I would not say I have a phobia about elevators but I don’t like those fancy new ones in the big cities.
The ones where you push the button on the outside and a lift comes to take you to the floor you like with no buttons inside.
It is irrational but I prefer to feel in control, that I could get out of the lift whenever I need, even though that need has never arisen.
However, at least in those lifts there is the emergency phone that, if in the worst case of being stuck, you can contact the outside world.
Few people would realise that in just a few weeks the emergency phones in lifts may not work anymore.
At the end of August, Telstra is due to shut off its 3G network. Just days later Optus will do the same.
Some of the phones in elevators use the mobile network to make the emergency calls.
While we have known for five years that the 3G network would shut down this year, it was only a few weeks ago that the Government contacted elevator manufacturers to see if there would be an issue.
We know that there are issues with thousands of other devices.
Health alert monitors, security systems, surveyors’ equipment and farming equipment are all affected.
I just chaired a Senate inquiry into the shutdown date and the evidence presented to us is that up to 1 million devices could be impacted.
This includes a few hundred thousand phones that may not work after the shutdown date. Some of the redundant devices are easy to identify, 3G only mobile phones will, of course, no longer work.
But it was only earlier this year that the government and mobile phone companies realised that there were many 4G phones that would “work” after the switch off but actually used the 3G network to make emergency calls.
Worse, people would not readily know that they had one of these phones until they tried to make an emergency call.
Since we made this discovery Telstra and Optus have established a phone number that you can text if you have one of these phones.
Just text3 to 3498.
And, they are also giving away basic 4G phones to vulnerable customers who may struggle to upgrade their phones.
Still, it is not reasonable to give Australians just 6 months to find out if their phone will still work after a 3G shutdown and make arrangements to replace their phone if it is impacted.
For that reason, our Senate committee recommended that the shutoff date be extended.
To date, the Government has largely let Telstra and Optus take charge of the 3G shutdown.
But the 3G spectrum is a public asset and the use of it by a variety of non-phone devices raises issues that go far beyond the remit of Telstra and Optus.
The 3G network should not be shutdown until the Government leads an audit of what devices will be impacted and has made sure that public health, safety and significant business interests are not unduly impacted.
There are good reasons to eventually shut down the 3G network.
It will free up bandwidth to expand coverage all across Australia.
Telstra has upgraded all of its 3G towers with 4G capacity.
In theory, after the 3G shutoff coverage should improve as 4G is more efficient than 3G.
Ultimately though this is a case of better to be safe than sorry.
I think that if anyone is trapped in a lift after the shutdown they would appreciate the application of that principle.
