Nokia 3315 user from Australia ends telco giant Telstra's 2G network
An owner of a 13-year-old Nokia 3315 phone from Australia has earned the honour of shutting down the 2G network of Telstra, one of the country’s largest telecommunications providers. The company decided to give the Nokia user the privilege after a Facebook post about his old handset had gone viral.
Oly Gordon, who is from Perth, posted on Telstra’s Facebook page that he was upset that the telco giant was shutting down its original 2G network. Gordon said that his Nokia 3315 has been with him for 13 years and that it’s still “going strong.” The post has over 23,000 likes at present.
“The battery currently lasts for three days, although it used to be over a week,” Gordon wrote Telstra. “It has outlasted four SIM cards, countless drops, knocks and falls from extended heights. My top score on Snake 2 is 1,781 and I have managed to completely fill up the screen with said snake twice.”
Gordon acknowledged the fact that Telstra has not sold a 2G phone in a long while, adding that such handsets are “indestructible” and not easily replaced unlike modern smartphones. Gordon ended his Facebook post saying that while he’s happy to have “beaten” the phone game, he’s disappointed that it's over.
Telstra’s support team contacted Gordon after his post went viral. They told him that the company was bringing him over to Melbourne so he can shut down the 2G network himself. Gordon said Telstra CEO Andrew Penn gave him the go signal to flip the switch.
“After I posted it, I got an email the next morning asking if I could fly over to Melbourne and meet up with their CEO and some representatives, and be the one to make the final call on the 2G network to officially shut down the towers,” Gordon told Radio 6PR per WAtoday.
Gordon said that Telstra offered him a new mobile phone, the Google Pixel, but added that he’s still uncertain on how to use it. The owner of a 13-year-old Nokia 3315 is not used to a smartphone.
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