I've been pondering about if to create a poll, as there are several posts and scattered comments from users reporting their device has been blocked.
I've created this post/poll to have an idea on which networks are going rough on blocking.
If your device has been blocked, upvote the option (network) which you were on and got blocked.
Optional – Mention your device model in comments; which has got blocked.
Since roughly early Sept 2024 to late Oct 2024 when Directions (ECS Determination and instructions from Minister) were issued that instructed MNO (Mobile Telcos) to intentionally and absolutely deny / block voice data and message services to any device if it was not known that all those devices could call 000 vie LTE roam. They don't have the time and capacity to check every single device, so what do you imagine they are doing to comply?
Just to clear any doubt you have: people with phones that are able to satisfy even this last minute condition are getting blocked anyway, because the most practical way the MNO can comply with the Direction is at an entire device cohort or group level, not per individual specific device.
Telstra at least tried to advocate that in denying service for a device that can't call E000 LTE roam just be frequently warned, or limited the service block to no voice calls and leave data & messaging open. ACMA at direction of Minister said no, block the whole lot. From 01 November. That was published 24 October 2024.
The 3G shutdown went from (years of notice about particular criteria) and maybe some features of your device may not / won't work all the time, to a blunt last minute hammer that forces Telcos to actively deny service and block devices. So yes, ppl with functional 4G & 5G phones are being blocked because it is either in a service denial block list or just not in a whitelist of officially supported devices. This was not months and years in the notice: It. Was. Literally. Days.
Specifically this was added in the last 2-4 weeks and is the basis why current 4G & 5G capable phones are being blocked from AM on 28 October:
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Based on recent changes to Australia’s ‘Emergency Call Service Determination’ from 1 November 2024 any handsets the carriers believe can’t call 000 (112) will be blocked from connecting!
This will impact devices that have been manually updated to work for VoLTE Calling and Emergency Calling as they aren’t ‘officially’ supported.
“Subsection 6(2) directs ACMA to include requirements for providers to identify mobile phones unable to access Triple Zero, notify the user, provide assistance if necessary to access an alternative mobile phone, and cease providing service to the affected device. Providers will also be required to not provide service to a prospective customer seeking service with an affected mobile phone. This requirement makes clear the responsibility providers have to ensure mobile networks provide access to the emergency call service.” [..] “The amendments to the Determination to be made under section 6(2) are to be determined and commence in full by 1 November 2024.”
Since they are literally blocking in response to 000 legislation which says that if a phone cant do 4G VoLTE calls to 00 without a SIM card the telcos have to ban it so that the owner gets a new "safer" phone.
Flaw. They are banning based on database which is wrong, it is telling them that certain IMEI ranges are 3G only phones, even though they are perfectly good compliant 4G VoLTE ch28 supporting phones.
Top it off with not all 000 calls are being answered anyway because of police resourcing.
https://www.9news.com.au/national/triple-zero-calls-going-un…
That's it. As of wednesday morning my OnePlus Nord N10 5G, connected through ALDImobile to the Telstra network, is now a dead parrot.
A perfectly functional good spec phone is now e-waste thanks to not being able to simply go into the software and configure it to use 4G rather than 3G.
You might not get long from it, or due to the different LTE configs, you may last a while on Optus and their MVNO resellers. My Mate10 dead on Telstra but currently OK on Amaysim. I don't anticipate it will be a long term prospect though despite it being fully compliant.
Try a Vodafone sim, will most likely be fine.
My phone worked fine with Lebara Voda about 4mths ago when I tested it but, the MNOs weren't required to be actively blocking back then. It was also going to be fine on Telstra, but got killed by the TAC based device ban. Not sure how they each going to approach it now though as it lives a little longer just now Optus (they are also supposed to provide # messages and # days before blocking but I think there is also a clause permitting do not permit initial connect). Especially when same phone will operate differently (load different mbn profile) when connected to different MNOs.
Vodafone switched off its 3G network in January 2024. If you tested it 4 months ago then it will continue to work with existing voda 4G/5G infrastructure.
@CodeXD: Yah, but the issue isn't whether it is fully compatible (which it is for all 3) but whether the Telco consider the device to be compliant to the conditions from Sept & Oct this year. My phone was also happy on 4G LTE Telstra with ability to call 000 on 4G LTE roam. Doesn't matter because Telstra has identified this device cohort / group as being not officially compatible (based on the default Telstra MBN config for AU ROM devices, when connected onto the Telstra network).
So although I know it works on Optus and Voda, the new criteria in all this is the requirement for Telcos to actively and deliberately block devices, ie to make them not work at all, rather than just have customers with fully or partly working devices.
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/9m01z7np
have you tried following this link to see if you can get it back up and running?
suspect limited 4G plus phones on offer at the moment…all about the 🤑
Added Amaysim to the poll, my Xiaomi Mi 9T has been blocked. I will be going back to a Voda sim on the 16th anyway as that worked fine on Lebara.
For now I've put the sim in an older Sharp Aquos S3 & it's working, not sure how long though.
My Poco X3 Pro is still working. I was unsure if it would work, as although VoLTE was enabled and working, I know that some phones with working VoLTE are unable to make emergency calls, causing them to be blocked.
Mine is still working with Aldi (Telstra). Both Aldi (sms 3G to 3498) and Telstra IMEI checker show it's compatible, hopefully stay as is.
But it stopped working with Catch Connect (Optus) since 2 hours ago. Inserting whichever slot will show "SIM is not allowed". The SIM is working fine on Samsung S21 FE. Swapping back didn't help.
Interesting my mothers Poco X3 Pro is working fine on Catch Connect (Optus)
Have you enabled Volte?
Once I followed what was written in this reddit post and the first comment it all worked fine, and prior to the 3g being switched off there would constantly be a message from Optus. After the guide the messages stopped occurring.
Best to switch it to LTE only mode through that guide and try again (if you want)
I tried that, didnt work T_T
Mine worked for a couple of extra days on Catch and Amaysim but got blocked eventually. Is hers still working now?
(I had forced LTE only but was still getting the warnings)
That's interesting.. my X3 Pro stopped working a couple of days after the shutdown. I was getting the warnings from Catch Connect and Amaysim (both Optus).
Just checked the Telstra db and sure enough, 86243205 IMEIs are coming up good to go there.
So which is it, does Optus have it wrong or is Telstra just behind on their testing and eventually it's going to be blacklisted there too…
Such a shambles. We have 4 Xiaomi phones, models and status as follows. Note these are ALL 4G or 5G and they are all Volte enabled. Carrier is Telstra.
Redmi Note 10 5G 2021 Survived 3G Armageddon.
Mi 5S Plus 2017 Survived 3G Armageddon.
Redmi 8 2019 No longer connects to Telstra.
Redmi Note 10 4G 2021. No longer connects to Telstra.
Interestingly the OLDEST phone is working fine!
The last two however connect to Optus using a $2 starter SIM test.
Draw your own conclusions.
Xiaomi Mi 11i stopped connecting/ no signal to Optus (Catch Connect) today
Not sure if troll or just haven't bothered to read what is actually happening
The deliberate and intentional blocking of devices was published by ACMA on 24 October 2024 to become effective from 28 October (following consultation in early October 2024 and subsequent directions by the Minister) but marks a significant and no-notice departure from the 3G shutdown plans and path that was in place all the way up to Sept 2024…
https://www.acma.gov.au/articles/2024-10/new-telco-rules-sup…
If "blocked" or "blocking" doesn't accurately describe the following, then I'm keen to hear a better word to describe the situation…
“Subsection 6(2) directs ACMA to include requirements for providers to identify mobile phones unable to access Triple Zero, notify the user, provide assistance if necessary to access an alternative mobile phone, and cease providing service to the affected device. Providers will also be required to not provide service to a prospective customer seeking service with an affected mobile phone. This requirement makes clear the responsibility providers have to ensure mobile networks provide access to the emergency call service.” [..] “The amendments to the Determination to be made under section 6(2) are to be determined and commence in full by 1 November 2024.”
Telcos don't have time (and to some extent either cant or cant be bothered) to confirm an individual device ability to call 000 and so they are making their best guess and just blocking entire cohorts of devices.
This is not directly the 3G radio shutdown.
It is blocking based on a law which says that phones which cant 000 on 4G VoLTE without a SIM must, by law, be totally blocked.
So that their owners are forced to go get a phone which will work with 000 if ever needed and their carrier has no signal.
But they are blocking some models based on a wrong database which says they arent capable when they infact are fully 4G VoLTE capable.
My old Xiaomi Mix2 Works on Telstra however it got blocked from Catch/Optus.
My recent purchased IQOO Z9 Turbo works well on both Optus and Telstra.
Mi Mix2 is blocked by Telstra/Boost but still working with Amaysim(Optus) for me.
We have the reverse situation for xiaomi.
I really doubt what you said, it is either you are not talking about Mi Mix 2 model or you have get your telco mixed up.
According to Telstra website check, Mi Mix2 IMEI starting with 86573603 is blocked
https://www.telstrawholesale.com.au/3G-Network-Closure-Block…
There is no way your Mi Mix 2 works with Telstra network. It is still working with Amaysim and I even got message from 3498 from Amaysim that Mi Mix 2 is compatible.
@samehada: There maybe a geography or timeline delay and it may eventually get their device as well. However, due to the nuances involved here, their "apparently same" device in name, may actually have a different TAC and LTE config profiles on the device. Telcos are, as I understand it, enacting the device blocks based on TAC.
@salin: Your photo is showing Belong not Telstra and there is little icon showing R, isn't that Roaming?!? i.e Belong roams to another network not Telstra??
@samehada: They are overseas SIM cards using Belong for roaming, which operates on the Telstra network.
I also inserted a Telstra SIM the other day, and it worked as well.
@salin: The other day is a different story, block only happened from Tuesday 29/10.
And it seems Telco treated roaming with different rule. So if you have not tested Telstra/Boost sim since 29/10 then your result is not really correct.
This poll is quite flawed IMO.
No option for people who haven't been blocked, means we have no idea of the % of people being polled.
Without knowing the % of people using those services and are being polled. Those numbers could simply represent which carrier is most popular on ozbargain
Its like doing a poll on those with diabetes and how they are managing their diet. You don't need to care about people without diabetes for the poll.
That's a discussion on how to manage your diet with diabetes.
OP literally states the intention of the poll.
I've created this post/poll to have an idea on which networks are going rough on blocking.
So how does that help if your poll just represents ownership?
Vodafone (Felix) user here. My G84 has not been blocked since they switched off 3G last year, even though the device is not on their whitelist.
Huawei P30 Lite, blocked
No way Huawei can survive.
Australia is the first country on earth to ban Huawei.
I want that trifold phone，so I dont need a laptop any more. But damn….
I like the design, but it’s far too expensive…
If you were on Telstra and depending on your ROM and mbn packages, try an optus network or maybe even voda. My Mate10 is running OK on Optus (no msg or pre-call warnings) and same phone was fine a few months ago on Voda after they stopped 3G.
Xiaomi Redmi 8 nuked by Telstra but working on Optus.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 4G nuked by both carriers. BRICKED!
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G ALL GOOD!
Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus 2017 ALL GOOD!
Oldest phone still OK??!!
GO FIGURE..🥴 .!!
Mate10 was working fine and exclusively on 4G LTE Optus (via Amaysim). It got nuked overnight anyway, with no warning messages or emails.
Poco X3 Pro: Aldi/Telstra - Yes still working. Catch Connect/Optus - Not working.
Redmi Note 9 Pro: Aldi - No. Catch - Yes.
Moto X4: Aldi - No. Catch - Yes.
Huawei p9 and samsung s5. Thought these were both 4g?
Asus X00T, Boost - blocked, Lebara - working
my mate 20 pro initially from Optus. Was using woolworth mobile (telstra network) but was cut off in 28 Oct. Following a whirlpool thread someone says Optus issued Mate 20 pro can't get latest firmware so can't override its 4g calling capability (the phone has just not enabled by default). But switching to Optus network (Amaysim) worked. Apparently the phone is capable of using VoLTE but on telstra network it's not enabled but works in Optus network? I have no idea. But I am glad that I can continue to use this amazing phone
Sorry to bring likely bad news my friend mate…
Mate 10 here, with Global ROM and some internal mods to ensure (force exclusively) LTE functions and compliance. Confirmed with network analysis tools. That didn't matter. Booted from Telstra (MVNO More) and then refused to connect (MVNO Aldi sim). Got my Optus network (Amaysim) standby sim into the phone… Running fine for 2 days, correct LTE profiles etc, confirmed by tools, get no warning messages, woke up this morning. Dead duck.
damn… mine still works today. shall wait until tomorrow 1 Nov? the judgment day? Hate this WTF
So far the observations seem to indicate (swathes of, but not all) Optus bans occur overnight, so you may find out when you wakeup. It really depends on the TAC cohort of your IMEI but, when the ban-hammer swings it doth obliterate all those devices (I've seen folks reporting phones bought directly from Aussie retailers less than 6mths ago getting banned).
My son has a Cat S22 Flip and it was blocked on Everyday Mobile (Telstra), but saw on another forum they still worked on Optus Networks, so signed up for Coles Mobile yesterday and it is working on that.
We received an email from Coles earlier this week that the phone would be blocked, and then this morning was blocked and won't register (even with the Pixel IMS workarounds).
Posted elsewhere but it's worth a repeat here gor the solution.i have a Poco X3 NFC on Amaysim when I'm in Australia. I was getting the nags. I bitched at Amaysim support, who eventually came back with an email offering a $200 voucher code for a new phone.
Lovely. Except I'm on Pay As You Go and can't use the voucher code unless I sign up to a $36 or $40 a month plan.
Yes, apparently I could sign up, cancel and carry on with my PAYG SIM but would I trust Amaysim not to make life difficult when I wanted to cancel? No chance.
Well, a few days back I got yet another nag email. This one, though, said unequivocally that I could get a new phone with their voucher code, on my existing plan. No ifs ands or buts: on my existing plan.
Contacted Amaysim support, who came back along the lines of "that's not what we actually mean. You could sign up to a new plan then cancel it though…."
Yeah, right. The words in their email mean EXACTLY what they say, and that was ON MY EXISTING PLAN.
In the end I put in a complaint to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. That stirred them! The septic tank hit the wind turbine. I got calls and emails from Amaysim to organise my selected new phone WITHOUT signing up for a new plan.
There was a small level of personal complication caused by me currently being outside of the country but for a straightforward case we'd have been done and dusted.
Xiaomi mi9t not working on Coles mobile 🥲
Same phone, Xiaomi mi 9t, had dual SIMs in at the time of the shutdown:
* lebara (Vodafone network) SIM stopped working 30th October around 4pm
* Amaysim (Optus network) SIM also stopped working 30th October around 4pm
* Shortly before that I was on Belong (Telstra network) and was also getting the warnings about my phone not working after the shutdown.
My conclusion is that the Mi 9T is effectively now a brick in Australia, as it's dead on all 3 mobile networks (Vodafone, Optus, Telstra).
Rather annoying because the Lebara SIM worked fine, and Vodafone already shut down 3G at the start of this year, so the phone obviously works with 4G and VoLTE. It is a 4G phone with VoLTE when allowed by the carrier. It's only the last minute emergency number requirement that's the issue. But it is what it is, and it's best to assume the networks aren't going to change.
One Xiaomi mi9t not working on Boost.
One Xiaomi mi9t Pro working on Boost.
Go figure, only being used to take incoming calls from to a number that will be canned next year.
Mine is working with Telstra. Tried it with my work mobile sim
we both have motorola 5g g54 on kogan one gets the message but the iime checker works out ok and the other has no problem just sick of the message every phone call out and request to kogan for new sim card is useless
Anyone receiving messages on their device when making outbound calls with 'your device may have limited network connectivity…' with Telstra? Do you know if this message will ever from away? Has anyone tried a new sim? This is with Boost. Thanks.
Probably missing band 28.
Yes, indeed. However, more curious as to how to remove the message that plays with every outbound call - if that's even possible.
Just an update as I chatted with Boost about this in case anyone is wondering how to switch off the outgoing call message.
Turn off MessageBank
Open the My Boost app and go to Services and select your service
Go to Menu (or three vertical dots in the top right-hand side)
Select Manage your MessageBank to make changes
Turn off MessageBank and Update settings.
OR
To turn Message2Txt 'off' or 'on', send an SMS to 144 with the following text:
DCF On - Turns off the diversion to Message2Txt
Consider switching to Vodafone (or a reseller) which doesn't depend on B28.
@scix: Hi. My phone works on boost (Telstra network). My query was in relation to the message made when receiving outbound calls, which I have resolved using one of the steps in my previous comments.
Mrs and I bought a Honor Magic 5 Pro and Magic 5 Ultimate from China in Jan 2024. Both of us are with Catch Connect and constantly getting messages about our phones won't work after 3G shutdown. Her Magic 5 Pro IMEI got blocked this morning. My Magic 5 Ultimate still working for now.
Both phone had 5G and VOLTE options hidden but found an app to reactivated these options and enabled them. Understand the IMEI block has nothing to donwith this now, but a few months ago, I thought this would help, how wrong was I.
Anyway, Mrs put her SIM in her old Huwei P30pro today and it works. Not sure if it will get blocked too.
Have seen P30 Pros getting kicked off multiple networks even if they were working after 28 October. You also may get no notice and it's just blocked.
You are wrong p30 pro works, got sim from blocked phone and put it in p30pro and worked
TLDR: My Huawei phone (and other Huawei phones, including P30s) had the same journey: Dead on 1 network, migrate, work fine for 1-2 days, dead duck. The device blocks are being applied differently by mobile network, geography, and timeline.
OK cool? I'm wrong that I've seen people reporting P30 Pros being blocked? That someone has put a sim into their phone and found it worked for a short period of time, so they therefore conclude that all P30 Pro with an AU and OS ROM and Telstra or Global Open mbn LTE profile will work, and keep working, on all 3 networks? Cool.
Or perhaps, I'm wrong that people are, quite literally, waking up and finding their phone has been blocked with no messages that is going to happen? Again, cool, maybe I've not been paying attention across a wide range of tech & general forums and should have relied exclusively on your brief individual test and ignored the reports made by others with, let me check, yep, countless examples of phones also being abruptly blocked.
But sincerely, I am genuinely happy if someone's functional phone remains connected (for more than just a few minutes, hours, days) and able to receive phone data message and E000 services.
Also sorry for my sarc, I've had quite a few wines and this has been an entirely unnecessarily shtsho few days due to the extremely late blunt changes shoved into the 3G shutdown.
@xwx: Had the IMEI of the P30Pro checked and it was "OK", it's surprising how such old phone is OK and the newer Honor Magic 5 Pro is not. Anyway Mrs always loved the P30Pro, will use that until it stops working.
BTW my Magic 5 Ultimate still working but expecting it to stop working any time now. Have my old Samsung Fold 3 ready but I really rather not use it as I love the camera on the Honor phone.
@xwx: My time has come, the Magic 5 Ultimate got blocked this morning. So sad, loved the camera on this thing.
Nothing works except for 000 LOL
@ef9: Sorry to hear mate, hopefully the P30Pro stays alive. If you've got an amaysim active sim plan, I've found them (eventually) the most helpful for customers to update by providing a $200 voucher along with some phone sales.
@xwx: Thanks mate. catch only offers $50 (standard auto offer), haven't contacted them yet. I will use my old phone for now, which so happened to have a black circle in the center of the screen 😔
So gonna be shopping for a new phone soon.
@ef9: that is unfortunate, has been quite a mixed bag from what I've seen and experienced. One of my MVNO service providers didn't even have a decent understanding of what was happening at the Telco network level.
If your phone/s was bought somewhat recently via an AU sales channel then the manufacturer (or their import agents) may be working furiously in the background to get the devices updated and compliant (and then white-listed). Xiaomi have made a statement to that affect.
@xwx: Well, we were bought the phones from Honor store in China and specifically asked about GMS (Google Mobile Services) update and got the official OS update 2 weeks later, which comes with GMS. Never thought about the 3G shutdown will impact the phone as it's has 5G and all the bands Aus uses. Oh well.
@ef9: ahh ok, sorry to hear. Don't ditch them just yet, if the model was released at all in Aus you may be in luck and find Honor responding the same way Xiaomi has done within the last 48hrs (working to get their devices compliant on the 2 different lte profiles for the 3 AU Carriers), and then once the Telcos confirm compliance they will do whatever they do (ie I'm unsure if that is just pull it from a blocklist or put it into a whitelist). Could take days or weeks though, or may never happen.
@xwx: Cool. I may contact Honor Au and see if there is anything they can do (or already doing something).
Any one knows if Oppo Reno12 work? my Reno 3 'bricked"
Poco X3 NFC blocked by Boost (Telstra).
No phone or data available.
Says 'SIM not allowed' when I enable the SIM.
Poco X3 pro blocked on Catch today but works on Telstra.
TLDR - Voda may not be the 4G lifeboat for long: you might spend 6 months only days in that leaky boat…
Not sure how recent is this Voda support page, and I think it is notable it sits in their 'legal' section…
If recent, Vodafone intend to take the following approach: restricted to 'an approved devices list'
If this page is essentially their 'whitelist' there may be no 4G LTE service refuge available for long with Vodafone.
(EG I havent tried my Mate10 again on Voda but, it certainly had no issues when I confirmed 4G LTE after they had long-shut their 3G network; however, now being absent from this 'approved devices list', the same phone appears destined for a service block also on Voda. * My Voda test was also prior the recent E000 LTE roam stuff but at Carrier level the result should have been the same as my successful test with Optus).
Journey to that Voda page was via their 3G Shutdown support page
How to check if my phone will be affected?
To know if your device will be affected by this change, try our SMS device checker tool by sending SMS 3 to 3498.If you’ve identified that you have a 3G-only phone, then you will no longer be able to make calls (including emergency 000 calls). We recommend you upgrade your phone to a 4G or 5G compatible approved device to continue having mobile service.
Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro blocked here. 4G & 5G compatible…
On the Catch Connect (Optus) network. As of 31st Oct @ 07:10am
Was working perfectly for 3 days while 3G was disabled, but confirmed by the customer service team that they blocked the device via the IMEI.
This is very frustrating as I had checked via multiple apps what bands and networks were being used by my phone months before.
The whole thing is a scam by the Australian Government in collaboration with the Telco providers. More Money for the telcos💵💰
Hi, what is the first 8 digit of your IMEI?
Apologies I missed this, what do you need it for?
86406404
Sorry just would like to check if AMTA and Telstra say it is affected
CN Redmi Note9 5g, blocked on amaysim(optus).
IMEI starts with 86612005
Redmi Note 9T 5g (global variant was fine with it)
Boost > Sony Xperia 5 III (with firmware flashed)
Set up a prepaid Vodafone SIM - started a test call, which got cut halfway and suddenly stopped because it decided SIM 1 was suddenly not allowed. You know, for my own safety or something, because the phone isn't compatible, clearly.. /s
I'm on the 5 V and only works with Vodafone ATM, give it a try
I'm going to wait for the dust to settle before dropping that kind of money on a new Xperia.
The $2 SIM was a pretty good test to see if I could get some more time out of my 5 III (since it failed, I called up and got a refund on the $35 recharge).
For now… Ordered a Moto G54 online, and will see what Sony are bringing out in a few years' time. My 5 III will probably still get some use for taking photos.
Currently using a Nokia 110.
I didn't realise just how little Symbian has been updated since I last used it on my Nokia 1100.
Wouldn't recommend, even for $15.
No not suggesting you buy an Experia sorry I meant try Vodafone out. Got a 50c Sim with cashback
@knobbs: Ah. Well yep, tried it, unfortunately no good. :'(
Lucky your 5 V works! That sounds like good news for future versions too :)
Goodbye Google Pixel…
My car's android head unit has its internet access and everything block by amaysim ( I guess from entire OPTUS ).
Australian government is totally idiot, and should be penalized for it honestly. They are literally only government in world who wants to create this unnecessary ewaste, and block access to so many 4G devices just because they dont have brain to think WHY do SIM MODEM, and NON-PHONE 4G devices need to be able to call 000 ??
FFS, its insane. I am so angry NGL. All my hard work is reduced by this crappy totally unnecessary BLACKLISTING by carriers. (when they do not need to at all, yet they do it because they are being supported by stupidest government)
Seems like they're committed to make our lives worse since gaining power.
I cant wait to preference them last on my ballot next election.
@djoz
err "Blocked"
Since when does dropping bandwidth transmission equate to blocked?