Farmers urged to seek help on 3G shutdown impacts

Dec 5, 2024

The NFF says we are living in a world without 3G and farmers are finding unexpected glitches with the new system.

The National Farmers’ Federation has urged farmers experiencing mobile connectivity issues in the wake of the 3G network shutdown to reach out to providers for help.

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The 3G network was progressively turned off across Australia from October 28.

NFF Telecommunications Committee chair Peter Thompson urged farmers to be vocal about issues they’ve encountered since the change.

“Telstra and Optus committed to 4G equivalence to their mapped coverage and tested and signed off on this commitment prior to closing their networks,” Mr Thompson said.

“Now the reality is that we are living in a world without 3G and farmers are finding unexpected glitches with the new system.”

Mr Thompson, who is a farmer near Roma, in Queensland, said he had experienced mixed results on the new 4G network.

“Areas that were marginal-to-no-signal now have signal, but there’s been a few issues with phone calls staying connected, which may also be device related rather than network related so best to check in to be sure.”

Mr Thompson urged anyone experiencing issues to contact their provider, such as Telstra or Optus.

“If your provider doesn’t know your issue, they can’t help you,” Mr Thompson said.

Mr Thompson said he got in touch with his provider after experiencing connectivity issues a few weeks ago.

He was informed the problem was separate to the 3G shutdown and was instead a local tower issue.

“We have to let the providers know where the issues are and have patience around the fact that the 4G technology is technology that we’ve had for a long-time, it’s just a matter of fine-tuning; it’s more than likely something that needs to be fine-tuned rather than a total disaster,” he said.

“We know waiting on hold is the last thing any farmer wants to do, but contacting your provider or the Regional Tech Hub is the best way to get the problem fixed.

“The Regional Tech Hub is totally independent and is geared up to help.

“They can escalate any issues with providers and can also give independent advice on product purchases.

“Make sure that you contact the Regional Tech Hub with details on the issues you are having, like the timing and location of the problem.

“They can tell you if a simple solution would help, like changing an antenna from a 3G to a 4G capable device.”

For free independent connectivity advice, call the Regional Tech Hub on 1300 081 029 or book an appointment online at: https://www.regionaltechhub.org.au