Image: Jon Anders Wiken/Adobe Stock It is the end of a period. Twenty years back, 3G cordless connection began presenting across Australia, and it was revolutionary. The previous 2G network had a speed constraint of 40 kbps, while 3G might access up to 2 Mbps. That sufficed to power everything from social media networks on customer phones to fleets of ambulances and the EFTPOS machines all of us take for given.
Now that is all concerning an end, and the transition may not be as pain-free as some may hope. Numerous industrial technologies continue to depend on 3G connection, and embracing the replacement 4G technology may need companies to purchase new devices, experience disturbance as the new innovation is rolled out across the fleet, and implement brand-new training and change management practices.
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Australia is not the first nation to bid farewell to 3G
3G networks started retiring in 2020, when VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands became the very first to find the “off switch.” Ever since, 3G networks in whole countries like Germany, Greece, Norway and Slovakia have actually been retired. Company in the U.S. are likewise rapidly shuttering their 3G connections.
While the shutdown has caused many gadgets to need upgrades and rendered other devices obsolete, the shift has actually been reasonably smooth and well-planned. Nevertheless, as the Australian economy deals with an economic crisis, a compulsory fleet upgrade may not have actually been something that logistics, medical, mining and production companies wanted to handle.
Why is the 3G network in Australia shutting down?
The basic reason is resourcing. All cordless connectivity takes place via radio waves, and there are just so many “slots” on the spectrum that are available.
Currently, there are 3 providers that currently run 3G networks: Telstra, Vodafone and Optus. All 3 telcos once devoted two “slots” of radio waves to 3G, but each turned off one of those “slots” around 2019. The final switch to shut off the other slot happens on Dec. 15, 2023, for Vodafone and June 30, 2024, for Telstra. Optus will be the last provider to support 3G, however it too will go entirely dark by September 2024.
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Of course, the telcos are not retiring that spectrum. They’re merely going to re-deploy it. The spectrum previously utilized for 3G can then power 4G or 5G connections rather. With more individuals using those faster gadgets, it no longer makes commercial sense for the telco to continue to commit such valuable and minimal resources to a decreasing audience.
SEE: Download our guide on 5G mobile networks.
This happened previously– 2G was turned off in full back in 2016. It will occur once again, as there will presumably be a 6G eventually, and after that the 4G connections will end up being too tradition to trouble with.
The big issue this time is simply the number of critical systems still depend on 3G connections.
Why the shutting down of 3G in Australia will have a larger effect than 2G
When the 2G network began going dark, individuals found themselves not able to make phone calls, send texts or gain access to what limited internet 2G was quickly enough to support. That was frustrating for the couple of individuals who hadn’t yet updated to 3G, sure, however it was only a mild irritation.
3G, meanwhile, is a much bigger offer. Many vital services still link to the internet through 3G, consisting of security systems, medical alarms, EFTPOS machines and logistics telematics. Many of the trucks that bring food around the country or ambulances that get patients to hospitals depend on telematics for their assistance systems.
To put it simply, 3G was the first wireless innovation that made the Internet of Things possible, and this was embraced by fleet companies, logistics companies, government specialists and other businesses that use machine-to-machine communications. A little number of people’s phones going silent is nothing compared to the prospective effect of having those systems go dark.
Can Australian companies not just upgrade to 4G devices?
Fortunately is that in almost all cases, there are 4G alternatives to fleets of 3G-enabled devices. The problem is that for lots of organizations that have made these gadgets important to their operations, the upgrade path isn’t always simple, and they are lacking time.
Three things in specific make an upgrade to 4G a bothersome proposal.
1. Expense
Upgrading from 3G to 4G can represent an enormous capital expenditure for companies that are suddenly entrusted a fleet of 3G SIMs that need to be taken into end-of-life management and changed. There are also likely to be infrastructure upgrades required to help with these gadgets onto the network.
2. Technical challenges
In addition to replacing the SIMs, numerous older gadgets will either not work with 4G networks, or will not run effectively without significant work done upgrading them. In addition, the basic act of bringing them all online can be a logistical and support challenge for the IT team.
3. Disturbance to operations
There will likely be some downtime and disruption to update each gadget. This suggests vehicles off the road, devices offline and people unable to work for a time. While such an upgrade can be staggered while there’s still time left before the network shutdown, it still implies lower general efficiency for the organization over that time. 4G devices and connection will likewise typically included functions that require some training.
Any business with a fleet of 3G gadgets actually requires to be proceeding this difficulty immediately, since the window for a prepared, managed and minimally disruptive upgrade is closing rapidly.
The primary step will be to get the IT team to conduct a total audit of the company’s current infrastructure and recognize what requires to be totally changed, what can be upgraded and what can be retired without an upgrade. This will assist the organization comprehend the scope of the migration and strategy accordingly.
SEE: Reduce your transition to 4G and 5G with these checklists on managing and repairing Android and iOS devices.
When the evaluation is total, the IT team requires to prepare a staggered plan to roll out the system upgrade in waves, guaranteeing there are enough resources to supply assistance and training to employees on the brand-new systems. Need to the general tech environment also require upgrades to be able to deal with the extra information capability, security requirements and speeds included, then that need to be prepared initially, before the IoT gadgets are rolled over.
