Regional, rural and remote residents are being urged to check their devices and contact phone providers if any problems arise ahead of imminent 3G shutdowns later this year.
It comes after a review, overseen by the former deputy chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Richard Bean, into a nationwide Optus phone outage in November 2023.
The review recommended that telecommunication companies shut down towers during outages, allowing other networks to carry triple zero calls.
It found that Optus' 3G towers did not shut down during the outage, causing emergency calls on that network to be lost, while customers on 4G and 5G networks were diverted to other networks.
Since the Optus outage, Telstra also had their own triple zero outage in March.
Federal Communications minister Rowland said plans will be put into place to implement changes over the next 12 to 18 months to improve the oversight of the emergency network.
"Australians need to have confidence in our telecommunications services, particularly when it comes to triple zero.
"Last year's Optus outage and the Telstra triple zero fault earlier this year highlights vulnerabilities in the system."
Other recommendations include establishing a triple zero custodian whose responsibility is to ensure the system is working and forcing telcos to share real-time information about outages with emergency services.
"The review identified opportunities every part of the system need to do better, and these recommendations will help us do just that," Ms Rowland said.
In a webinar run by the National Farmers Federation and the Regional Tech Hub, Telstra Technology Development & Solutions executive Channa Seneviratne said that, because of their configuration, some 4G-enabled phones may be unable to call triple zero once the 3G networks are switched off.
A new SMS service has also been set up for those who want quick reassurances about their phones before Telstra turns off its 3G network on June 30, while Optus will do the same in late September.
Anyone unsure whether their handset will work after the shutdown can self-check by sending an SMS message containing '3' to phone number 3498.
"You will get a response back telling you what your handset is and whether your handset will work on our network after June 30," Mr Seneviratne said
"We've had something like 75,000 queries go to that line, and we know of a of handsets that have come up that have been a problem, and those customers have contacted us."
Mr Seneviratne said conversations with 210 regional stakeholders and 150 community engagement activities have already occurred regarding the 3G shutdown, with many more to come.
"We want to make sure that our customers know well in advance [of the shutdown] so that they can migrate to the right solution for them," he said
"For those customers who are using 3G devices and handsets, we are directly contacting those customers and asking them to upgrade their device or, if they don't wish to use it, cancel their service."
