Do you live in Australia and have an old module Samsung phone? If so, check your SMS messages as your phone may soon no longer work. Due to recent issues with triple zero and subsequent lawsuits Australian Telcos are blocking devices that cannot fallback to make calls on the national 000 number. Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain has ruled out government assistance to Australians whose mobile phone may be unable to call triple-0. Devices affected by this block will no longer work after 26/11/2025.
The mobile devices affected by the issue are Galaxy A7 (2017), Galaxy A5 2017, Galaxy J1 2016j, Galaxy J3 2016, Galaxy J5 (2017), Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.
Ms McBain said the telecommunications companies were working to assess how many devices were impacted, but the number was estimated to be about 10,000.
[...] In a statement, TPG Telecom, which owns Vodafone, said it had identified a cohort of older Samsung handsets leading into the 3G network shutdown in 2024 that were unable to make triple-0 calls on the TPG/Vodafone mobile network and could not be fixed with a software upgrade.
"These devices were blocked from the Vodafone network as part of the 3G shutdown process," a spokesman said.
"Recently, we became aware that some of those same handsets that worked on other networks were unable to connect to triple-0 when only Vodafone coverage was available.
"These Samsung devices were found to be configured in way that permanently locked them to making triple-0 calls on the Vodafone 3G network even if being used with the SIM of another mobile operator and able to make triple-0 calls on their 4G network. This limitation was not previously known to TPG Telecom."
[...] An Optus spokesman earlier said during emergencies, and at times mobile phones could not connect to its regular network, phones were designed to search for another available network to reach triple-0.
"These situations relate to rare occasions when both the Optus and Telstra networks are unavailable and the phone needs to switch to Vodafone in order to contact emergency services," a spokesman said.
"This only happens under very specific conditions, but it's critically important that all devices can reach triple-0."
Is it the Year of the Linux Phone yet?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Snotnose on Sunday October 26, @02:18PM (6 children)
How does that happen? My batteries seem to last 3-4 years until they won't hold a decent charge, which forces a new phone.
Mind you, I'd love to be able to keep a phone for 8 years. But until I can easily change the battery I don't see it happening.
Recent research has shown that 1 out of 3 Trump supporters is a stupid as the other 2.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Unixnut on Sunday October 26, @03:18PM
Most phones from 8 years ago have removable batteries AFAIK. Indeed my 5 year old phone has a replaceable battery, and I have bought aftermarket batteries for it (as well as a standalone charger) so I can switch them as necessary without having to wait for the phone to charge, or when a battery wears out.
I quite frankly have no intention of replacing the phone until I manage to break it, and even then I would buy another phone with a removable battery, even if it is an older model.
The whole "replace the entire phone" when a battery wears out is a relatively new development, and there are stlil phones out there with such end-user unfriendly features.
(Score: 5, Informative) by RamiK on Sunday October 26, @03:36PM
https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairability-scores [ifixit.com]
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 26, @05:25PM
My phone was bought in 2012, it was the outgoing model on sale. It's still fine. It holds the charge for a few days if I don't use it. But it's mostly connected to a computer these days and gets power from there. But the battery is still ok for a day usage. I'm thinking the phone-company will discontinue the network G for it before it caves in due to failing components.
That said I don't run any apps, don't surf on it, it can't be upgraded anymore since it lacks memory for newer androids versions etc. I have other, newer, phones to that I got from work. They are not much better. Everything just got bigger. Also they are not mine, they belong to the company and no matter how often they tell me I can use it for personal things I wouldn't let anything personal of mine touch that phone. Not logging into my email or whatever with their phone.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by epitaxial on Sunday October 26, @07:38PM (1 child)
I'm still using an iPhone 8 and don't even use a case or screen protector. The battery has degraded a bit but it still gets me through the day. Also received and OS update last month too!
(Score: 2) by ls671 on Tuesday October 28, @07:50AM
iphone 6S here. Phone says battery is at 80% capacity still. I barely use it, no apps, no browsing, no nothing and I rarely charge it more than when the phone says it is charged at 85% and I figure it helps to make battery life longer. It still looks brand new, not a single scratch on the screen etc. and it stays charged for 3-4 days with the phone on as long as I stay close from a cell tower since I rarely turn wifi, bluetooth and cell data on and that makes the battery last longer without needing a recharge.
I also just got an update to 15.8.5 last week. It's more like a fancy pager for me and maybe I make 2 or 3 calls a week with it where I am the one dialing. I work in front of a screen all day long so last thing I want to do is look at a cell phone screen. I kind of hate cell phones anyway and I much rather use a desk phone...
I am always amused to see people walking on the street looking at their phones like it was telling them were to put their foot next...
Everything I write is lies, including this sentence.
(Score: 2) by Sourcery42 on Monday October 27, @04:35PM
Depends on your definition of working. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 that still works "fine". I think it was new in 2012, but it hasn't been in daily use for ~10 years. I have multiple easily swapped batteries for it. It is from the era of phones where if you dropped it on the floor, the back popped off, and the battery went skidding across the room.
It is ok for making calls, sending SMS, running the calculator app, and maybe browsing soylentnews.org (on a browser that's 10 years out of date). For any other modern tasks, it is too slow to be practical, even with a fresh flash of a lightweight AOSP ROM.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 26, @04:06PM (11 children)
Why doesn't my analog TV pick up any stations anymore? I paid good money for this state of the art Trinitron television in 1985, and it still functions perfectly. It's a PLOT to force me to buy a new TV - well, it's not going to happen. And don't get me started on my perfectly operational IBM 286, if I have to use vi for word processing, well, there it is.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 26, @04:32PM (1 child)
I have one of these phones. Still works. Still good. It has a few years left.
TFA references 10 thousand devices.
Why can't they push a software update?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 26, @04:56PM
Where's the money in that? Unfortunately there is insufficient public demand for it
(Score: 4, Funny) by Username on Sunday October 26, @06:08PM (1 child)
There is always a jesus station still broadcasting on analog, for me it's on channel 30.
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Sunday October 26, @08:23PM
Analog TV? Not radio? That's pretty sophisticated.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by epitaxial on Sunday October 26, @07:56PM
WordPerfect on a 286 would be incredibly refreshing compared to the latest MS Office pile of garbage.
(Score: 5, Informative) by BeaverCleaver on Sunday October 26, @08:57PM (4 children)
You joke, but the shutdown of analog TV came with free set-top boxes, so that Trinitron from 1985 would work just fine.
Now look at the 3G shutdown. ZERO government support. Mountains of e-waste, not just phones. Hardware like telemetry systems, remote weather stations, pump controllers, hell the entire public transport ticketing system here in Canberra had to be replaced because it was based on 3G.
I live in Canberra (our nation's capital) and I can't get a 4G signal at my house. So while it's convenient to blame Samsung for some dropped emergency calls, the problem goes deeper is even worse. They routinely drop emergency calls (people have died because they can't phone for help). Recently they also leaked millions of records of customer details, including people who weren't even customers anymore. Why did they even retain those records?
Aussie telcos are scum. They hate their customers and they hate the environment.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 27, @10:51AM (3 children)
ATO asks for a minimum 5 years retention for all transactions that have influence over taxes, sometimes longer [ato.gov.au]. Purging older records w/o breaking the integrity of their dataset? That's a cost for them, storage space is cheap and the penalties for security breaches are small enough to write as "cost of doing business, pass them on the customers"
I'm yet to hear about a country calling their telcos "beloved". Or even "Meh, they're OK, I guess".
Yeah, naaah, mate - they are only contemptuous towards their customers, one doesn't hate his fleecing stock.
They only their hate their low wage employees/contractors (because they're many and still cost money). As such, their low wage employees do the minimum that still keep them employed.
Not much different than any big corporation retailing services to individual consumers.
Understandable. Just compare what's the cost for 100% mobile coverage of, say, Germany vs a "decent coverage" of Australia. Betcha that only the mobile comm towers on the Eyre Highway would be enough for 100% coverage of a small European country somewhere in the Balkans.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by BeaverCleaver on Monday October 27, @09:20PM (2 children)
I'm not looking for 100% coverage. All I ask for something equivalent to what the 3G network offered before it was switched off. I don't think it's too much to ask in 2025that a mobile phone works in our nation's capital. This is not the Eyre highway, it's Canberra!
And I stand by the "hate" comment. People died during the last 000 outage. You talk of "fleecing stock," most farmers try to prevent their animals from dying unnecessarily.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday October 27, @10:42PM (1 child)
Look, I'm not saying you are wrong in your expectations, I'm trying to provide an explanation why those things happen and unfortunately will continue to happen.
Cell sizes decrease with the cell-phone generation number, by the laws of physics. Same coverage means higher number of cells and/or higher transmission power are necessary.
One can think of a corporation as a "legal person", but don't fall to the mistake of "anthropomorphising" it.
Let me put it this way: you a free to think people aren't cargo, mate [youtube.com] but you'd be wrong when you project the thinking to large corporations, they can (and some will) apply nothing personal, Jack, it's just good business [youtube.com] - because they can afford to do so.
If you (as the state) want to make sure no corner that involve human life is cut, you arrange the regulations so that the corporations can no longer afford to cut those corners. Sure, you may run the risk of that corporate business closing down, because they can no longer afford the cost (by the law of diminishing returns the cost will explode), but then you (as the state) are bound to find a solution.
One on top of the other, business bureaucracy and state bureaucracy are similar to the point of equivalence - and the cause in both of the cases is "people doing just their job". Those kind of things will continue to happen.
Most do. Some don't [abc.net.au]
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by BeaverCleaver on Tuesday October 28, @04:59AM
No risk in this case, both Telstra and Optus are making plenty of money. Links: https://www.techfinitive.com/optus-holds-revenue-steady-at-4-02b-for-first-half-of-fy25/ [techfinitive.com]
https://thenightly.com.au/business/telstra-posts-23b-profit-up-30-per-cent-boosted-by-mobile-growth-and-cost-cuts-investors-rewarded-buyback-c-19677271 [thenightly.com.au]
Let's also remember that in the case of Telstra, it was the Australian taxpayer who paid for the first generation of their network.
Unfortunately the state seems either disinclined or unable to hold large corporations to account. We see the same situation with the Australian banking cartel - a royal commission fond that they were indeed treating their customers like shit. The royal commission made some recommendations, most of which weren't followed. Banks continue t make record profits.
What really irks me is that we're told we live in a "cost of living crisis" as if it's somehow not related to simple "corporate greed." But I digress.
(Score: 2) by jb on Monday October 27, @06:18AM
Hey there's nothing wrong will doing all your editing in vi. A lot of us still do. But I would recommend dragging yourself into the 1980s (an appropriate era for your 286) by adding a decent typesetter on the output side. If you're running vi on a 286, I'm guessing your OS is probably either Coherent or Xenix? If so, TeX82 should build just fine for you (although the build won't be quick) and I'm sure you'll find it much more flexible (and the output much more pleasing to the eye) than roff.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by AlwaysNever on Sunday October 26, @09:20PM (1 child)
...but my bank released a new version of its banking app, which is needed to authenticate transactions even if done on a computer, but that new app was not compatible with my old smartphone. I had to upgrade to a new phone, or else clone my bank account.
I keep my old Galaxy J3 2016 to run the "Google Authenticator" app on it, without a SIM card. Pretty damn secure now.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 27, @08:48AM
I purchased a second phone and sim just for banking auth. It is $15 a year to maintain, but worth it not to have my main number linked to my bank accounts. Call it insurance.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sonamchauhan on Sunday October 26, @10:52PM (2 children)
From what I suspect...
1. Vodafone sold the phone on a plan.
2. Vodafone incorrectly locked the phone
3. 8 years on, customer thought they had an unlocked phone
4. Customer could not make emergency calls
Is Vodafone responsible.?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Monday October 27, @11:38AM (1 child)
Could be that Samsung doesn't offer a firmware update for that model(s) to allow them to use > 3G. If that's the case, Vodaphone is off-the-hook.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Friday October 31, @10:59PM
Interesting. As the party that sold the thing, I think Vodafone is still on the hook. They could lean on Samsung to release a fix