Cell Phones

Will many cell phones stop working at year end?

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  • Aug 5th, 2020 11:58 am
Member
Feb 23, 2015
376 posts
21 upvotes
Mississauga, ON

Will many cell phones stop working at year end?

Service providers have been shutting down 3G and earlier systems to re-purpose that spectrum for 4G.
While most people have phones with 4G(LTE,HSPA+, what else??) some may only have 3G phones (GSM,CDMA, and ??)
Phone company may warn subscribers with 3G only devices of the coming end but there are accessories to phones which may stop being of use all of a sudden -, like signal boosters, various data only transceivers (IoT)
I see all kinds of gadgets being sold online that only operate on 3G, maybe those will work in some countries, but not here.

Maybe I am wrong, thats why we don't hear any warnings on the media.
Or am I correct? If so which acronyms should we avoid?

I
7 replies
Sr. Member
User avatar
Jun 2, 2010
703 posts
401 upvotes
Toronto
BizDeveloper wrote: Maybe I am wrong, thats why we don't hear any warnings on the media.
Or am I correct? If so which acronyms should we avoid?

I
You are four and a half years too early. Remember, Rogers is finally decommissioning its 2G network at the end of this year.

More info here: Anticipated Cellular Carriers 2G/3G Sunset Dates
Now: TELUS Unlimited 120GB 5G+ (up to 2Gbps) x 2 = 240 GB shared data
Old: Rogers Infinite Premium 5G+ (up to 1Gbps) Canada+US 100 GB x 2 + 15 GB bonus = 215 GB shared
Deal Expert
User avatar
Jun 27, 2004
15215 posts
4405 upvotes
Vancouver.bc.ca
Thanks, good to know. I have an old Euro phone (2011), and the 4G where I am sucks, so I have it set to 3G-only. Thought Rogers was going to cancel it soon, so I'm glad you clarified that it's 2GB going bye-bye.
Deal Addict
Jan 13, 2014
2989 posts
2030 upvotes
Calgary
Yeah. Given that the cell providers still tend to be picky about non-carrier sold phones having access to VoLTE, shutting down 3G HSPA networks right now would be a big mistake! I also wouldn’t be surprised if the amount of 3G vs VoLTE calls going out on the networks still favors 3G at this time with the number of older handsets still in use that likely don’t even support VoLTE.
Deal Addict
Sep 13, 2011
1894 posts
1584 upvotes
Québec
BizDeveloper wrote: Service providers have been shutting down 3G and earlier systems to re-purpose that spectrum for 4G.
While most people have phones with 4G(LTE,HSPA+, what else??) some may only have 3G phones (GSM,CDMA, and ??)
Phone company may warn subscribers with 3G only devices of the coming end but there are accessories to phones which may stop being of use all of a sudden -, like signal boosters, various data only transceivers (IoT)
I see all kinds of gadgets being sold online that only operate on 3G, maybe those will work in some countries, but not here.

Maybe I am wrong, thats why we don't hear any warnings on the media.
Or am I correct? If so which acronyms should we avoid?

I
CDMA is 2G, you are mixing 2G and 3G.
Deal Addict
User avatar
Aug 15, 2006
4042 posts
1202 upvotes
Kingston
Providers can only shut down 3G service if the tower has 4G or else a lot of their customers will not have service. Sure in major cities and towns, they have 4G, but what about remote areas that don't? They can't shut it down until they add 4G.

If they consistently give 4G service then that is fine, but it's just not realistic in some areas.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 11, 2008
8976 posts
2827 upvotes
kcorscadden wrote: Providers can only shut down 3G service if the tower has 4G or else a lot of their customers will not have service. Sure in major cities and towns, they have 4G, but what about remote areas that don't? They can't shut it down until they add 4G.

If they consistently give 4G service then that is fine, but it's just not realistic in some areas.
Not even that, a lot of people use phones not from their provider which exclusively use 3g for the telephone portion. VoLTE is still not mainstream enough to discontinue 3G servuce
Member
Feb 23, 2015
376 posts
21 upvotes
Mississauga, ON
Travellers to the USA will have to be more careful with old phones, Verizon already off of 3G? Maybe there are extensions.

https://techblog.comsoc.org/
AT&T to shut down 3G network in 2022; Verizon at end of 2019

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