Australian users of about 70 dated Samsung handsets face being cut off from mobile service due to problems with their devices’ firmware, which exclusively attempts to route Triple Zero calls to the shuttered Vodafone 3G network.
Telstra revealed Tuesday that its testing of the handsets had shown that they were not connecting to Vodafone’s network when its own and Optus’ networks were not available.
The problem comes amid controversy about carriers’ handling of Triple Zero calls since an emergency call service failure was linked to three fatalities.
It has led to blame-shifting among carriers who are facing increased pressure from the public, Canberra and regulators to shape up.
On Tuesday Telstra listed 71 Samsung handset models that, according to its testing, had the fault but stopped short of providing technical details.
It would only say that they were “not correctly connecting” to alternative networks during emergencies.
It has now laid the blame for the issue squarely at the feet of rival carrier TPG’s Vodafone network and the handset maker itself, in statements provided to iTnews
Telstra said that neither its own customers nor those of its nearest commercial rival, Optus, could use the Samsung handsets to automatically switch to Vodafone’s network to place emergency calls because their embedded firmware was exclusively set to use the third carrier’s older 3G network for emergency calls.
“Our investigation found that the firmware of these devices was specifically configured to rely on Vodafone’s 3G network to call Triple Zero.
“This prevents Telstra and Optus customers from calling Triple Zero using the Vodafone network in cases where the Telstra and Optus networks are unavailable. Why this was configured this way is a question for Samsung and Vodafone,” a Telstra spokesperson told iTnews.
iTnews contacted Samsung for comment but the handset maker had not responded by the time of publication.
TPG Telecom has consistently maintained that its Vodafone network is not to blame for the issue.
The issue was “not a fault of the Vodafone network, but a limitation in how certain devices were originally configured to search for emergency connectivity,” it said in a statement.
All three carriers told iTnews that they regularly conduct handset tests and have been warning consumers about the dangers of continuing to use those that have problems placing Triple Zero calls reliably for at least a year.
However, this has been through their usual customer electronic communications channels, such as text messages and emails, rather than orchestrated media campaigns.
In the case of Optus and TPG, spokespeople for the two carriers said that their warnings intensified in the lead up to the 3G network service shutdown.
During the 3G shutdown, TPG issued alerts to customers using older devices – including grey devices imported from overseas – that were not capable of VoLTE emergency calling.
The carrier advised them to update their handset’s software or replace them in cases where that wasn’t possible.
A spokesperson for Optus said it notified customers of its intention to block the handsets “many months in advance” of the 3G shutdown.
“More than 10 million emails, SMS and other communications were sent directly to customers in the lead-up to the date informing them that their device would not connect to emergency services after 28 October 2024,” an Optus spokesperson said.
“A six-week advertising campaign with our telco partners and the federal government was also launched ahead of the deadline.
“Optus performed targeted social media advertising to impacted customers, this included translations into several languages in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities,” the spokesperson added.
That didn’t seem to stop the issue being catapulted back into the public domain in a spectacular fashion, when both Telstra and Optus announced that they were giving customers using the affected Samsung handsets 28 days to update their software or get a new phone.
Otherwise, they said, the devices would be blocked from making calls, sending texts or using mobile data altogether.
Telstra said that the block would apply across “all Australian mobile networks”.
Optus said that it stepped up its media activity around the Samsung handsets as it “related to a newly identified issue” affecting a specific group of older devices in “rare circumstances”.
It’s understood that Telstra only made Vodafone TPG aware of the issue last week.
The declarations closely coincided with the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s announcement that it would introduce more stringent rules for testing emergency calling capabilities of mobile handsets. It also imposed new network equipment monitoring rules on carriers.
The new handset testing standard relate to a process known as “camp-on” which refers to the ability for mobile handsets automatically switch from mobile networks that aren’t working to ones that are during emergencies.
Telstra isolated the emergency calling issue to a list of around 70 Samsung handsets that were impacted by the firmware configuration issue. It told ABC News that 11 need to be replaced immediately and around 60 more needed software updates.
It’s understood that most of the models are around seven-to-eight years old.
