3G shut downs this year

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

3G shut downs this year

AT&T is shutting down 3G today.

The impact of 3G's retirement goes beyond older phones. The wireless network supports countless other devices such as e-book readers, vehicle SOS services, home alarms, medical alert devices and more.

T-Mobile says it will retire the older 3G network acquired in the Sprint deal on March 31.

It will shut down its own 3G network by July 1.

Verizon said it plans to decommission its 3G network by Dec. 31, 2022.

 

[W2R]

3G shut downs this year

AT&T is shutting down 3G today.

The impact of 3G's retirement goes beyond older phones. The wireless network supports countless other devices such as e-book readers, vehicle SOS services, home alarms, medical alert devices and more.

T-Mobile says it will retire the older 3G network acquired in the Sprint deal on March 31.

It will shut down its own 3G network by July 1.

Verizon said it plans to decommission its 3G network by Dec. 31, 2022.

I am so glad I got a new 5G phone last August! I'm thinking it's probably really hard to get one right now since everybody's probably scrambling to replace their phones before the deadline. My service provider is Cricket, which uses AT&T.

 

[disneysteve]

I am so glad I got a new 5G phone last August! I'm thinking it's probably really hard to get one right now since everybody's probably scrambling to replace their phones before the deadline.

AT&T was very proactive. My mom had a 3G phone. AT&T sent her a brand new phone for free a few months ago in anticipation of the 3G shut down. She had an LG flip phone. I'm not sure what they did for customers with more costly smart phones.

 

[zinger1457]

I am so glad I got a new 5G phone last August! I'm thinking it's probably really hard to get one right now since everybody's probably scrambling to replace their phones before the deadline. My service provider is Cricket, which uses AT&T.

3G is pretty old technology for cellphones, 4G has been around since 2008 and should be supported for another 10 years, most people won't need to upgrade unless they have a very old phone.

 

[disneysteve]

3G is pretty old technology for cellphones, 4G has been around since 2008 and should be supported for another 10 years, most people won't need to upgrade unless they have a very old phone.

My mom's phone was only maybe 5 years old. They were still selling 3G phones until pretty recently.

 

[skyking1]

Uconnect in many automobiles will lose many functions. This is another example of where built in tech fails you.
If the wheel buttons can be integrated, an aftermarket head unit can be kept at the edge of tech where the factory map and radio grow old really fast.

 

[zinger1457]

My mom's phone was only maybe 5 years old. They were still selling 3G phones until pretty recently.

If a cheap 3G phone met their needs there's no rush to go with 5G, just pick up a cheap 4G phone.

 

[statsman]

Our relatively old smartphones (about 8 years from initial release) fortunately have 4G. There is the issue of being unable to upgrade past Android 6 because of the chip-set limitations, but neither of us are using our smartphones for critical account or email logins.

That said, my DW was having issues (AT&T) with receiving text messages late last week into early this week. Some texts just wouldn't make it to her phone. I have to wonder if the issue was related to the 3G shutdown.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I had an older 3G phone (ATT) that I had to replace. Also had to replace the GSM communicator in our home alarm system. Slightly annoying, but thus is life with technology advancements.

 

[REWahoo]

DW complained to me this morning that she suddenly couldn't make calls on her phone. She could text and use all her apps, just no calls. I tried calling her and it went immediately to her voice mail. Restarting the phone made no difference. I dug into every setting that I could find that I thought could be related and found nothing amiss. Searched "can't make or receive calls on android phone" and went through every suggestion to no avail.

We (myself plus DW, DD#2 and GK#5) share a Cricket Wireless (AT&T) family plan. For months, Cricket has sent notices alerting of the planned February 3G shutdown and the need to have a phone that was both 4G and VoLTE capable. In November I checked all our phones and found all would meet the post 3G requirements except my phone, so I purchased a replacement in December. I thought it an odd coincidence that her problem showed up the same time AT&T shut down their 3G network, but couldn't see how that would be related since I had double checked that her phone was 4G and VoLTE capable. Still...

I futzed around with the settings again, looking at "Network and Internet", where three levels deep I found an on/off setting for VoLTE. It was OFF of course, and a flip to ON resolved the problem.

Dang technology...

 

[Cobra9777]

Our alarm monitoring company has been sending letters for months about this. The communication link for our system uses 3G, though I'm not sure which carrier. They're going to charge $59 for a service call to upgrade it to 4G.

I've been putting it off because I'm contemplating some other changes including self monitoring with an IQ2 touchscreen smart system.

Anyway, I tested the system yesterday and it still worked. But if it stops, I'll probably call in for the service call. DW likes 3rd party monitoring and it's still dirt cheap.

 

[zinger1457]

Our alarm monitoring company has been sending letters for months about this. The communication link for our system uses 3G, though I'm not sure which carrier. They're going to charge $59 for a service call to upgrade it to 4G.

I've been putting it off because I'm contemplating some other changes including self monitoring with an IQ2 touchscreen smart system.

Anyway, I tested the system yesterday and it still worked. But if it stops, I'll probably call in for the service call. DW likes 3rd party monitoring and it's still dirt cheap.

Not a lot of money but still surprised they are charging you for the upgrade. My neighbor has an ADT system and they sent him the hardware to make the 4G upgrade for free. I have a Ring system that supports 4G but don't use it, only self monitor.

 

[Sunset]

We have the Simpli-Safe system, and when first setting it up, the default cell module would not reliably connect.
So they sent me a different carrier one. It was pretty easy to swap the tiny circuit board and plug it in.
There was no cost for the swap, but it was a new system.

I'm going to have to check to see what we are on and if it uses 3G !

 

[zinger1457]

I had a Simpi-Safe system before switching to Ring, the old systems used 2G networks but they will upgrade you to 4G for free if needed. I believe the newer systems use wifi as the primary connection for monitoring and only use cellular if wifi is down but you'll still want the 4G module.

 

[ERD50]

Preface and PSA: If/When you buy an unlocked phone, check the "Software Channel" to make sure it is tied to the region where you plan to set up service.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our situation is complicated. DW and I were on T-Mobile for a long time, switched to Ting (which uses T-Mobile for GSM tech phones, and T-Mobile uses AT&T).

Both our phone models are 5G capable (MOTO G4). I bought them unlocked from Amazon. It wasn't until much later, when we got some sort of system update notice on hers in *Spanish* that I looked into it, and found the "Software Channel" was listed as "attmx" (AT&T - Mexico?) , and mine was "retus" (Retail US?). There is no easy way (and maybe not even a hard way) to change the Software Channel.

So either Mexico is not switching over to 5G, and/or the Ting system just can't recognize her phone as 5G capable, so we keep getting the warnings that we won't be able to make phone calls at some point. And it's on an account basis, so hers not being seen as G5 capable means they won't enable mine either.

I've been procrastinating on getting a new phone for her, but I guess I should get it in gear. I will buy direct from Ting this time, to avoid any issues like this in the future.

At any rate, I tested them this morning, and they still made phone calls. Neither of us make mobile calls often, we use our home VOIP, and are more likely to text while out/about, so we probably wouldn't notice for months anyhow!

-ERD50

 

[Sue J]

Last fall my old 3G flip phone was starting to physically fall apart and I looked at replacing it. That's when I found out about 3G ending in 2022. I could have gotten a cheap 4G but DH also needed an upgrade so we blew some dough and got a T-Mobile plan for seniors (all unlimited) and with their buy one get one free deal we each got a iPhone 13 mini.

I've had it for 5 months now and I've made just a few phone calls. I mostly use it for texting and browsing. It's very pretty, slick and very Apple techy but I was just fine with my old 3G flip phone. But time marches on.

My old 3G flip phone bothered other people more than it bothered me, so they can all feel better now

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I had a Moto G4 back in 2017, I'm pretty sure that it is not 5G capable.
It's in the recycling box right now along with a bunch of my other old phones from a recent clear up.
You might want to check the specs for your model.

 

[Cobra9777]

...Our situation is complicated. DW and I were on T-Mobile for a long time, switched to Ting (which uses T-Mobile for GSM tech phones, and T-Mobile uses AT&T).

Both our phone models are 5G capable (MOTO G4). I bought them unlocked from Amazon. It wasn't until much later, when we got some sort of system update notice on hers in *Spanish* that I looked into it, and found the "Software Channel" was listed as "attmx" (AT&T - Mexico?) , and mine was "retus" (Retail US?). There is no easy way (and maybe not even a hard way) to change the Software Channel.

So either Mexico is not switching over to 5G, and/or the Ting system just can't recognize her phone as 5G capable, so we keep getting the warnings that we won't be able to make phone calls at some point. And it's on an account basis, so hers not being seen as G5 capable means they won't enable mine either.

I've been procrastinating on getting a new phone for her, but I guess I should get it in gear. I will buy direct from Ting this time, to avoid any issues like this in the future.

At any rate, I tested them this morning, and they still made phone calls. Neither of us make mobile calls often, we use our home VOIP, and are more likely to text while out/about, so we probably wouldn't notice for months anyhow!...

None of the Moto G4 models are 5G capable. 4G? Yes. The 3G phase-out has nothing to do with 5G. Nobody needs a 5G-capable phone due to the 3G phase-out.

Your Moto G4s should continue to work fine on the Ting/T-Mobile 4G network for many years. If the attmx phone ever stops working (which I doubt), call Ting and ask them to resolve the problem.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Not a lot of money but still surprised they are charging you for the upgrade. My neighbor has an ADT system and they sent him the hardware to make the 4G upgrade for free. I have a Ring system that supports 4G but don't use it, only self monitor.

I assure you, it isn't "free"...it might be complimentary with the contract subscription (that is most likely overprices) but it isn't free.

We use alarm.com which basically lets us manage our system without a contract. It integrates the older components with the newer digital ones. There was a Verizon or ATT 4G module that was compatible with our system and they both cost about $80. I changed it out myself which took less than 10 minutes.

When we moved into our current house, we upgraded to the newer Simplisafe system and we had nothing but interference issues. Later, I found out that it's not difficult to hack/by-pass the system. The house was hardwired with an older system but figured out I could configure it myself through alarm.com and did that and have been very happy with the set-up. Sorry...back to your original programming...

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

None of the Moto G4 models are 5G capable. 4G? Yes. The 3G phase-out has nothing to do with 5G. Nobody needs a 5G-capable phone due to the 3G phase-out.

Your Moto G4s should continue to work fine on the Ting/T-Mobile 4G network for many years. If the attmx phone ever stops working (which I doubt), call Ting and ask them to resolve the problem.

If you're still on Ting CDMA which will be turned off the end of March you will need to upgrade to a GSM sim if your phone is compatible. I thought my G4 was CDMA only Now I will have to drag it out of the recycle bin and check. I'm pretty sure I took my GSM sim and put it in the phone and it would not work.

 

[ERD50]

None of the Moto G4 models are 5G capable. 4G? Yes. The 3G phase-out has nothing to do with 5G. Nobody needs a 5G-capable phone due to the 3G phase-out.

Your Moto G4s should continue to work fine on the Ting/T-Mobile 4G network for many years. If the attmx phone ever stops working (which I doubt), call Ting and ask them to resolve the problem.

Thanks, I mis-spoke/typed. I should have said 4G.

I'll try contacting TING, but I'm thinking that having the ATTMX sw channel is going to be a non-starter for us. It's worth a try though.

It isn't so much whether the ATTMX phone works or not, TING thinks it isn't compatible, and hasn't provisioned our account to work with 4G, so even my phone (theoretically) won't work as long as her ATTMX phone is on the account, because TING has shut it out.

I don't know if the ATTMX phone is compatible or not. Has ATT in Mexico gone to 4G?

edit: yes it is https://about.att.com/newsroom/att_is_on_my_mobile_phone_now.html

Our 4G LTE network is now available to nearly 45 million people in 42 Mexican cities, including Mexico City. If

I'll contact TING.

-ERD50

 

[Goonie]

My mom has had a Tracfone flip-phones for about 20 years, and they were easy and perfect for her needs. So when I received notice that their 3G service was ending and we'd need to upgrade her phone, I went online to get her a new flip-phone, however they didn't have any available. All they had were various 'smart-phones'. Mom's 95 and has some progressing cognitive problems, and switching to a smart-phone for her was a definite no go. (However, since we had just renewed her Tracfone minutes a couple months ago, I upgraded to one of the low-end smart-phones for $5.00 just to keep as a spare.)

After reading reviews on phones for seniors, I went to Walgreens and picked up a Lively! flip-phone for her. Brought it home, set it up, and everything was fine.....until I tried to setup speed-dial. The manual guides you step by step to do it, but it ended up that the option wasn't listed in the phone's settings. Finally I broke down and called the Lively! tech support, and after spending over an hour talking to the tech and the supervisor, it was determined that there was a firmware glitch. They upgraded the firmware, but there was no change. For my mom, without one button speed-dial, the phone was useless. I returned it the next day at Walgreens for a full refund (if you purchase it directly from Lively! and choose to return it they charge a restocking fee.....Walgreens doesn't). The Lively! flip-phone costs $99, plus the monthly service.

So then I went online and ordered a flip-phone from Consumer Cellular. It arrived two days later, activated and ready to use right out of the package! Speed-dial set-up was very easy, and it's serving mom's purposes very well. The CC flip-phone is $59, plus monthly service. Hopefully this phone will last her for as long as she needs a phone.

 

[W2R]

So then I went online and ordered a flip-phone from Consumer Cellular. It arrived two days later, activated and ready to use right out of the package! Speed-dial set-up was very easy, and it's serving mom's purposes very well. The CC flip-phone is $59, plus monthly service. Hopefully this phone will last her for as long as she needs a phone.

Terrific! That sounds like a terrific phone for your Mom, easy to use, and at a good price, too.