3G shutdown: check your phones

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#3464703 25-Feb-2026 14:10

Behodar:

Spark's going down the Aussie route.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/587905/3g-shutdown-spark-to-block-phones-unable-to-call-emergency-111

Edit: It looks like specific models are being blacklisted, unlike the whitelist they use in Australia.

@Behodar As all 3 NZ carriers share EIR data the handsets will be blacklisted on all NZ networks not just SparkNZ

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#3465392 27-Feb-2026 12:43

hio77:

Linux:

2degrees Tuesday, 13 January 2026

Sites across Rotorua and Palmerston North, and another single site close to Waiatarua

Looks like this change went through overnight.

3G carrier from Waiatarua is gone, havent picked up any L900 from it yet but i suspect that wont happen till later anyway.

Taken awhile to notice this as L700 propagation is a good 5dBm stronger, but Waiatarua is now transmitting L900 on 2D. Looking at power levels it seems like L700 is in another antenna or transmitted slightly lower.

I didn't get the chance to pull up the details before my phones both moved to L700 but based on the DL ERFCN it's likely only 5mhz.

It's still an odd site, even transmits as MCC 530 MNC 1, but is not an RCG site. This is how all the RCG sites around here act on 2D though which is pain for cellmapper..

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#3465478 27-Feb-2026 15:17

hio77:

It's still an odd site, even transmits as MCC 530 MNC 1, but is not an RCG site. This is how all the RCG sites around here act on 2D though which is pain for cellmapper..

It's One NZ equipment using MORAN for the 2degrees frequencies. Similar to RCG. I understand there around 200 or so sites under this OneNZ/2degrees agreement which was put into place some years ago to replace national roaming. If you look at the detailed info of a 700/900 only 2degrees site on GIS Geek, look at the location raw name, if it has _S_ in front of of the name it means it is a MORAN site.

Unlike RCG allowing anyone to attach to any frequency (at most RCG sitesa anyway), 2degrees customers can only access the 2degrees frequencies, and One NZ customers can only access the One NZ frequencies. A bit of a shame but can understand One NZ not wanting to give 2degrees the benefit of some of their L700/900/1800/2100/2600 rural sites.

You may have one of the Android phones that seem to just report one of the MCC/MNCs when connecting to a MORAN cell operated by RCG or "OneNZ-for-2degrees" -- i.e. 530-01. I've noticed this on some Android phones -- regardless of which SIM is in use it'll just report it as 530-01 regardless of which network provider is actually being used.

Other Android phones seem to report the correct network depending on which one is being used -- i.e. my S21 will report 530-24 with a 2deg SIM, 530-01 with a One NZ SIM, 530-05 with a Spark SIM. This makes it interesting as I will see the same eNB/CID three times across all 3 MCC/MNC when swapping SIMs across all 3.

I'm guessing that MORAN sites literally does broadcast 3x MCC/MNC (in the RCG case) or 2x MCC/MNC (in the OneNZ/2deg partnership) in the same frequency. Perhaps some firmware just report the first MCC/MNC it sees and passes that on to the APIs used by the cell mapping applications, while others match it with the MCC/MNC actually being used to connect to the site.

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#3465493 27-Feb-2026 15:43

KiwiSurfer:

hio77:

It's still an odd site, even transmits as MCC 530 MNC 1, but is not an RCG site. This is how all the RCG sites around here act on 2D though which is pain for cellmapper..

It's One NZ equipment using MORAN for the 2degrees frequencies. Similar to RCG. I understand there around 200 or so sites under this OneNZ/2degrees agreement which was put into place some years ago to replace national roaming. If you look at the detailed info of a 700/900 only 2degrees site on GIS Geek, look at the location raw name, if it has _S_ in front of of the name it means it is a MORAN site.

Unlike RCG allowing anyone to attach to any frequency (at most RCG sitesa anyway), 2degrees customers can only access the 2degrees frequencies, and One NZ customers can only access the One NZ frequencies. A bit of a shame but can understand One NZ not wanting to give 2degrees the benefit of some of their L700/900/1800/2100/2600 rural sites.

You may have one of the Android phones that seem to just report one of the MCC/MNCs when connecting to a MORAN cell operated by RCG or "OneNZ-for-2degrees" -- i.e. 530-01. I've noticed this on some Android phones -- regardless of which SIM is in use it'll just report it as 530-01 regardless of which network provider is actually being used.

Other Android phones seem to report the correct network depending on which one is being used -- i.e. my S21 will report 530-24 with a 2deg SIM, 530-01 with a One NZ SIM, 530-05 with a Spark SIM. This makes it interesting as I will see the same eNB/CID three times across all 3 MCC/MNC when swapping SIMs across all 3.

I'm guessing that MORAN sites literally does broadcast 3x MCC/MNC (in the RCG case) or 2x MCC/MNC (in the OneNZ/2deg partnership) in the same frequency. Perhaps some firmware just report the first MCC/MNC it sees and passes that on to the APIs used by the cell mapping applications, while others match it with the MCC/MNC actually being used to connect to the site.

That's exactly what I had been trying to confirm, the waiatarua, bethells, waitakere area is indeed one of those that at the time the roaming agreement was cut was still heavily dependent on One NZ.
This also explains why things look odd comparing to my OneNZ phone.

Odd thing is the phone with my 2D sim in it used to run a spark sim and correctly would show 530-05, which is why the reporting oddity stuck out. Work A53 also reports the same possible that it also suffers the same issue though.

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boosacnoodle

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#3466125 3-Mar-2026 08:28

Waiting for Christchurch today on One NZ, leaving just Spark as the only 3G operator in the South Island.

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#3466131 3-Mar-2026 08:52

boosacnoodle:

Waiting for Christchurch today on One NZ, leaving just Spark as the only 3G operator in the South Island.

@boosacnoodle Poor SparkNZ customters

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#3466148 3-Mar-2026 10:00

https://archive.ph/ruPzU

For some people, the digital divide is quite significant, and 3G shutting down has exposed them to it even more, as per this article.

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#3466151 3-Mar-2026 10:04

I need to re-test this (can't do it right now) but when I dialled *888# the other day to open the Skinny menu, I noticed the phone was on 3G. I was in an area that should have had 5G, and a couple of minutes after using the menu I noticed it was on 5G.

It might just be a coincidence though!

pengo

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#3466184 3-Mar-2026 10:50

I have a Unihertz Jelly Star with LineageOS on Skinny. It's set up to use 4G for phone calls, but there seems no way to confirm that it will meet the Emergency Call criteria until the plug is pulled at the end of March 2026. I'm also concerned to hear networks are blacklisting models!

If Aotearoa New Zealand ever does something like this again, we need a transition that provides more certainty for device owners. I understand networks may see it as a potential hardware sales bonanza, but for many phone owners the situation is too ambiguous.

Behodar

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#3466185 3-Mar-2026 11:09

As far as I'm aware, if texting "3G' to 550 returns success then it's not on the blacklist. This won't guarantee that 111 will work though.

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#3466188 3-Mar-2026 11:20

Behodar:

As far as I'm aware, if texting "3G' to 550 returns success then it's not on the blacklist. This won't guarantee that 111 will work though.

To be clear only specific devices will be blocked entirely by Spark. It has been pointed out these devices will be added to a blacklist shared with the other operators so may well be blocked by all three from ever working.

AFAIK there will still be plenty of devices that 550 returns "no 4G support" that will won't be added to the blacklist post-3G-switchoff as the Spark blacklist is interestingly narrow. They will work but without 4G calling.

My view is either the network operators allow all devices and leave it up to the end user to determine the risk OR block all non-VoLTE capable devices (as Australia has done). We're now moving into an grey area now which i think is quite unhelpful.

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boosacnoodle

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#3466398 3-Mar-2026 13:24

Looks like the plan at One NZ has changed.

Auckland will now have both 2G and 3G shutdown on 10th March.

Wellington will now go a little later, while 2G will be shut off altogether a little sooner.

Before

10th March - Auckland
17th March - Wellington
31st March - 2G calling network (NZ-wide)

After

10th March
- 2G data & 3G: Auckland, Kaipara Harbour (Southern) and Dargaville
- 2G calling: Dunedin, Southland and Otago (Region 1&2)
23rd March
- 2G data & 3G: Wellington
- 2G calling network: Nation-wide (NZ)

RunningMan

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#3466487 3-Mar-2026 15:50

@pengo the list of devices to be blocked is already posted here

hio77

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#3466599 4-Mar-2026 04:40

KiwiSurfer:

My view is either the network operators allow all devices and leave it up to the end user to determine the risk OR block all non-VoLTE capable devices (as Australia has done). We're now moving into an grey area now which i think is quite unhelpful.

Problem with the block all approach is what do you define as a device which doesnt support VoLTE. There are open standards for providing to vendors LTE Combos, VoLTE support etc but those arent often used.

Things are a bit better now, but back when I worked for spark the number of officially sold devices that didn't support VoLTE or only supported 2CA. Used to drive me mad!

That phone still is a gamble on if VoLTE drops whenever it gets updates, rare that is now.

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Behodar

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#3467705 8-Mar-2026 10:17

Behodar:

I need to re-test this (can't do it right now) but when I dialled *888# the other day to open the Skinny menu, I noticed the phone was on 3G. I was in an area that should have had 5G, and a couple of minutes after using the menu I noticed it was on 5G.

It might just be a coincidence though!

I've tested this a few times now and it's consistently dropping down to 3G when doing this. Did Skinny forget to update their menu to use 4G?

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