The L5 and VoLTE in Australia - Vodafone looks OK but not 000

Having mostly satisfied myself that the L5 should work with VoLTE on the Vodafone network in Australia, I rang Vodafone to find out about pre-paid plans as it looks like I’ll be changing from my existing Telstra to Vodafone at the end of August. Fortunately I currently have a working Vodafone sim which I gave to the operator who asked me 100 questions for what I thought would be a simple inquiry. He appeared to know the Librem 5 when he asked me my phone type. He was sort of non-committal about its VoLTE compatibility but seemed satisfied that I said that it looked like it was working ok. But what he did ask was if I’d tried 000, which I hadn’t. He said that it probably wouldn’t work.

Well, sure enough. 000 doesn’t work, nor does the alternative 112. He was unable to tell me if was to be rectified.

So, from what I see the L5 (for me) does work ok on the Vodafone 4G VoLTE network for voice and text, just not for the emergency numbers. If anyone else can add to this I’d be keen to hear. I can live without 000 (unless I need it to save my life of course!)

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@irvinewade

Inability to use emergency number needs to be escalated. Email support.
Question is, could this be a glitch that endangers others as well, globally? Could this be a missing feature that hasn’t been implemented or fixed, or has something broken?

Similar thread was posted some time ago but it never went anywhere since logs weren’t provided, so that might be helpful: Was unable to dial emergency services (911) - #11 by guido.gunther

Emergency call is an area that Purism and L5 do not have good record. A ticket related to emergency calling was closed without explanation or solution, it seems, which gives the impression that legal requirements about emergency calls are not taken that seriously: Allow emergency calls when the shell is locked (#30) · Issues · Librem5 / calls · GitLab Does @guido.gunther have any recollection what happened there?

Background info:

→ see also sms - How to call short numbers (like 911) on gsm module via AT Command - Stack Overflow

Older threads realated to this topic that seem to have just died without solution: Advanced Mobile Location when calling emergency services.

Info on Australian emergency numbers

https://www.acma.gov.au/emergency-calls and
https://www.triplezero.gov.au/triple-zero/other-emergency-numbers:

## 112—International standard emergency number

Triple Zero (000) is Australia’s primary telephone number to call for assistance in life threatening or time critical emergency situations. Dialling 112 directs you to the same Triple Zero (000) call service and does not give your call priority over Triple Zero (000).

112 is an international standard emergency number which can only be dialled on a digital mobile phone. It is accepted as a secondary international emergency number in some parts of the world, including Australia, and can be dialled in areas of GSM network coverage with the call automatically translated to that country’s emergency number. It does not require a simcard or pin number to make the call, however phone coverage must be available (any carrier) for the call to proceed.

There is no advantage to dialling 112 over Triple Zero (000). Calls to 112 do not go to the head of the queue for emergency services, and it is not true that it is the only number that will work on a mobile phone.

Dialling 112 from a fixed line telephone in Australia (including payphones) will not connect you to the emergency call service as it is only available from digital mobile phones.

## Voice over Internet Protocol

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that allows telephone calls to be made over broadband Internet connections.

Some VoIP providers may not provide access to emergency calls, so check with your VoIP provider if you require the emergency call service.

For information about using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) visit the Communications Alliance website.

Additional questions: Does emergency calling work via Telstra?

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You actually called it? (Just as well it didn’t work. With the 3G shutdown, emergency services would be snowed under with people testing VoLTE.)

Just for laughs … what were you going to say if the call connected?

Sorry, it is a mystery to me as to why calling every number except 000/112 works with VoLTE.

Maybe all phones try to call emergency services on any network and it is choosing Telstra (where it is known that VoLTE is not yet working with the Librem 5). Maybe you could test that hypothesis if you can find a place where Telstra signal is poor or non-existent but Voda is strong?

Or maybe all phones try to call emergency services using some low-level “secret handshake” that the Librem 5’s modem hasn’t learnt about yet.

Ironically, if you could persuade the modem that 000 is not an emergency services call, maybe it would just work. (Does the emergency services call centre publish a regular phone number that will terminate there anyway i.e. that could be used instead of 000?)

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Do you meant to Purism support? I could if one thought it would be worthwhile, but it sounds dodgy.

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Of course I called it…the Vodafone guy told me to try it.

I would have just told them what I was doing. My antics would be one of thousands that are abounding with this closing of 3G.

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It hasn’t gotten the best reputation but that’s the minumum that needs to happen for them to actually being made aware of this problem, regardless of what gets hashed out here.

That’s a good, important point. We’re getting that same happening here soon too.

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Telstra, Optus 3G network shutdown delayed amid emergency call concerns (msn.com)

Huh. Delayed again.

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I will raise a ticket or whatever for what its worth

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Original URL:

Test calls to 000 are a standard procedure for any notable phone system work. Every time a company installs a PBX they test it. Testing it as part of development of phone software is quite reasonable and accepted by the 000 operators.

The most important thing is to not hang up and also don’t test at a time that’s likely to be busy. Call in the middle of the day and tell the operator that you are doing a test of a phone system and there is no emergency.

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I can confirm that 000 does NOT work on the Librem 5 via the Vodafone network. For me.

In NSW at least you ring 000 it asks you, via a person, if you want police, fire ambos. The L5 doesn’t even get that far.

I haven’t raised a ticket with Purism, yet, but will.

It would be nice to get someone to test 000 on Telstra or Optus.

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Hmmm. You may be half right. When I called, it did work but I think it dropped down to 3G in order to do so (and took a long time to get through).

I don’t know whether it stayed on the Vodafone network. That makes it more difficult to test until Telstra and Optus have both shut down 3G. As such therefore it is a little confusing to say “via the Vodafone network” - because emergency calls should try any available network / all available networks.

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Interesting. I’ve been getting the drop back to 3G at my home which must be dropping it back to Telstra. But I can’t get 000 in that setting. When I go into work, a major centre, I don’t get any drop back now to 3G, it stays on 4G, no 000.

As you say, until it is turned off, who knows?!

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What’s about 2G? Don’t you have it on your countries anymore? Here it stays for emergency as far as I know.

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Here is a list what’s happening or has happened around the globe (updated 2019-2023) about 2G/3G shutdowns by continent, country and operator: A Complete Overview of 2G & 3G Sunsets — 1oT Probably not a perfectly comprehensive list but gives general indication. I’m also pretty sure some of the plans have moved a few years in places due to pandemic and at least here one network started the shutdown in parts of the country a year ago and it’s still not done (not sudden). The old info for Australia:

Telstra

  • 2G Shutdown: December 1, 2016
  • 3G Shutdown: March 25, 2019 (turned off 3G connectivity on 2100MHz, continued support for 3G services on 850MHz)
  • 3G in 850MHz available until 2030.

Optus

Vodafone

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No, 2G was shut down a long time ago.

3G was shut down December 2023 i.e. gone already.

Currently planned for shutdown October 2024 (delayed from June 2024). Could delay further of course. Very unlikely to linger on until 2030.

Optus

Currently planned for shutdown October 2024 (delayed from September 2024). Could delay further of course.

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Interesting. Here it’s still alive. I also had to set preferences to 4G, otherwise 2G interfered with my PC-speakers.
Link (German):

2G ist für uns das Sicherheitsnetz, mit dem alle Endgeräte funktionieren. […] Deswegen wollen wir dieses Sicherheitsnetz erhalten.

English:

2G is our safety network that functions with any mobile device. […] That’s why we want to keep that safety network.

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Fair enough. Each country to its own.

With current phones therefore theoretically supporting 2G + 3G + 4G + 5G … eventually that will cease to be good logic. That is, maybe as phones start to support 6G, they will drop support of 2G … and then it won’t be the case that 2G will function with any mobile device. There is always a penalty of some type, maybe of multiple types, for supporting earlier standards - and of course a penalty for not supporting earlier standards.

Anyway, Australia has chosen a more aggressive approach. Soon there will be only 4G and 5G.

A wildcard in the overall consideration is direct-to-handset satellite. Not only might it need frequency allocation but it will address some of the safety issues i.e. massively extends the coverage area for emergency calling.

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