3G will be turned off within 12 months, but farmers say service is already declining

Farmers in western New South Wales say they have already seen a significant drop in 3G phone service, months ahead of major telcos’ timelines to phase out the old technology.

Stacey Storrier, who farms near Hillston, said she noticed her service was impacted after recent upgrades to install 5G in her area.

She said the issue had disrupted some of the remote irrigation equipment needed for her cotton operation.

“We put in these things to reduce the amount of time and labour units and now we’re having to … make sure they’re doing their job,” she said.

“We’re going backwards in terms of labour.”

Vodafone will be the first Australian carrier to switch off 3G service at the end of the year, followed by Telstra on June 30, 2024, and Optus in September the same year.

NSW Farmers Association regional services manager Daniel Brear said he had been contacted by farmers from across the state, either concerned about a decline in 3G service or worried about how they would connect to networks once 3G was turned off.

“It’s pretty complex, but you’re talking about a limited amount of bandwidth and bringing that all together means we have to switch off parts of our infrastructure,” he said.

“I think there’s a dual obligation here — farmers need to make sure they are well-informed, but we need our telcos to understand they need to be educating their customers.”

Network to be repurposed

Hillston farmer Tim McKenzie has also noticed a decline in service since the upgrade, which he said could make co-ordinating the upcoming harvest difficult.

“We’re coming into one of our busiest times of the year with harvest and there’s a lot of people and trucks that really rely on the service and we could be impacted,” he said.

Telstra regional general manager Chris Taylor said there would be no loss of 3G coverage before it was shut off next year.

“Once we have closed the 3G network, we will repurpose the spectrum so that we can use it to expand our 5G network,” he said.

“We are committed to continuing our long tradition of investment in rural and regional Australia by providing more state-of-the-art services and this is an important step to transition to 5G.”

Mr Taylor said Telstra would try to ensure 4G replaced all areas currently covered by only 3G.