Optus Triple Zero Warning: Your phone could take a minute to connect!

It’s been a year to forget for Optus, but as committed, the Board has received and reviewed the report from Dr Kerry Schott after her independent review of the September 18 outage which affected Triple Zero calls and is linked to at least two deaths as a result. But the reality is this incident has exposed a huge issue with the Australian mobile industry and the Triple Zero system.

Of course, the Independent report into the Optus Network outage has highlighted the vast issues that happened on the day not just to cause the issue, but failures to detect the issue, act on reports from customers and then internal and external communication issues which all form part of the 21 recommendations from Dr Schott – all of which have been accepted by the Optus Board.

My concern though is the issue this report and incident has highlighted that could affect us all and that relates to the complex nature by which our phones connect to Triple Zero.

On the very first page of the report, in the Executive Summary Dr Schott highlights that it can take 40 to 60 seconds for a device to “camp on” to another network to reach Triple Zero.

Camp On is the term used when your mobile can’t use your default network. So for an Optus customer when the Optus network is down, their phone will then begin to search for an alternate path, and eventually use either the TPG or Telstra Networks to make that Triple Zero call.

To articulate what happens when your network is down, we only need to turn to the five Optus customers who called Optus for support during the outage to tell them they had been unable to call Triple Zero.

Dr Schott says that her own review of those calls was “Sobering”, saying “They could not connect to Triple Zero and the response on their mobile phone was one of complete silence.”

It’s this question “Why Most Triple Zero Calls Failed to Connect to Optus and Other Networks” that is most concerning for the Australian mobile industry.

The report says, “In a network outage – both planned and unplanned – Triple Zero calls from mobile phones are supposed to automatically switch to the nearest carrier available. This could be another pathway on the caller’s carrier or on another carrier. In this case, of the 605 Triple Zero callers affected by the outage, only 150 found an Optus pathway or camped on to another carrier. Of the 150
callers that were successful, 66 camped on TPG or Telstra and 84 used the Optus network.”

Frustratingly, and alarmingly, it’s clear that “normal” calls and Triple Zero calls behave differently. “In an outage of this kind, normal voice calls are successful after a very short time. The device (usually a mobile phone) initially fails because its primary voice gateway is unavailable. The device then quickly reregisters on a secondary voice gateway and attaches to the network. The device then stays
attached and voice calls are successful.”

“Triple Zero calls are different. Each call requires a call registration to be made, and when the primary voice gateway is unavailable, the device chooses some other option. What option is
chosen appears to be influenced by the characteristics of different mobile devices, timing settings in the network, and how these factors interact. This does not seem to be solely an
Optus problem.”

Optus has engineers in a lab now investigating further, “Not surprisingly, this preliminary work shows that different mobile phone brands and models behave differently. At this early
stage, the focus has been on Apple and Samsung devices as they are the most common devices used on the Optus network.”

For Apple Devices, the report states that: “Where they were rejected ‘appropriately’ before 10 seconds, they connected to a second IP (Internet Protocol) address and successfully called Triple Zero.”

However, “Where there was no response in 10-12 seconds, they looked for a 3G connection, but since 3G has been disconnected, they then either connected to another mobile operator or continued to search for 3G. The devices that continued to search for 3G were not always successful in connecting to Triple Zero, and those that connected successfully took 40-60 seconds. With such a long delay in an emergency call, it is unlikely that a caller will patiently wait.”

It’s a different situation for Samsung phones, ” They all tried to connect to a second IP, whether appropriately rejected (within 10 seconds) or not, and they all tried to connect to 3G.”

In simple terms, the report states that “mobile phone brands and types have different properties – different operating systems, software, firmware, hardware, and timing mechanisms. Differences in user behaviour may also have had some impact – in particular, how long callers were prepared to wait to connect and where callers were located when the call was made.”

Our phones are still trying to use 3G? Even though we haven’t had a 3G network in Australia for a year? That needs to change; all smartphones should be updated so their software never even considers a 3G network.

That attempt at connecting to 3G has to figure as a significant part of that 40 to 60-second timeframe where your phone is searching for a way to call Triple Zero.

And let’s be honest, in a frantic state, calling Triple Zero, no one is waiting in silence for a connection, be it in frustration or panic; we’re all going to hang up and try again. Tragically, that just restarts the process, and thus another 40 to 60-second timeframe.

One of the 21 report recommendations is to “Inform all customers that their devices may take 40-60 seconds to connect to Triple Zero”. This is a tough communication, but a critical one – for the industry, not just Optus.

Concerningly, the report also suggests that Optus encourage customers to “test their devices to ensure they work for a Triple Zero call,” which is a dangerous recommendation. It does go on to say, “To ensure that the Emergency Call Person does not get unnecessary calls, set up a system where devices can be tested. This is an industry-wide matter and best done as an industry-wide initiative.”

It’s illegal to make unnecessary calls to Triple Zero. The Emergency Call Centre receives on average 32,000 calls per day; we do not want to add to that in any way.

But the industry, regulators, and government MUST come up with a way for users to test their phones – a national register of compatible phones should be created, ongoing testing conducted, and a phone and SMS number created to validate any phone by a user.

The Government should invest in upgrades to the Triple Zero network to allow for new methods of contact, including satellite, SMS, data messaging, and calls over data.

Optus has its work cut out for it to reform its systems, processes, and people, but Australia has a task on its hands to communicate, educate, and inform everyone about these issues and, at the same time, get a plan for the future of Triple Zero.