@Nath @Jumuta Networks made the commercial decision to ditch 3G years ago. But the legislation forcing them to block handsets due to 000 concerns is only a few weeks old.
The issue isn't that the handsets don't work on 4G or 5G, it's that some dropped down to 3G for emergency calls. So the networks have been told to even block some of the handsets they sold as "4G".
@zero_gravitas This guy has a (long) piece about why it's a stupid thing to do in the way it's being done. https://medium.com/@jamesdwho/australias-3g-shutdown-telcos-to-block-working-4g-5g-phones-2bf41e95de8a
Basically 300,000 devices will stop working Monday. And the owners of things like fall emergency panic buttons might not know they don't work until they're needed. Literally could cost lives.
Could also be fun for a lot of Melbourne's MyKi card readers, if they've not managed to swap them all out yet (I did read it wasn't completed yet as they'd not actually got the readers delivered)
@goodthanks @disguy_ovahea wait till you hear what happens to it after it's collected to be sent to China.
People still talk about the time it all went to landfill anyway after this kind of political fuck-up
https://12ft.io/https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/please-keep-recycling-perth-urged-to-trust-the-system-after-landfill-crisis-20200226-p544oa.html
@Gorgritch_umie_killa @Mountaineer I'd suggest there'd be a general feeling of "meh" if they were to make it west
@Salvo @MorpheusB Cos who doesn't like paying network's prices for their choice of handsets with their bloatware running on their choice of OS? I really want ACCC to hit them with a massive stick over this.