3 mobile does the Telstra-to-Voda switcheroo

Customers of 3 Mobile in metro areas have been asked to reset their handsets today after the telco switched its fallback network from Telstra 2G to Vodafone 2G.

Prior to Vodafone's merger with Hutchison Australia, Hutchison 3 customers roamed onto Telstra's 2G network when out of range of their primary (Hutch 3G) network.

But in the wake of the merger, VHA has decided that customers should fallback on Vodafone's 2G network instead as a cost-saving measure.

Should the 3 Mobile user be in an area where it can't access the Hutch 3G network or Vodafone's 2G fallback, Telstra's 2G network will still be retained as a third fallback option.

Today 3 Mobile subscribers received the following message.

"To optimise your mobile with some recent network updates, please switch your mobile off and back on again."

A spokesman for VHA said this allows handsets to accept new software settings being pushed out to all 3 handsets, which will instruct the device to roam onto Vodafone's network in preference to Telstra's.