With Spark and One NZ decommissioning their 2G and 3G networks across the country near the end of 2025. FAR has contacted the companies involved with the moisture probe trial to find out how it could affect your farm.
Some growers are facing the challenge and frustration of having to replace their telemetry units on devices on farm, such as on flow meters and commonly their moisture probe modem, read your options below.
- CropX:
CropX is not on 3G, so no issues there. The CropX standalone telemetry unit is $800 RRP, which can be used with any existing probe, and the Cropx soil moisture probe is $1,999. However, if a customer is replacing a pre-existing unit and moving to CropX, they usually offer a generous discount.
- Primary Insights:
Everything new we’ve sold to date has a 4G modem so doesn’t impact these. Only if it is an old existing and has a 3G modem in it, would it need an upgrade, and also do a firmware upgrade on DTU as I found that avoids future issues. Only have 3 left to change this winter, so not that relevant.
Typically $450 + GST disbursements. You need to run the financials on replacing instead of upgrading, as it’s often more cost effective - ie for some probes its +$1000 to upgrade… so when you consider the typical remaining lifespan of an 8-year-old probe and that a new one comes with a 2-year warranty… it makes more sense to upgrade.
- Harvest:
We have Harvest systems across the country that have 2G or 3G modems which need to be upgraded so they will work when these networks are switched off at the end of 2025. Newer systems provided over the last few years will already be 4G enabled so are unaffected by these changes, i.e. the FAR soil moisture demo site.
We have been proactively contacting all customers via email about affected sites, and are now working through following them all up via phone call.
We have a bit of an overview offered here, which runs through the options: https://harvest.com/support/4g-upgrade-options/
We are now displaying a red banner for logged in customers on all sites that require 4G upgrade, if they see this at the top of their site their best course of action would be to read the above page or touch base with us via phone or email for more details. If they are logged in and there is no banner, their site is already 4G enabled and nothing further is required.
Pricing: $650 - $840 excluding freight, GST, and installation.
- On Farm Data
3G won’t be a problem with our hardware, we have recently upgraded all our Radio and 3G units to our new AquacomII NB-IoT comms module, all existing gear and new gear going forward are equipped with this new module so no hardware upgrades are required,
We also offer a 4G and LoRa solution based on the users current and future needs. Our communication hardware unit is now easily upgraded without the need to replace the entire logger/telemetry unit.
Prices are dependent on what solution is required. Pricing from $545 to 1178 +
- Resolve Water
As WiseConn is a new product in New Zealand, all units are 4G-ready. However, in places with poor connectivity, an Ethernet daughter card can be used.
AgSense devices under Resolve's Water account (Precision Links - Field Commanders - Crop Links) to monitor and control T-L pivots, laterals, and pumps were successfully updated to 4G during 2024.
All WiseConn units in New Zealand are 4G-ready.
In areas with little to no cellular communication, an Ethernet/Wifi modem can be used in place of a cellular modem to establish a connection to the cloud, utilising an existing Ethernet or WIFI connection.
- Vantage NZ
Yes, the 3G shutdown affects both the AquaCheck and Metos units. With the AquaCheck telemetry having to be upgraded to a 4G unit, while the Metos unit can have its PCB board upgraded (using the same outer casing) to 4G. However, it’s not just as simple as that as some growers will already have updated their units and may be confused. It is best to contact Vantage to clarify (if a 4G upgrade is required) and get a quote to have the work completed before August 2025. It should be stressed that we can’t update everyone in August and there will be some 3G outages before this date as the 3G network is being shut down.
- PGG Water (Valley 365)
It is a free modem upgrade that we will complete before year's end. IF you see this icon on your dashboard talk to your provider.
- Halo
Halo say they have checked and they don’t have any arable growers with 3G units, so it won't be an issue.
If you are unsure, the best thing you can do is talk to your service provider directly. Many of the probes communicate to the telemetered loggers using a common protocol called SDI 12 (Serial Digital Interface at 1200 baud rate), so if you are not happy with the display and/or support from your current provider, you can look at different options in many cases when you swap out your old telemetry unit. In areas with poor coverage, there are other options like Ethernet/WIFI or Bluetooth, or neutron probe weekly services. Look for the system that works best for your situation.