Telstra has found a few phones struggle to connect to emergency with every network, meaning it’s time to urgently replace those models.
No one wants to call emergency for something critical, but when you need to, your phone has to connect. That’s just one of the main things that has to happen, and it’s why if you need to call triple zero, regardless of who provides your mobile coverage, your phone will connect you to the closest tower.
Whether you’re on Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, or one of the smaller carriers sharing the network of each of the big three, emergency calls will divert to the nearest tower regardless of who owns and operates it. That’s one of the positives of how emergency mobile calls work in Australia.
But it appears there’s a bit of a catch, and not just from carriers struggling with emergency connectivity.
Telstra has been doing some investigating, and has found some devices are now struggling to connect to other networks, making for a problem if you had to call 000 anytime in the near future.
This is an issue regardless of whether you’re a Telstra customer or not, too. If you’re a Telstra customer with one of these devices, but neither Telstra nor Optus is within reach, and you can only reach Vodafone, these identified devices won’t connect. And if you’re a Vodafone customer, we shudder to think.
Telstra’s identified phones fall in two categories for this problem, all of which are old, but some recent enough that they’re still getting updates, while others are so old they, well, aren’t.
The point remains, though, that these phones are out there, and people who keep using an older device may not be able to reach triple zero today.
Basically, if you’re someone that holds onto a phone until it’s good and dead and ready to be taken from your hands, prying it from your clutches because your phone is fine and who really has the money for something new, you may want to check if an old phone you’re using needs an update ASAP.
Old phones that need an update
First, the phones that are affected are all Android models and so far appear to be limited to devices made by Samsung. So if you’re rocking an older iPhone or Google Pixel, you appear to be safe for the moment.
But if you have an old Samsung Galaxy model, you may need an update, and immediately.
For the purposes of this article, “old” means anything over four or five years of age, which is well past when you can expect updates for quite a lot of Android phones. Unless you’re spending on a flagship model — where seven years of updates is now the norm — most Android phones are lucky to see two or three.
However, the Galaxy models that need an update to fix their triple zero problem is large, and almost reads like a laundry list of prior models we’ve reviewed, including the:
- Galaxy Note 10+ (and Note 10)
- Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (and Note 20)
- Galaxy S20 FE
- Galaxy S20+
- Galaxy S20 Ultra
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- Galaxy Z Flip 5G
- Galaxy Z Fold 2
- Galaxy A50
- Galaxy A71
- Galaxy A8, and the
- Galaxy J8, to name but a few.
Telstra’s list covers more running over three pages, with the range running from the entry-level to what was once the high-end, some of which were really high-end when they first came out.
If your phone is one of these models, your phone may need an update, but only if hasn’t been updated to the most recent version. Head to settings and updates, and make sure you do that right now.
Old phones that need to be replaced
However, if your phone is even older, you may need to actually move on immediately. That’s because there’s no update available to your handset, and the problem won’t be patched.
Simply put, that includes some quite old devices, including the
- Galaxy Note 5
- Galaxy S6
- Galaxy S6 Edge
- Galaxy S7
- Galaxy S7 Edge
As well as two 2017 editions of the Galaxy A-series including 2017’s Galaxy A7, plus 2016 and 2017 incarnations of the Galaxy J-series budget phones.
If you’re rocking one of these older devices, your mobile won’t be patched and will have problems connecting to the Vodafone network in an emergency. That’s an issue, and means your call to triple zero mightn’t get through when you need it.
It’s not a guarantee — it could work, provided you’re within reach of a Telstra or Optus network — but since there’s no way to determine which network you’re connecting to during an emergency, updating the old and not slightly problematic phone hardware might be your best bet.
Worse, if you don’t upgrade, your phone may be blocked from mobile networks, as well.
As part of the government’s emergency call rules, mobile networks are required to block devices that aren’t set up to access emergency call services properly, which now includes these older devices.
They might not be removed today, but they may be disconnected soon, which means much like how phones needed to be upgraded from 3G before that disconnection, you may want to check if your device needs upgrading soon. Like right now.
