Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Bruce Billson interview with Leon Delaney.
Radio 2CC Canberra
Subject: 3G shutdown to affect small, family and farming businesses
Leon Delaney
There are lots and lots and lots of pieces of business equipment that might well be caught up in the phase out of 3G. Joining me now, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson. Good afternoon.
Bruce Billson
Leon, great to be with you and your listeners.
Leon Delaney
Thanks for joining us today. I was a little bit surprised by just how long this list of business equipment and other related devices actually is. There's a lot of gear on there, isn't there?
Bruce Billson
Yeah, there is. And one of the things is it's not that obvious. I mean, at least with the old handsets, you get a bit of a hint when you're using it. A little symbol comes up in the top corner telling you what network you're on. So, there's at least something that might prompt you to think about it. But in terms of business equipment, your example with the transport system in Canberra is a classic one. No one gives a lot of thought to what the wireless connection is in the background busily doing its thing, whilst what you focus on as the primary purpose of that equipment does its thing.
So, you can think about everything from those point of pay, black square things you wave your card in front of, they might have a 3G chip sitting behind them to conclude the transaction. Even lifts, those emergency buttons you push if you're stuck in a lift, many of those are on 3G. And then all the way through to farming and equipment that might monitor water levels, open doors for stock, even your friendly surveyor, that little Total Station - doesn't sound as much fun as Theodolite - but a lot of those Total Stations, they use 3G as their communication link as well.
Leon Delaney
Now the obvious one, of course, is point of sale EFTPOS machines. I'm sure most of them have been updated, but there might still be some businesses with older machines that might be impacted.
Bruce Billson
And that's a concern. You might have had your system set up and going well. You might be a small business that sells miniature goats at the Murrumbateman market, and you probably don't give a lot of thought to what the little tap-and-pay device is that you use. In many cases, the older ones are using 3G as the communications link. So, what I'm urging people to do is, it might not be immediately obvious, but if you've got a piece of kit that's got a bit of a wireless connection, please check that out so that you don't find that equipment, all of a sudden, doesn't work when you need to count on it.
Leon Delaney
There are some other unexpected things that can also be caught up. There’re various pieces of computer software relating to record keeping, accounts and bookings and things like that. I'm not sure how that relies on 3G but apparently there are some circumstances where that might be the case.
Bruce Billson
That's where the records may be stored. You might have a tablet or a device that clocks when you're coming into work and when you're leaving. And then it might quietly go off to a central system that processes your pay. And there's other tracking monitoring equipment, like assets have a little device on them that lets you know where they are and what they're doing. And those are examples that aren't immediately obvious. But gee, if you're a business and you're counting on them to work, and all of a sudden, the day after October 28 they don't happen, that can come as a real shock, and the pressures on. So, we're saying, if you're not sure, check it out. Contact the suppliers of that equipment, ask the question, and don't become a casualty of loss of 3G functionality is our message.
Leon Delaney
Some of the more alarming things, if you'll pardon the pun, fire alarms and security systems could also be impacted. It is important that you check your equipment and find out whether it relies on the 3G network. How can business owners actually do that simply and easily? It sounds a bit complicated if you've got to track down every single manufacturer for every single piece of equipment that you have?
Bruce Billson
Sadly, the answer is yes, it is. It can be quite tedious. That's why, when the Senate was probing these issues, we were urging the telcos themselves to have a look at their billing data to say, well, who's paying to use the spectrum, the 3G service? And encouraging those telcos to get up and about talking with what's called third party equipment service providers, to at least have those service providers lean in and be proactive rather than wait for people to contact them.
Leon Delaney
Is there a sort of a simple rule of thumb? Because obviously 4G was introduced quite a while ago now, and I can't remember what date that was. But if you've got equipment that was built after a certain date, that should be safe, would that be right?
Bruce Billson
Look, that could be right. I'd hate to give that sort of advice on the run. It is best to check with the equipment suppliers. But even on the telephony thing, you may well have a 4G phone, but it might divert to 3G for emergency calls. In that case, best to jump on the website 3gclosure.com - there's a little process you can go through to check your handsets, because there's still thought to be nearly 100,000 people that haven't changed over. That's easy for that. The process around checking what's in your equipment, that's a little more complicated.
Leon Delaney
Yeah, I don't know, technology Bruce, it's a wonderful thing isn't it, so long as it actually works. I tend to keep on using something until it breaks. And if it's 10 years old, but it still does the job just fine, why do I need to get a new one? It's not fair, Bruce.
Bruce Billson
If you were a cattle rustler and you've got your Herefords down in the back paddock, and all of a sudden, a gate randomly opens because the technology is no longer there for you, I reckon that's not a good way to find out that it's not working.
Leon Delaney
Bruce, thanks very much for chatting today.