Carriers are Killing 4G & 3G Devices - Your 4G Phone May Soon Stop Working
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- Опубліковано 24 лис 2023
- A significant amount of 4G phones rely on 3G networks to make calls. The shutdown of 3G networks around the world is set to disconnect those with 4G devices.
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James' write up and guide for checking VoLTE compatibility: docs.google.com/document/d/1Q...
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James' full write up and guide for checking VoLTE compatibility:
3G is long gone in Germany, but there is no way to shut down 4g. 5g is spotty at best. I only have 5g nsa, so 4g is mandatory. Ironically, 2g can not be shut down, because that is the signal that emergency services and stuff like that uses here.
Another note is a lot of "4G" phones are not true 4G in the real sense. It's more like 3.5G. Which is why a lot of "4G" phones basically stopped functioning well or at all when the 3G network was shut down in the US.
When my local carrier phased out 3G the coverage near both my house and office got so atrocious I practically could not talk at all. They shrug me off saying "95% coverage means the country not neccessairly where
Hugh is right on, the amount of e-waste would be phenomenal. So many people's livelihood depends on cheap, or hand me down phones. It's atrocious the number of used phones that are discarded because they are locked. Just amongst my close friends there are stacks of phones that could be repurposed.
This need to be shared, I hope Linus , Louis Rossman and others pick it up if people makes a fuss on twitter
I figured this was just a US thing (because of course) but I never realized this was happening worldwide. I hate how corporations can just do this without any consequences
I am equally upset by calls to phase out AM band radio or analogue radio/tv. These venerable technologies still serve a useful purpose, especially for rural residents, and the push to digitize everything at high frequency bands seems to be an urbanist obsession to save a few pennies. Manufacturers also support the idea because it means more consumption (and more waste). Zygmunt Bauman was right.
They should leave 2G/GSM on as a fallback as it's the most widely supported standard.
So, 3G was disabled for Verizon customers in the US. They sent me a free 4G VoLTE phone to replace my mother's 3G phone. So it looks like the carriers need to help you all out.
Force companies to upgrade customer phones with no cost
I had no idea this was happening. My carrier (O2) in the UK claim to be shutting down the 3G network in 2025. My phone frequently drops to 3G in the rural area I live, as the 4G signal isn't strong enough.
This is going to be genuinely horrific.
I was working for Telstra as a senior case manager in their complaints department when Telstra began shutting down the old 2G network 8 years ago. Even in 2016, shutting down the old 1990's-era 2G network caused absolute chaos for many people living outside of major metropolitan areas. Entire towns around Australia went to bed one night with four bars of reception and woke up the next morning with a circle with a strike through it as their reception icon on their phone screen, and they couldn't even make emergency calls, as those small rural towns had never been considered worthwhile even for a 3G connection, so many of the phones were only ever accessing the old 2G network from a tower many kilometres from the town... If Telstra thinks that switching off 3G won't surely be any worse than switching off 2G, then they have an absolute fucking nightmare situation coming their way... I mean, holy fuckamoly, I live in downtown Melbourne and I still find my phone having to step back to 3G quite often throughout the day when I'm not in line of sight of a 4G/LTE tower...
Without 2G GSM (soon) and 3G HSPA service on T-Mobile US, I can no longer use my vintage phones and non-approved 4G LTE phones. So saddened this is happening.
I normally don’t comment, but I work retail for a cell company, and the amount of people that have completely lost coverage because of the 3G towers being disabled is really concerning. I’m in a rural area, and I’d say about 2 or 3 customer a day are leaving (over 2 months since the towers were turned off) and even through other providers they have no coverage anymore. I understand 4G and 5G are ‘faster’ but we really rely on the distance that 3G covers
That VoLTE being whitelist-only feature is worst part, it's like DRM for phone carriers.
3G shutdown has been awful in the US. I have heard some carriers was sending out free devices that worked on LTE. Still it’s BS that people have to make this change. I can take you to plenty of places around me that had coverage when 3G was available and now has SOS only in those areas or even no service! I wouldn’t have shut it down to at least 2027 when LTE would blanket areas so no one was left in the dark.
4G and 4G+ are LTE and LTE+. Many carriers choose different logos to flash into firmware for these networking icons, but they all mean the same thing. In fact, flashing firmware can change the logo. Your phone almost certainly supports VoLTE. I have phones from 2015 that can use VoLTE. I have successfully made and received calls from a galaxy S7 in 2023 after the shutdown in the US.
This will impact a lot of fire alarm systems. The one at my workplace had connection trouble last year when 3g was disabled by at&t and all the electricians were swamped with fire alarm support calls and work orders all at once. Most fire alarms are set to auto call via cell service to a firehouse in case of a fire.