Hi Petition Signers,
On Tuesday the 27th of May there was an article published in the ABC about the inconsistent phone blocking between the providers.
I thought it important to share with you all just in case you missed it.
A link to that article can be found below, please read the story and share it on.
ABC News: Telstra and Optus are inconsistently blocking phones. The regulator doesn't know how many
It seems in response Telstra has now bothered to update their checker tool database and they've now added Samsung Galaxy S25's and iPhone 16's that were missing from their Database. I'm sure that wasn't a good look on Tuesday....
A few other newer devices have now been added to their database as well, however it doesn't appear they've unblocked any older devices that work for 000 on 4G.
Also within the ABC article there was a link to my device blocking comparison website that I launched a few weeks ago!
If you want to compare the blocking results between the telcos, can you view devices by brand at isthisphoneblocked.net.au
It's clear the telcos need to be forced to actually publish their lists in a spreadsheet, including all of the historical data!
It shouldn't take the ABC or myself to data-scrape the telco checkers to expose the poor pre-shutdown analysis by the telcos. (Vodafone still has no tool!)
The telcos should be forced to show evidence why certain models should be blocked or not blocked.
Currently they currently get to hide behind saying 'that phone is incompatible with our network' without having to provide any proof to explain why it was blocked in the first place.
4G/5G Phones that require 3G for 000 now just get stuck on calling, even 'officially supported' devices with software issues.
Phones, even blocked devices, that support 4G Emergency Calling will still connect to 000, and on multiple networks.
As shown in this November video by Hugh Jeffreys.
Australia’s New Firewall IMEI BLOCKED 516,875 Active Phones Overnight + Tourists Phones Blocked
Optus are even blocking New 2023 and 2024 Model 5G Phones that work perfectly for VoLTE including for 000, that Telstra and Vodafone aren't blocking and say are supported for 000 on 4G.
It's worth mentioning when a blocked device makes a 4G Emergency Call the full IMEI (Serial Number) of the device is sent to the network.
So the telcos have the data to know they are blocking devices in error but seemingly aren't doing anything about it.
This includes for both devices that work natively out of the box, in addition to those where users have updated the device with the correct telco software.
There are phones that are 3G first for 000, but without 3G would place an Emergency Call over 4G.
What there needs to be is a publicly accessible 000 test system that allows anyone to take any device, purchased from any provider and test it for Emergency Calling.
Phones that connect through that test system should be unblocked (or at the very least 'grey listed'), and those that fail to place a test call should be blocked after a period of time.
The whole process could be entirely automated, it would also give those in regional areas with poor coverage a way to know if they can reliably call 000 with the coverage they currently have.
A device can say 'SOS Only' or 'Emergency Calls Only' but fail to connect when calling 000.
It's clear the telcos have very poor real world data about what works, especially for phones they didn't sell or their handset partners didn't sell.
They've made a lot of assumptions & shortcuts and there is no transparency with what they've done or what they're doing.
As always, you are welcome to contact me if you have any further information you want to share, multiple contact methods are available.
https://medium.com/@jamesdwho/about
Thank you for all the support and interest with this to date and please share the ABC story on.
There is still more that can be done, including with your help, there is power in numbers.
Regards
James