- Vodafone (TPG) 3G
- Switched off at the start of 2024
- Telstra and Optus 3G
- Switched off from 28 October 2024
- Most at risk
- Lift phones, alarm diallers, intercoms, older EFTPOS and trackers
- Who to ask
- Whoever maintains the device, not your phone provider
This week marks two years since Telstra and Optus began switching off their 3G networks, on 28 October 2024. Vodafone, now part of TPG, had already closed its 3G network at the start of that year. Optus kept 3G running for a time in a small number of places until 4G coverage replaced it, but for practical purposes 3G is gone.
Mobile phones were the loud part of that transition. People noticed when their handset stopped working and bought a new one. The quiet part was everything else with a SIM card in it, and on plenty of business premises some of that’s still sitting there, looking normal, waiting to be needed.
Why machines fail silently
A phone that can’t connect is noticed in minutes. A device that only calls out in an emergency can go months without anyone finding out it has lost its connection. Its lights stay on. Its local functions keep working. The only thing that has failed is the one thing it’s for.
The usual suspects
- Lift emergency phones. Many were connected over copper or 3G. They’re typically maintained by the lift contractor, not by whoever runs your phones.
- Monitored alarm diallers. Security and fire alarm panels that report to a monitoring centre over a mobile module, sometimes as the backup path behind a phone line that has itself been retired.
- Gate and door intercoms. The kind that call a mobile when someone presses the button at the front gate.
- Older EFTPOS terminals. Particularly standalone mobile units, and any terminal that used mobile data as a fallback when the shop's internet dropped.
- Trackers and sensors. Vehicle and asset trackers, cool-room temperature alarms, tank and pump monitoring: anything that reports in by itself.
- Internet backup dongles. A router with a mobile backup for when the nbn fails is only a backup if the backup still connects. If yours dates from before 2020, check it. Our piece on nbn outages covers what your phones should do when the primary link goes.
Some 4G devices were caught out too. A device can use 4G for data and still have relied on 3G for voice calls, which is why some older 4G mobiles were blocked from the networks when they couldn’t make emergency calls without 3G underneath them. Machine devices with a voice function, lift phones and intercoms especially, can have the same gap.
How to check, in an afternoon
- Walk the building. Lift cars, alarm panels, the front gate, the back office, the vehicles. Write down anything that might call out on its own.
- Read the invoices. Small recurring charges from security, lift, EFTPOS or fleet providers are often a SIM or a monitoring service.
- Ask in writing. Email each maintainer: does this device rely on 3G for any function, and when did you last test it end to end?
- Test the real path. A lift phone test call that actually reaches the answering service. An alarm test signal confirmed by the monitoring centre. Not a light on a panel.
Where this meets your phone system
Businesses moving off old phone systems often find these devices at the same time, because they were wired into the copper service that’s being retired. We wrote about that in the copper shutdown piece: the lift phone, the fire panel and the EFTPOS line are always on the list and never in anybody's memory.
Most can be moved to a modern connection, through an analogue adaptor on the new phone system or a 4G module from the device maintainer. The work is small. Finding the devices is the hard part, which is why a provider that also handles your internet and on-site hardware tends to catch them earlier than a software-only platform does. Both Australian platforms at the top of our comparison supply handsets and nbn alongside voice; the six software-only providers leave the cupboard to you.
Shutdown dates are as announced by the carriers. Building, lift and safety obligations vary by state and by building; confirm yours with your contractors.
The two that topped our 2026 scorecard
Uniden Voice over Cloud scored 95/100 at $34.90 per user per month with calls, AI agents and 40+ call-flow features included. VOCPhone scored 92/100 and is the one to shortlist if the phone is a sales tool.
Questions
How do I know if a device relied on 3G?
Check the model of the device and its communications module, and ask whoever maintains it. Invoices are another clue: a small monthly SIM or data charge from a security company, lift contractor or EFTPOS provider means the device has its own mobile connection, and anything installed before the late 2010s deserves a closer look.
My alarm panel still seems to work. Does that mean it’s fine?
Not necessarily. A panel can arm, disarm and beep normally while its path to the monitoring centre has failed. The only useful test is an end-to-end one: ask the monitoring company to confirm it receives a test signal from your site, and over which path it arrives.
Whose responsibility is it to fix?
Usually the owner of the device, under whatever maintenance contract covers it. Your phone provider generally doesn’t supply or maintain lift phones or alarm diallers. For lift emergency phones and alarms, building owners and managers often carry obligations of their own, so check with your lift and security contractors.
Related articles
- The copper is finally going. What that means if your phone still plugs into a wall socket (Industry, 7 min read)
- What happens to your phones when the nbn drops out (Technical, 7 min read)
- Before the Christmas shutdown: six phone settings to check while the office is still open (Guide, 6 min read)
Or go straight to the 2026 comparison table, try the phone system finder, or browse all news and analysis.