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Telstra, Optus, and Vodafone can now share their mobile networks with each other in the event of a natural disaster, allowing Australians to roam onto another network in the event that their "home network" is down.
Dubbed temporary disaster roaming, the solution is specifically address outages caused by natural disasters. For example, if the Optus network were to go down because of damaged infrastructure, its customers would be able to temporarily use the Telstra network.
This is similar to how calling Triple Zero works; anyone can call the number, provided they have mobile coverage - even if it's not from their specific mobile provider. Instead of just being able to call Triple Zero, a customer using temporary disaster roaming would be able to continue using their phone as normal.
There's no cost associated with temporary disaster roaming, but users who roam onto another network will only get data speeds fast enough for "basic" usage. They'll be fast enough for using services like iMessage and WhatsApp, but streaming video may be out of the question.
In the event of a disaster impacting mobile services, the three network operators will work together to assess the situation and determine whether temporary disaster roaming should be activated. It will only be switched on if the available network has enough capacity to handle extra demand, and will typically only run for 24 hours at a time. In some cases, temporary disaster roaming may be switched off early to protect the available network.
Temporary disaster roaming can be activated in up to three diaster-affected areas across Australia at once, at up to 15 mobile sites per area. Disaster sites must be at least 400km apart. It is currently also only designed for use in regional and rural areas, rather than in cities.
Notably, temporary disaster roaming will only work with phones. Other SIM-enabled devices like EFTPOS terminals and medical alarms won't be able to roam to another network in the event of an outage.
Consumer advocacy group Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) took aim at some of the limitations, with CEO Carol Bennett criticising the fact it is up to the telcos to decide when to turn it on and off.
"Any arrangement that helps people stay connected in a disaster is better than none. But we are concerned that this model relies heavily on telco discretion, and this won’t give many people confidence, with telecommunications the least trusted industry in the country according to Roy Morgan," said Bennett.
"Public safety cannot rest on voluntary arrangements that the telcos can choose to turn on and off."
Instead, Bennett called on the government to mandate when temporary disaster roaming is used and continued to advocate for mandatory domestic roaming.
Alex Choros
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