Verizon cut off my 90 year old mother's phones

[disneysteve]

Something you might consider is providing your or your sister's email on your mother's account so you get notices in the future.

Definitely, since she doesn't do email herself. Fortunately, my mom is on our family plan so I get all the emails and snail mail and text notifications regarding her phone (and I pay the bill). I knew about the 3G thing in plenty of time, and as I said earlier, AT&T was on top of it and sent out a replacement phone automatically.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

It might be good to get her a spare, prepaid burner type phone or two, like the kind they'd keep in stock in Breaking Bad. Then if she loses her main phone or forgets to pay a bill, she has a back up emergency phone all set and ready to activate.

I had to get a new phone for the same reason a year or so ago from Consumer Cellular (T-mobile) and they sent notices out at least 6 months in advance.

 

[ncbill]

There is a 3G "router" that mother's home phone is hooked to and they cut off the 3 G router. Maybe it is actually Fios? In any event her home phone no longer works and Verizon says they had to cut it off because it was 3G.

Sounds like a cellular adapter that ran over 3G...uses the cellular network but has a standard telephone port that provides dial tone where mom plugs in a wired phone.

I'm surprised they didn't offer a replacement that runs on the 4G network.

 

[rodi]

3G is not a technology that "land lines" use. I worked in the industry for over 30 years including working with Verizon of cell phone programming.

Land lines are generally old-fashioned wired service like we had when we were kids. Modern "land lines" are mostly Voice Over IP (VOIP) and are provided by many companies (mainly ISPs).

If someone at Verizon actually said that her land line was 3G, they need to be fired.

Also worked in the industry, or at least industry related - I worked in the cable industry - but our corp did cell phones and cable modems, FIOS, etc... .. I suspect the person meant the modem that the 'land line' used for VOIP was an older 3g modem. None of the ISPs are good about upgrading the equipment when it's out of date.... they wait till a complaint comes in.

My son and a friend used to volunteer tech support at a retirement community that my step mom lived in. They boys were in middle school and early high school. A lot of their questions had to do with cell phones and some cable modem issues. (In addition to helping change printer ink, loading various drives for printers, etec.) The residents were about 1/2 tech savvy with really obscure tech questions that the boys would have to research - and the other half, the non tech savvy half, my son and his buddies talked into switching to jitterbug phones. Often an adult child of the resident would come in - understand the issue, and facilitate changing technology to something simpler. It was great experience for the boys. Even my step mom, who I put in the tech savvy bunch since she was still teaching online nursing statistics classes, started having more issues with technology as she got further into her late 80's.

I guess my point is technology gets harder as we get older. Terms change (server based is now 'cloud' for example), technology changes (3g cdma, vs 5g) And the folks at verizon and other companies don't hire the best/brightest for the call centers... that tends to be a minimum wage job.

 

[harllee]

It might be good to get her a spare, prepaid burner type phone or two, like the kind they'd keep in stock in Breaking Bad. Then if she loses her main phone or forgets to pay a bill, she has a back up emergency phone all set and ready to activate.

I had to get a new phone for the same reason a year or so ago from Consumer Cellular (T-mobile) and they sent notices out at least 6 months in advance/

Are there any burner phones anymore? I bet most of them were 3G and no longer work. The cheapest Verizon 4G phone I have seen is $100 plus.

 

[harllee]

Also worked in the industry, or at least industry related - I worked in the cable industry - but our corp did cell phones and cable modems, FIOS, etc... .. I suspect the person meant the modem that the 'land line' used for VOIP was an older 3g modem. None of the ISPs are good about upgrading the equipment when it's out of date.... they wait till a complaint comes in.

My son and a friend used to volunteer tech support at a retirement community that my step mom lived in. They boys were in middle school and early high school. A lot of their questions had to do with cell phones and some cable modem issues. (In addition to helping change printer ink, loading various drives for printers, etec.) The residents were about 1/2 tech savvy with really obscure tech questions that the boys would have to research - and the other half, the non tech savvy half, my son and his buddies talked into switching to jitterbug phones. Often an adult child of the resident would come in - understand the issue, and facilitate changing technology to something simpler. It was great experience for the boys. Even my step mom, who I put in the tech savvy bunch since she was still teaching online nursing statistics classes, started having more issues with technology as she got further into her late 80's.

I guess my point is technology gets harder as we get older. Terms change (server based is now 'cloud' for example), technology changes (3g cdma, vs 5g) And the folks at verizon and other companies don't hire the best/brightest for the call centers... that tends to be a minimum wage job.

Thanks for this, at age 90 my mother has no technology sense. It is all she can do to answer her cellphone and turn the channels on her TV. At age 70 I am not much help either, it seems that technology is getting harder and harder for me too. I wish they had some young people at mom's retirement community to help them out. Mom has a great grandchild in high school but they seem too busy to help. The folks at Verizon were not helpful at all, in fact they were downright rude. If you are not buying a $1000 Apple phone they don't want to have anything to do with you.

 

[MissMolly]

Are there ahttps://www.amazon.com/TracFone-Fli...=Burner+Cell+Phone&qid=1662497006&sr=8-3&th=1ny burner phones anymore? I bet most of them were 3G and no longer work. The cheapest Verizon 4G phone I have seen is $100 plus.

Yep. You can buy 4g burner phones for <$20.

https://www.amazon.com/TracFone-Flip-Prepaid-Phone-Locked/dp/B08J4KW31M/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Burner%2BCell%2BPhone&qid=1662497006&sr=8-3&th=1

 

[harllee]

Yep. You can buy 4g burner phones for <$20.

https://www.amazon.com/TracFone-Flip-Prepaid-Phone-Locked/dp/B08J4KW31M/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=Burner%2BCell%2BPhone&qid=1662497006&sr=8-3&th=1

Thanks, might make sense to have an extra one of these around.

 

[Midpack]

That’s unfortunate but Verizon did notify customers repeatedly - starting in 2016. I would have been a little proactive with that much notice. If she didn’t have email, maybe there was something on her statements, but I’d be very surprised if there weren’t several notices that someone didn’t notice. Filing complaints is a waste of your time and yours, but suit yourself. They even offered free phones to 3G customers

Since 2016, we have stated publicly that we are actively decommissioning our 3G CDMA network. Initially, we announced we would close down our 3G network in 2019. However, we extended our shut off date - first to the end of 2020 and now to the end of 2022 - in order to care for our customers and give them every effort to minimize disruptions to their service as they move to newer and more advanced technologies.

https://www.verizon.com/about/news/3g-cdma-network-shut-date-set-december-31-2022

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/08/ver...to-customers-still-using-its-3g-network-.html

 

[RobbieB]

Yeah, AT&T sent me a free phone when they switched. Not a flip of course.

 

[harllee]

That’s unfortunate but Verizon did notify customers repeatedly - starting in 2016. I would have been a little proactive with that much notice. If she didn’t have email, maybe there was something on her statements, but I’d be very surprised if there weren’t several notices that someone didn’t notice. Filing complaints is a waste of your time and yours, but suit yourself. They even offered free phones to 3G customers



https://www.verizon.com/about/news/3g-cdma-network-shut-date-set-december-31-2022

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/08/ver...to-customers-still-using-its-3g-network-.html

How can I get one of these free Verizon phones for my mother? I asked at the Verizon store and when I called the Verizon 800 number and they said they did not know what I was talking about.

I looked at the linked stories you posted Midpack and they both say the cut off is 12/31/22 and that was what the notice my mother got in August said--cut off 12/31/22. My complaint is that they cut her off now instead of 12/31/22. I didn't even know my mother's land line was 3G until she got the notice a couple of weeks ago.

 

[MichaelB]

I would expect most seniors don’t know what 3G or cdma means, and there’s no reason why they should. Cell service is not a discretionary item, it’s a utility. Verizon is dropping support because it’s convenient to do so. They charge extra for mailed paper statements and motivate users to do everything electronically. This disadvantages people with low tech skills or know how.

It’s easy to point a finger and accuse after the fact, but imho it really is incumbent on the service provider, in this case Verizon, to ensure all users are aware and have reasonable options. Did Verizon engage any senior support organizations to help with this transition?

As for the “get a new cheap phone”, that’s easier said than done. It’s highly unlikely a new phone will have the functionality and interface as the one it replaces, and a senior with low tech skills may find the learning curve too steep. That was definitely the case with my mum.

This is one more item on a long list of things we must do to protect our parents, and one more thing to keep in mind as we age to avoid being a burden on our children.

 

[harllee]

Well said, Michael. My 90 year old mom will be fine because my sister and I are working hard to get her a new cell phone and a new land line (even though it will probably take at least a week). But there are many other seniors being cut off by Verizon that don't have anyone to help them. If Verizon was a decent company they would have someone in the local stores helping these seniors replace their phones with similar free or inexpensive phones. But instead all we got was rude employees in the store and on the phone. Personally I am done with them.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Is it possible that your mother might have got a new phone from Verizon and it's in a drawer somewhere? The articles state the customer had to call to opt out of the free phone deal to the customers that were still on 3G. If that happened, per the article, Verizon may have activated the phone when your mother didn't which in turn would disable the old phone.
While most folks who have a simple 3G phone may want to take the offer, some people may already have a 4G device from a family member or friend who has since moved on to an even newer 5G phone. Customers who don’t want Verizon to send them the new phones can call customer support and ask to “decline the free phone for CDMA Sunset.” Existing plans and contracts will stay the same.
Verizon will automatically activate the sent devices if a customer doesn’t do so.

I know both Tello and T-Mobile blasted customers for well over a year about the end of T-Mobile 3G coming up and yet there was tons of people that just sat and waited till the last day and when it happened they freaked out and had no plan B in place and then blamed T-Mobile for it.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Is it possible that your mother might have got a new phone from Verizon and it's in a drawer somewhere? The articles state the customer had to call to opt out of the free phone deal to the customers that were still on 3G. If that happened, per the article, Verizon may have activated the phone when your mother didn't which in turn would disable the old phone.
While most folks who have a simple 3G phone may want to take the offer, some people may already have a 4G device from a family member or friend who has since moved on to an even newer 5G phone. Customers who don’t want Verizon to send them the new phones can call customer support and ask to “decline the free phone for CDMA Sunset.” Existing plans and contracts will stay the same.
Verizon will automatically activate the sent devices if a customer doesn’t do so.

I know both Tello and T-Mobile blasted customers for well over a year about the end of T-Mobile 3G coming up and yet there was tons of people that just sat and waited till the last day and when it happened they freaked out and had no plan B in place and then blamed T-Mobile for it.

Consumer Cellular offered me a 4G phone for $20 when the deadline came close and I hadn't replaced mine yet. I actually had a bought a new phone from Amazon and but the seller lied in the description about it being 4G, so Amazon refunded my money even after a few months. I showed them the description and it clearly had 4G in it. I had to switch back to my old 3G phone and then got the $20 phone offer so it worked out.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I actually posted this back in February this year and I noticed that the wording for the Verizon shutdown was "By" not "on" 3G shut downs this year so that was the wording that was being reported at the time.

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

Here is a link to the full conversation
https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f54/3g-shut-downs-this-year-113093.html

 

[harllee]

Is it possible that your mother might have got a new phone from Verizon and it's in a drawer somewhere? The articles state the customer had to call to opt out of the free phone deal to the customers that were still on 3G. If that happened, per the article, Verizon may have activated the phone when your mother didn't which in turn would disable the old phone.
While most folks who have a simple 3G phone may want to take the offer, some people may already have a 4G device from a family member or friend who has since moved on to an even newer 5G phone. Customers who don’t want Verizon to send them the new phones can call customer support and ask to “decline the free phone for CDMA Sunset.” Existing plans and contracts will stay the same.
Verizon will automatically activate the sent devices if a customer doesn’t do so.

I know both Tello and T-Mobile blasted customers for well over a year about the end of T-Mobile 3G coming up and yet there was tons of people that just sat and waited till the last day and when it happened they freaked out and had no plan B in place and then blamed T-Mobile for it.

Interesting. I just called my mother and asked whether she had gotten a replacement phone from Verizon and she said she is sure she did not. There are also about 10 other people in her building that Verizon cut off and they did not get replacement phones. I also called Verizon (I called the local store and the 800 number) and asked about this and they say there were no free phones sent out and they did not know anything about this.

 

[ERD50]

I would expect most seniors don’t know what 3G or cdma means, and there’s no reason why they should. ...

Yes, I read the notice that Midpack linked, and I'd say that unless you already had an understanding of the situation, it just read like a bunch of techno gobbledygook.

If I skim it, it reads like they are promoting their newest technology and trying to tell you why it's better.

5G is set to revolutionize our world. It is the platform for 21st century innovation, offering almost limitless capabilities and opportunities for our customers. [****bla-bla-bla***] ... Since 2016, we have stated publicly that we are actively decommissioning our 3G CDMA network [****bla-bla-bla*** that's nice, they are decommissioning something, oh well.... ]

A lot of people would not have got any further, it just sounds like a PR release. Even

We’ve already communicated to customers that we are no longer allowing devices that are not 4G LTE capable to be activated on our network, so the focus now is the smooth migration of the remaining 3G devices in the market onto 4G LTE or 5G capable products and services.

is a lot of bla-bla. "no longer allowing devices that are not 4G LTE capable to be activated on our network"? What's that mean? I'm not activating any new devices, I guess I'm OK, and they are planning a smooth migration (whatever that is). Great! ...

What they need is:
"ATTENTION - YOUR CELL PHONE WILL SOON STOP WORKING DUE TO CHANGES IN OUR SYSTEM. YOU NEED TO GET A NEW PHONE BEFORE THESE CHANGES OCCUR. YOUR AREA COULD BE AFFECTED AS SOON AS MM/DD/YYYY. SEE YOUR LOCAL DEALER, OR CALL THIS NUMBER TO GET A NEW PHONE. YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION NOW - YOUR CELL PHONE WILL SOON STOP WORKING DUE TO CHANGES IN OUR SYSTEM.

 

[COcheesehead]

I read about things on this and other forums regarding technology and leaving seniors behind. Not knowing how to use a smart phone, smart TVs, iPads, filing taxes electronically, online deposits, 2FA and so many other things. I urge all of us to keep up with technology as we age rather than shun it.

 

[JBTX]

With phone companies and others using the strategies of this site can be very effective. When I had some complex issues with ATT I used the contacts and was called back by a high level customer service rep from the presidents office, and they helped fix things and offered some one time credits. More recently with T mobile I was not having any luck solving problems through typically channels and went a similar route and the issues were promptly resolved.

https://www.elliott.org/

https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/verizon-customer-service-contacts/

 

[Davidhelp]

Buy a newer phone. It will be better. Amazon offers used phones that are a whole lot less expensive then brand new at the stores. I have a Samsung S10+ that was $279 in total bought in Aug 2021 and had zero defects vs brand new at $800+.

 

[Midpack]

What they need is:
"ATTENTION - YOUR CELL PHONE WILL SOON STOP WORKING DUE TO CHANGES IN OUR SYSTEM. YOU NEED TO GET A NEW PHONE BEFORE THESE CHANGES OCCUR. YOUR AREA COULD BE AFFECTED AS SOON AS MM/DD/YYYY. SEE YOUR LOCAL DEALER, OR CALL THIS NUMBER TO GET A NEW PHONE. YOU NEED TO TAKE ACTION NOW - YOUR CELL PHONE WILL SOON STOP WORKING DUE TO CHANGES IN OUR SYSTEM.

Since we have no idea what Verizon did to communicate with customers, we have no idea what both sides of the story are. I would have thought there would have been something on 3G customers monthly statements and/or snail mail, do you know?

All carriers have been planning to phase out 3G for years. I’m sure some customers didn’t understand, might have been good to look into it for anyone who didn’t understand what that meant. The rest of your post seems to suggest just ignoring things you don’t understand and hoping for the best is a good idea? And when that ends badly it’s someone else’s fault?

It’s an unfortunate situation, and a good reason we should all proactively look out for our parents as they age. In this case there were at least two children (nearby) who were aware of the situation. And another reason to be proactive instead of waiting to act. YMMV

 

[Music Lover]

I would expect most seniors don’t know what 3G or cdma means, and there’s no reason why they should. Cell service is not a discretionary item, it’s a utility. Verizon is dropping support because it’s convenient to do so. They charge extra for mailed paper statements and motivate users to do everything electronically. This disadvantages people with low tech skills or know how.

It’s easy to point a finger and accuse after the fact, but imho it really is incumbent on the service provider, in this case Verizon, to ensure all users are aware and have reasonable options. Did Verizon engage any senior support organizations to help with this transition?

As for the “get a new cheap phone”, that’s easier said than done. It’s highly unlikely a new phone will have the functionality and interface as the one it replaces, and a senior with low tech skills may find the learning curve too steep. That was definitely the case with my mum.

This is one more item on a long list of things we must do to protect our parents, and one more thing to keep in mind as we age to avoid being a burden on our children.

I agree with what Michael said, it's imperative to keep yourself updated, and it's also important keep your parents at up to date as possible. While it would be nice if old technology stayed around that's not feasible in most cases. Yes, it's an inconvenience for older non-tech savvy people but everything changes, not just phones. Cars, fridges and stoves are just a few examples of touch screen technology.

3 or 4 months ago my parents lost their land line because the infrastructure was failing and the phone company was no longer interested in maintaining it. So I had to train my 80 and 84 year old parents how to use cell phones and they made the jump from a landline directly to smart phones.

It was a hassle at first, I went to their place almost daily for the first week or so because they forgot how to do something or pushed the wrong button. But now they love the phones, my mom even sends texts.

 

[ERD50]

Since we have no idea what Verizon did to communicate with customers, we have no idea what both sides of the story are. I would have thought there would have been something on 3G customers monthly statements and/or snail mail, do you know? ....

Agreed, we are only hearing one side of the story, we don't know.

I was just commenting based on the example you provided. IMO, the way that particular piece was written, it could very easily be overlooked as just some PR about their great new system. IMO, it just wasn't anywhere direct enough to catch the attention of someone who didn't read it more carefully.

Perhaps other communication was more direct, I hope so. Kind of hard for me to judge the notices I got in this light, since I do have text and email, and was more aware of the issue than a non-techie.

-ERD50

 

[ncbill]

I wouldn't be surprised if all Verizon did was to send text messages to mom's number.

If she did indeed use a cellular adapter it wasn't capable of receiving texts.