South Australian farmers report poor phone service, concerns over 3G-only tech as 3G shutdown nears

Farmers have also voiced concerns about waning phone service in recent months and doubts about the telco's ability to provide 4G or 5G service in areas that have relied solely on 3G to this point.

Vodafone is set to switch off its 3G network on December 15, with Telstra and Optus to follow in June and September next year.

Grain Producers SA chief executive officer Brad Perry joined Telstra's engineering team and senior management on a tour of the Yorke Peninsula last week where they visited several farmers to hear their connectivity stories.

While Mr Perry commended the telco for getting boots on the ground, he said the advocacy group was still hearing a great deal of apprehension about the 3G switch off from members.

"The concerns we've had from farmers are a lot are operating on just 3G and can't get 4G so they're worried when the 3G switch off happens they'll have no coverage at all," he said.

"A lot of growers are telling us they feel like their coverage is getting worse and that is potentially because 3G is trying to pick up 4G all the time and they are crossing bandwidths.

"It's a real concern for grain producers in those areas where they're getting fringe coverage."

One such farmer only receiving fringe coverage is Warramboo's Jared Sampson.

He said phone reception in the region had deteriorated considerably in the past several months.

Cel-Fi mobile boosters installed in every vehicle and piece of machinery - that had previously worked well - had basically become redundant.

"They (the boosters) basically do nothing now and at $1000 a pop it's pretty frustrating on top of the ridiculously expensive service Telstra provides that doesn't work," Mr Sampson said.

The only way of making a phone call, Mr Sampson said, was to find an elevated position and lock onto the 3G network.

He said the lack of reliability when trying to make a phone call was incredibly frustrating in day-to-day running of the farm and he had no confidence that the 3G to 4G switch over would be a successful transition.

"I'm not sure how your stock agents and salesmen manage to get by in areas like ours," Mr Sampson said.

Another area that Mr Perry thinks GPSA will field phone calls on when the 3G shutdown occurs is the failure of 3G-only technology like modems in machinery and weather stations, and boosters.

"What I think has been severely underestimated is just how much of 3G-only technology is out there being used by grain producers across the state," he said.

"That's a cost to the grower to switch over just so they've got some form of coverage."

Clinton Centre grower Matthew Davey has a 3G modem, responsible for telematics and data transfer, in a four-year-old New Holland header that will need replacing.

Yield maps get sent automatically to a desktop in real time, rather than manually transferring data using USBs.

"It's a handy feature because I could be out in the paddock reaping and Dad could be at home looking at trial results in real time," Mr Davey said.

Another 4G modem does the RTK corrections for autosteer and Mr Davey said even that had been dropping out, with the family noticing a deterioration in service in the past year.

Phone calls have been dropping out or not connecting at all. In busy holiday periods when tourists flock to the nearby seaside town of Ardrossan, it becomes impossible.

"Sending a text message is nearly more reliable but you're relying on the receiver to see it," Mr Davey said.

"Not everyone has their phone in sight all the time so you don't know if they're seeing your messages or not."

Connectivity had become increasingly important in agriculture, while being able to make a phone call was also important for safety and worker communication, Mr Davey said.

"Farming's big business and everything's done online these days - banking, accounting, grain sales," he said.

"I usually have my tablet in the header so I can monitor grain movements to double check them and make sales. We need to be connected but we struggle just to load web pages."

Mr Davey said they had installed Starlink at their house for reliable internet and wi-fi calling, and were considering setting up a mobile wireless network on the farm to ensure they could communicate with workers and emergency services in the event of a fire.

While Telstra are committing to providing 4G or 5G service for areas that currently rely on 3G, and expect to have all towers upgraded by the June 2024 switch over, they can't guarantee all areas will be successful.

"Although our expectation is 4G will be available wherever 3G is today, we cannot guarantee this in all areas given the highly variable nature of wireless signal affected by not just terrain but changing vegetation, building structures and device types," a spokesperson said.

The telco said last week's Yorke Peninsula tour tested and trialled how the network upgrade was progressing and had shown "4G coverage was equivalent to the old 3G coverage, but the performance and experience was far better".

Technology providers will make their own calls on whether incentivisation or compensation is provided to farmers to upgrade their 3G only devices, with Telstra saying their closure plans were announced in 2019, giving businesses plenty of time to plan and implement and device upgrades required.

"By the time of closure the 3G network will be 20 years old, which is a very long time by the standards of communication technology," Telstra's spokesperson said.