Wake up rural Australia, 3G is closing and you need to prepare

Telecommunications advisors also warn many rural localities are currently enjoying mobile phone reception which may vanish after June 30 - even for those using modern 4G or 5G devices.

The current "fortuitous" signal strength on some farms may need to be boosted when the 3G network shutdown hits the bush in 10 weeks' time.

Telstra, which turns off its vast 3G network on June 30, said customers should expect equivalent or better service with their 4G and 5G devices.

Optus' 3G network will close in September.

Both big telcos have urged people to check that their phones or other signal transmitting devices were not solely reliant on the 3G network.

The 28-year-old 3G band is being repurposed so the frequency can accommodate 4G and 5G spectrum services offering faster, wider bandwidth to manage bigger data download demands from customers.

However, Regional Tech Hub general manager, Jen Medway, said there was no guarantee 4G or 5G customers in hilly terrain, or areas where the signal may be disrupted by trees, gullies or other obstacles, would find their current service unchanged.

"For various reasons, including geography, a lot of people are not in an area where Telstra or Optus maps guarantee a 4G signal," Ms Medway said.

"However, at the moment their homes or sheds may fortuitously be on the fringe of a 3G coverage area enjoying coverage which may not continue when these service changes occur.

"You may have to install a booster kit and antenna to grab that signal and amplify it.

"Unfortunately, many people will not know if the signal they currently enjoy will change until we get to July - and Telstra won't really know, either."

In the meantime, however, Ms Medway said people should also be aware a host of household appliances and farm equipment, from smart refrigerators and washing machines to gate alarms and water meters, relied on the phone network, possibly using a 3G signal.

It was time to do a stocktake and check their devices' 4G compatibility, especially if the gear was made prior to 2019.

The average farm and farm household had about 21 connected devices, including mobile phones, tablets, medical alert devices and soil sensors.

These devices may already have 4G VoLTE (voice over long term evolution) capabilities, but were often set up to operate on the 3G network because it was initially considered more reliable.

Importantly, some older 4G- and 5G-enabled handsets may also not be capable of using the triple zero emergency band.

Although 3G transmissions now represent only about 1pc of telecommunications traffic, recent advice to the federal government suggested more than 1 million 3G-reliant devices were still in circulation and many 4G and 5G product owners may not realise they would not have service in an emergency.

"Everybody needs to double check with their equipment providers," Ms Medway said.

"I do a lot of work with agtech equipment providers and we know many were still installing 3G sim cards in gear until relatively recently."

The federally-funded Regional Tech Hub, which operates under the auspices of the National Farmers Federation, was already handling a rising volume of queries relating to equipment and phone connectivity concerns centred around the looming 3G shutdown.

The tech hub had website information and technical support staff based nationally in regional areas from Broken Hill to Condamine to provide guidance and answer questions free of charge.

Meanwhile, Telstra this week launched a simple SMS checking service to allow its customers to assess if their phone would work after the 3G shutdown.

By texting the number '3' to 3498 (or '3G XT'), Telstra could advise if any device upgrade would be needed before 3G closed.

"We are considering all actions to ensure all our customers can call triple zero in an emergency after the closure," Telstra said.

"If you're not sure what to do, go online, or to your nearest Telstra store, or call 13 22 00."

Queensland beef producer and NFF telecommunications committee chairman, Peter Thompson, said while 4G and 5G options should give farmers more data capacity than the 3G service many were accustomed to, he did not expect the changeover to be seamless.

He was also uncertain about how much extra useful capacity 4G would actually provide data hungry rural customers.

Although 3G had become a talking point in the past month or two, he was concerned too many people were not paying attention, or would leave it too late to upgrade their devices or learn about their connectivity capacity.

"We don't want farmers waking up on July 1 to find they've got stuff that just doesn't work," said Mr Thompson at Echo Hills, Roma.

On the other hand farm equipment suppliers, some of whom were still selling 3G-connected gear just 18 months ago, were now fielding steadily increasing customer inquiries.

Farmers who were proactive and made contact with suppliers early would avoid long wait times and big frustrations in June.

"It won't take long for the next 10 weeks to disappear like 10 days," he said.

Meanwhile, producers Australia-wide were getting agitated and nervous as their services were disrupted by tower upgrade works.

"Unfortunately we expect teething problems, but this thing is going to happen, and I'm pretty confident everybody in the telecommunications sector is trying to make sure the problems are minimised."