minimal. As for those living in remote parts, I tend to disagree. Old mate on the tractor already lives outside the coverage area and whatever signal he does get is opportunistic. There are technologies available which will allow him to extend his own coverage, whether it be through the use of a mobile repeater (which does not need a licence to operate) or calling over WiFi. Worst case, he could use a satellite phone for emergencies. Even the newer iPhones allow messaging via satellite to emergency services. Just sounds like whinging for the sake of not wanting to change.

We shouldn't be hanging onto old and obsolete technology just to keep a few happy.

There are a lot of people with an embedded modem somewhere in their systems who have no idea how it works, and that they need to take action. Cars are a good example. People subscribed to the service from Mercedes in the UK seem to have found things suddenly stopped working, which is bad on the part of Mercedes, who should have taken action. However, the actual service users, who is now inconvenienced, had no way to know this would happen. I mean, if you bought a car in the last 10 years, surely its going to have an LT modem, right?

I think the issue is mostly with Mercedes but a little onus should be on the customer. Notwithstanding that most consumers probably wouldn't think to even ask the question, but to me, it's not really that different to making sure your consumer electronics support the 5 GHz WiFi band. But, it's pretty piss-poor that Mercedes is still using 20+ year old technology in their new vehicles. I'd suggest those buying a new Mercedes would expect better from a premium manufacturer and could even lead to claims under consumer law. Watch this space I suppose.

I drive a car that's less than 5 years old, but I don't know if it has a modem in it. If it does, it doesn't impact any of the user's functions as internet access comes from my phone. I really don't care if it's preventing the manufacturer from getting telemetry from my vehicle.

[coppice]

I have a Volvo. I just noticed a warning notice for these about the loss of 3G and 2G services in some territories. The cars have an LTE modem, but like most LTE hardware more than 3 or 4 years old it doesn't properly support VoLTE. Their On Call service uses voice calls to report emergencies, which won't work, so that will be partially crippled. They also say a software update may be needed to make the modem work at all, but don't explain why. The LTE part should still provide internet services, like maps, Spotify and so on.