Your phone might not call triple zero

Tens of thousands of old Samsung mobile phones don’t have the technology required to connect to the emergency services number Triple Zero (000) on TPG’s Vodafone network.

That’s the tragic finding arising from the death of a Sydney man after not being able to contact triple zero. It also follows other incidents involving Optus customers.

In a statement, TPG said that early investigations indicate the failed calls were due to the customer’s Samsung device operating on “software that was not compatible with making Triple Zero calls on the network”.

TPG said, “Samsung recently identified that certain, older devices required a software update to enable triple zero functionality on TPG Telecom’s mobile network.”

About 24,000 customers have Samsung devices that require a software update, and a further 6,000 devices need to be replaced before they are blocked from using mobile services.

Telstra said the issue affected 11 older model Samsung Galaxy phones which users would need to replace with newer devices, and about 60 models that required system updates.

It said affected customers would be notified via email or SMS.

Telstra said legal obligations meant customers who owned models that needed to be replaced would be blocked from its network if their phones were not replaced within 28 days of being notified.

“Under the government's Emergency Service Call Determination, all mobile network operators are required to block devices from their networks that are not configured to access emergency call services,” Telstra posted online.

TPG said it had received advice from Samsung identifying problematic devices and advising that it had warned customers to act urgently via text message and email sent on 7 November.

Under telecommunications rules, telecommunications providers must notify their customers when their device is unable to connect to triple zero and then take action to block those devices from their networks.

Providers must ensure emergency calls work even during a network outage, so a customer can still connect to another telco in a crisis.

The man’s death plus claims that more should have been done earlier to address the triple zero issue, have led to pledges by phone and service providers to further investigate. The situation will be addressed in an upcoming Senate inquiry.