Am I going to be cutoff with the 3G shutdown?

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Am I going to be cutoff with the 3G shutdown?

stevenn

28 posts

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#311350 8-Jan-2024 20:55

I recently read online on the One NZ website and saw they were going to shut off 3g on the 31st of August this year (2024) Here is a link to the short article I read on the One website: https://one.nz/3g-switchoff/

I am just worried that I will be cut off because I can only get 3g in my area and none of the providers have done a thing to try put up a tower here so are we just going to be cut off from all service not being able to access data, calls or texts?

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#3179181 8-Jan-2024 21:11

Well that would be the case if there's no planned 4g or 5g in your area I'm afraid.

Do you wanna switch to 2Degrees? They are shutting down 3g in late 2025 so that at least gives you time.

2Degrees 3g shutdown

stevenn

28 posts

Geek

#3179183 8-Jan-2024 21:24

I have tried 2degrees here and got even worse coverage than OneNZ and they dont have a fully unlimited plan so that's a no go for me (I use over 500GB a month on my mobile).

One thing I read online is that they would turn the 4g power up when they switch the 3g off does anyone know if that would be true?

And its kind of stupid they would cutoff a whole bunch of their rural customers so they can benefit the urban ones by adding more un needed bandwidth to 5g which I can already get gigabit on when I go into town.

Qazzy03

478 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3179184 8-Jan-2024 21:35

stevenn:

its kind of stupid they would cutoff a whole bunch of their rural customers so they can benefit the urban ones by adding more un needed bandwidth to 5g which I can already get gigabit on when I go into town.

That is not how companies work, they are not doing the shut down to spite rural customers for urban ones.
It purely comes down to business analyst of the cost of infrastructure and capturing as many customers as possible.
Reason why urban centres are often targeted is due to population density, basically more possible bang for the companies buck.

Of course having wider area coverage plays a factor here too, customers really do not want to be outside of the area of service they are paying for.
That is where rural users benefit, also if there are no other companies in a rural area, a company may decide there is enough profit extending infrasture to cover them and hopefully capture core users.

On what One NZ will do about extending 4/5G to your area, no clue sorry.

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3179189 8-Jan-2024 22:03

I would expect all the 3G-only towers (if there are any left) to be upgraded to 4G before the shutdown.

What phone do you have? Most of the rural 4G rollout is on band 28 (700MHz), which not all phones support. If your phone isn't relatively recent or intended for the Aus/NZ market, it might not support that band and you will get no 4G rural coverage.

quickymart

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#3179193 8-Jan-2024 22:28

I understand that 4G coverage will be increased to match the current 3G footprint, so if your phone has 4G on it you should be all good.

@Linux can probably explain this better than I can.

snj

192 posts

Master Geek

#3179194 8-Jan-2024 22:31

SomeoneSomewhere:

I would expect all the 3G-only towers (if there are any left) to be upgraded to 4G before the shutdown.

What phone do you have? Most of the rural 4G rollout is on band 28 (700MHz), which not all phones support. If your phone isn't relatively recent or intended for the Aus/NZ market, it might not support that band and you will get no 4G rural coverage.

In addition to the above, also make sure to check your phone supports VoLTE with One for the same reason. If it doesn't have support, or does but doesn't have One's profile, even if your 4G coverage improves, you'd lose calling ability without VoLTE support when 3G is dropped. (Just saw your reply to the quoted question, iPhone 13 should be good on this front)

stevenn

28 posts

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#3179195 8-Jan-2024 22:31

I have an iPhone 13 Pro NZ model and I can only get b28 4g if I'm standing on my roof, otherwise everywhere else outside and inside across this whole area is 3g. I have looked on gis.geek.nz and we are sitting right on the edge of two 4g towers about 7km from my location each direction getting the odd 1 bar of b28 4g service in some spots around the area and if your high enough you can get 3 bars of carrier aggregation with b28+b3+b3+b1 otherwise you are on 3g everywhere else around here.

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stevenn

28 posts

Geek

#3179196 8-Jan-2024 22:35

quickymart:

I understand that 4G coverage will be increased to match the current 3G footprint, so if your phone has 4G on it you should be all good.

@Linux can probably explain this better than I can.

Hopefully that is true because that would be amazing for us to get a decent 4g signal here.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#3179197 8-Jan-2024 22:36

As above, 4G footprint will be expanded to match 3G coverage.

stevenn

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#3179198 8-Jan-2024 22:42

freitasm: As above, 4G footprint will be expanded to match 3G coverage.

Do you know how? Will they just bump the power up or something?

Lias

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#3179205 8-Jan-2024 23:52

It doesn't cover the "how" but here's a press release where they confirm it should happen.

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panther2

374 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3179207 8-Jan-2024 23:59

Just been to taupo animal park today and if 3g doesn't exist there will be 0 coverage, even 3 g amd cell callibg was hit and miss. Using Kogan / One. Once 3g is shut down it will be a cluster... unless huge improvements are done

yitz

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#3179209 9-Jan-2024 00:54

...that's where Starlink comes in 😉

lchiu7

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#3179211 9-Jan-2024 01:59

yitz:

...that's where Starlink comes in 😉

Probably betraying my lack of technology knowledge in this area, but if the OP had Starlink service and an account with a provide that supports WiFi calling, then the 3G shutdown probably is is not an issue anymore? Or does WiFi calling only work on outbound calls so inbound would not connect if there was no 3G servicerf?

Linux

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#3179213 9-Jan-2024 05:13

@stevenn first off do you have broadband at home? If yes then WiFi calling will make sure you stay connected for Voice calls, SMS etc...

4G coverage is artificially shrunk at the moment so when 3G shutdown happens they will be able to remove this

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