Hi Petition Signers,
It's been a few weeks since the last update and I'm still keeping up the fight.
The petition is very close to 9,000 signatures and 10,000 is within reach!
Thank you to all of those that have signed and shared the petition.
Please help push this petition to 10,000 before the end of the year! There is power in numbers.
In the past week I have forwarded the submissions from the 'Blocked Devices Survey' to the ACCC and the 3G Inquiry Senate Committee. Both have confirmed receipt of my emails.
The final report from the Committee is due in late February, the Committee extended the reporting deadline so they could report on the effects post shutdown.
Please keep the blocked device submissions coming in!
I will be sending through additional (opt-in) submissions to the ACCC and Senate Committee in the New Year as well as adding them to the Public List. In total there have been over 600 Submissions to the Form.
- 4G/5G Device Blocking & Capabilities Submission Form
- 4G/5G Device Blocking & Capabilities Submission Results (Public Version)
If you haven't already please take the time to write to the Minister to complain, in addition to your Local MP, State Senators, ACCC & ACMA etc.
In the past month there have been a few News Articles about this issue including two in the ABC (one of which I'm featured in).
ABC News
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-03/brand-new-phones-unable-to-make-calls-3g-shutdown/104541440
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-04/australian-4g-5g-users-cut-off-after-3g-network-shutdown/104559096
Additionally I had an Opinion Piece Published in Independent Australia, a link is below.
It's a shorter version of the Article I wrote on Medium last month.
Australia’s 3G shutdown: Why your 4G/5G phone is now blocked - Independent Australia
(Original Long Version on Medium.com)
Please share these stories to raise awareness of what is actually going on!
Many have said this needs to be escalated to a class action.
Given the circumstances I agree that a Class Action is probably required to actually effect change.
I would like to see the Government, ACMA & ACCC crack down on the telcos blocking perfectly compatible devices and the misleading information provided to date.
However that remains to be seen, and based on responses coming out of the Department and ACMA I don't have much faith this is going to occur, at least without sufficient pressure. Neither the Minister's Department or ACMA will meet with me.
I did make some general inquiries with two major law firms, but at this time both have not taken any interest.
I'm still in the process of trying to contact other firms that specialise in Consumer Law.
If anyone has any experience or further information you can share, please feel free to get in contact with me
https://medium.com/@jamesdwho/about
Also if you have written to either the Minister or ACMA and received a response letter feel free to send them over to me.
I firmly believe there is a case here and more than enough plaintiffs, but as this issue is somewhat technical I think people can misunderstand what the core issue is.
It's been extremely challenging raising awareness of this over the past 18 months.
(The misinformation from the telcos also certainly didn't help)
I think many people assume this is about very old 3G phones, when it's about the providers abusing their position and strong-arming people to purchase new phones through their stores and blocking compatible 4G/5G devices sold by their competitors.
Some may say pursuing any legal action is pointless and 'you should just move on and buy a new phone', but to do that will mean the providers get away with this and for the foreseeable future we will be locked to only purchasing 'supported' handsets directly from the telcos or their handset partners.
This will only result in higher prices, less choice and increase the market control of the major handset brands.
At the moment the telcos get to be judge, jury and execution, solely deciding what phones you are allowed to use and where you must have purchased them from.
Currently you have no idea if a phone you're about to buy or want to use will actually be allowed or not and why.
Other than Telstra there is no way to publicly check if a device is blocked or not.
Brand new phones are being blocked, even though they work perfectly including for Emergency Calling.
Requests by customers to have their devices unblocked are flatly denied with no explanation.
They need to be held accountable for this!
There is a reason why the telcos are some of the least trusted brands in Australia and their current behaviour has only cemented this view for many customers.
Whether it's the supermarkets, banks or telcos, Australians are consistently and repeatedly being taken advantage of, and this is just another instance of that.
The telcos and major handset vendors get to stifle out any sense of real competition in the market and block compatible devices sold by their competitors. The industry and Government may deny that's happening, but it demonstrably is!
Blocked devices that are capable of calling 000 on 4G are still able to 'camp-on' and place Emergency Calls, and now 3G is basically gone it's obvious what devices don't work for 000 anymore.
The providers are aware they are blocking devices that can call 000 on 4G, but these devices are not being unblocked.
Complaints to the TIO & ACCC are being ignored or rejected, even when customers have proof their device can make emergency calls on 4G.
There needs to be a Publicly Accessible way for someone to test call 000 and have their device automatically unblocked.
In recent days I've had Vodafone block a number of phones that are capable of Emergency Calling and with absolutely no notice, they refuse to unblock them and have no process for escalating those complaints.
If you have switched to the Vodafone network recently and your device isn't 'officially supported' with Vodafone, be aware that your phone will probably be blocked soon, and possibly with no notice.
I was on the phone with 'support' for 3 hours and I was repeatedly told the same lies and false information by four different agents. All they offer customers is low end network locked phones that aren't suitable.
It also seems Optus has now realised they have no idea what phones actually work, as in recent days they've purged their entire 'Supported VoLTE Devices' page from their website. (Page changed on or before 29 Nov)
There were devices listed on that page that Optus said support Emergency Calling over 4G but do not work with the software versions they claim are supported. This includes supported iPhone and Android devices.
Those who watched the Video by Hugh Jeffreys a few weeks ago will know what I'm talking about. I'm a little surprised it took this long for them to edit their website. They're obviously not subscribed.
If you haven't seen it a link is below, well worth a watch.
Australia’s New Firewall IMEI BLOCKED 516,875 Active Phones Overnight + Tourists Phones Blocked
I also raised concerns regarding the accuracy of their 'support list' in my 3G Senate Inquiry Submission in May, but it seems only now has anyone bothered to do anything about it.
Perhaps coincidentally the page content was deleted only a few days after I contacted the Senate Committee. I advised that I can currently connect with 'officially supported' phones that cannot make emergency calls but are listed as supported on telco websites.
See below a link to a Google Doc with Screenshots and Archived copies of what was on their website.
Optus can't hide from what was on there. (TPG/Vodafone was hiding phones from their website last year as well.)
Optus VoLTE Support Page - Archive Version
Deleting the list won't fix the problem and there will be significant numbers of people out there with 'supported' phones that presently cannot call 000 and those people have no idea.
Someone will suffer the consequences for this at some point, or has already and the telcos, Government and Regulators will be to blame. They can't say they weren't warned, but I'm sure they will deflect and deny responsibility, as we've seen before.
Without a way to officially test call 000, this risk will remain.
But I'm sure the telcos will just insist on selling more phones as the only solution.
If you've been forced to buy a new phone recently please don't just throw away your old device, hopefully we start seeing some of these devices unblocked and an Emergency Call Test system rolled out that allows some devices to be 'grey listed' and unblocked. (This appears to have happened to some people in isolated cases.)
I understand that many of you can't sit around waiting for that to happen and I wish this turned out differently.
I'm extremely frustrated and disappointed that consumers have been pushed to the sidelines and the commercial interests of the telcos have overruled the public interest.
All of this fails the mention the widespread complaints about coverage & speed issues post shutdown or the phones of tourists being blocked from service or having limited coverage.
Who's supposed to be in charge again? The telcos or the regulators?
I frequently wonder how things might have been be different if I was actually listened to last year and if I could have done more. I wish I raised the alarm sooner.
If I had known all of this was going to happen and I was going to be the only person last year to raise the alarm, then there are many things I would have have done differently.
But regardless I have to keep trying, we all do, as frustrating and hard as that can be.
Thank you for all the support and interest with this to date.
Regards
James