3G shutdown: check your phones

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94 posts

Master Geek
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#3475965 31-Mar-2026 13:28

Yeah, my closest site in Upper Hutt had n78 + n40 but no n5, whereas the next site over has n78 + n5 but no n40. Either way both sites seemed to have no NR-CA between the two carriers so you're stuck on either n78 OR n40 OR n5 as your NSA SCG.

Realistically the n5 isn't useful without Standalone. If you can connect to a B1/3/7 anchor then you can probably pick up n78 or n40 (especially since those come off an AAU), and if you can only pick up b28 then your phone can't do 28_n5 anyway (with very few exceptions).

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Behodar

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#3475970 31-Mar-2026 13:35

KiwiSurfer:

Spark is currently progressing through the replacement of Samsung equipment at hundreds of sites around the country -- redoing several years worth of work and tying up lots of resources. n5 refarm probably not high on their priority list at the moment. My pick is they do n5 as part of the Nokia conversions and other wider works rather than doing n5 refarm on its own unless they need to for capacity relief.

I don't suppose there's a way to tell which breed your local tower is?

pcman2000

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#3475976 31-Mar-2026 13:54

Behodar:

I don't suppose there's a way to tell which breed your local tower is?

For Spark sites with 5G, I do believe they almost always use the older Samsung MMUs which are distinctively tall like this: https://imgur.com/a/KZ9id0e (spark site in Christchurch CBD)

The Nokia ones (and Ericsson ones used by 2d) are a lot more square.

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old3eyes

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#3476411 1-Apr-2026 09:10

End of an era. I remember in about August 2009 going to a TUANZ After 5 at the Langholme Hotel in Auckland to a presentation of the XT network by TVNZ and Telecom NZ. I remember then it was quite expensive to buy the 3G phones in those days about $1000 my wife paid for a Samsung phone. I bought an X AT&T Samsung off TradeMe as that's seemed to be where old AT&T phones went to die as they had the XT 3G 850 meg frequencies. Today no signal. Now days second hand imported phones have no guarantee that they will work properly. So we move on.

Regards,

Old3eyes

boosacnoodle

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#3480686 13-Apr-2026 22:13

Appears that the Spark website has been updated to confirm that n5 (850 MHz) will be exclusively used for 5G.

For the best 4G coverage and experience, you need:

- Band 28 (700 MHz) – This is our main 4G coverage band. A device that does not support this will have limited 4G coverage.
- Band 3 (1800 MHz)

Spark’s other 4G bands

- Band 1 (2100 MHz)
- Band 7 (2600 MHz)
- Band 40 (2300 MHz)

For the best performance, your device should support all of Spark’s frequency bands.

Please note that some of the bands may be transitioned to 5G as we continue to expand our 5G network.

- n5 (850 MHz)
- n1 (2100 MHz)
- n40 (2300 MHz)
- n78 (3500 MHz)

grantius

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Master Geek
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#3480699 14-Apr-2026 07:04

boosacnoodle:

Appears that the Spark website has been updated to confirm that n5 (850 MHz) will be exclusively used for 5G.

For the best 4G coverage and experience, you need:

Band 28 (700 MHz) – This is our main 4G coverage band. A device that does not support this will have limited 4G coverage.
Band 3 (1800 MHz)
Spark’s other 4G bands

Band 1 (2100 MHz)
Band 7 (2600 MHz)
Band 40 (2300 MHz)
For the best performance, your device should support all of Spark’s frequency bands.

Please note that some of the bands may be transitioned to 5G as we continue to expand our 5G network.

5G

n5 (850 MHz)
n1 (2100 MHz)
n40 (2300 MHz)
n78 (3500 MHz)

The only bands I haven't come across in the wild yet is n1 (or ones n8)

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Behodar

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#3480700 14-Apr-2026 07:12

old3eyes:

End of an era. I remember in about August 2009 going to a TUANZ After 5 at the Langholme Hotel in Auckland to a presentation of the XT network by TVNZ and Telecom NZ. I remember then it was quite expensive to buy the 3G phones in those days about $1000 my wife paid for a Samsung phone. I bought an X AT&T Samsung off TradeMe as that's seemed to be where old AT&T phones went to die as they had the XT 3G 850 meg frequencies. Today no signal. Now days second hand imported phones have no guarantee that they will work properly. So we move on.

I imported an AT&T Android back then, because there were either no Androids in the local market or they were no good. It worked well, although I don't think I could ever get MMS working on it. If only we'd listed to Apple: at the time they were refusing to support MMS, instead telling us to use email like civilised people. Yet people still use MMS to this day...

Aucklandjafa

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Ultimate Geek
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#3480708 14-Apr-2026 07:59

boosacnoodle:

Appears that the Spark website has been updated to confirm that n5 (850 MHz) will be exclusively used for 5G.

For the best 4G coverage and experience, you need:

Band 28 (700 MHz) – This is our main 4G coverage band. A device that does not support this will have limited 4G coverage.
Band 3 (1800 MHz)
Spark’s other 4G bands

Band 1 (2100 MHz)
Band 7 (2600 MHz)
Band 40 (2300 MHz)
For the best performance, your device should support all of Spark’s frequency bands.

Please note that some of the bands may be transitioned to 5G as we continue to expand our 5G network.

5G

n5 (850 MHz)
n1 (2100 MHz)
n40 (2300 MHz)
n78 (3500 MHz)

This seems logical as B28 already exists for 4g and allocating any 850 to 4g would only diminish performance/experience of n5 on 5g

eggheaddc

3 posts

Wannabe Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#3483955 26-Apr-2026 10:27

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a way to escalate a "whitelist" request with One NZ for a Japanese Sony Xperia 1 VI (XQ-EC44).

I’m based in Auckland (North/CBD) running a One NZ eSIM and an overseas physical SIM in DSDS mode. Since the 3G shutdown, I am getting the 20-second "111 risk" warning on every single outgoing call.

The technicals:

111 Functionality: Confirmed working. I’ve tested it successfully.
Call Behavior: During a call, the 5G icon remains visible (doesn't drop to 4G or 3G), though a specific "VoLTE" icon never appear in the status bar for One NZ. Interesting it does for my overaseas SIM on 2D network.
550 Text Result: "...it looks like you have a SONY Xperia 1VI. Your phone was not tested by us but it appears to be successfully making 4G/5G voice calls. There is still a high risk that 111 emergency calls won't work."

So, One NZ's knows I am successfully making 4G/5G calls, yet their system still forces the 20-second "safety" delay.

I've already done the support loop (Online Chat -> In-store -> 777) and no one seems to have the authority to tick the box that says "Stop playing this message for this IMEI."

Has anyone found a specific department that can actually whitelist a device that is clearly working?

Cheers!

Linux

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#3483956 26-Apr-2026 10:35

@eggheaddc no such thing as a VoLTE whitelist

Where are people getting this idea that this ' whitelist ' even exists?? No NZ carrier is going to support / approve your handset

freitasm

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#3483957 26-Apr-2026 10:48

Linux:

@eggheaddc no such thing as a VoLTE whitelist

Where are people getting this idea that this ' whitelist ' even exists?? No NZ carrier is going to support / approve your handset

Yeah. I think there's confusion between the old IMEI stolen/fake blocking lists and that this would somehow block "non-approved' handsets. Which is not the case.

Similarly, there's no "whitelist". The telcos maintain lists of tested phones, but they don't have an "approved" list for network connections.

Any phone can connect to the networks, provided they have the proper 4G/5G bands.

Proper VoLTE support is a different story, and that's configured by the manufacturers. If they don't sell the handset in New Zealand, chances are it's not configured for VoLTE here.

It may work. Or not. It's a gamble. Unless you get an iPhone.

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eggheaddc

3 posts

Wannabe Geek
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#3484760 27-Apr-2026 17:46

Just an update for the thread: the pre-call message stopped today.

Linux

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#3484769 27-Apr-2026 18:43

@eggheaddc that is great news 👏

MadEngineer

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#3485764 30-Apr-2026 12:49

I'd love to be that guy working for such a provider that looks for problems like this and just silently fixes them.

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Hibino

167 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 25

#3488597 8-May-2026 08:50

If your phone does not work with Spark, it might worth to borrow a sim of another ISP to give it a try.

My phone is capable with VoLTE but is not allow by Spark(being hear the blah blah message when making a phone call over a month), the voice call was completely dead after 3G is shutdown. Tried change all sorts of settings but no luck.

Yesterday I took the phone out and inserted a 2Degrees sim card, it works perfectly without any tweaking.

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