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Verizon Confirms That It Will No Longer Activate 3G Phones (droid-life.com)
According to Droid Life, Verizon is no longer activating 3G-only phones. Instead, they will only accept 4G LTE-equipped phones going forward. Here's what Verizon had to say about the matter: "For several years we've been been publicly saying that our 3G CDMA network will remain available through the end of 2019. Virtually all traffic on our network is on our 4G LTE network. To facilitate a smooth transition to 4G LTE capable products and services, we are no longer allowing devices that are not 4G LTE capable to be activated on our network." From the report: Now, as is noted in the statement above, Verizon has committed to shutting down its 3G CDMA network by the end of 2019. They also stopped selling 3G devices some time ago, I believe, and even started selling LTE-only flip phones to replace them. [...] On a related note, an earlier leak suggested that Verizon may stop some older LTE devices from being activated too. The documentation there said that CDMA devices as well as devices that do not support HD Voice or VoLTE will not be accepted.
I use 2G and 3G systems for my data logging projects. They are much cheaper. Eventually I am afraid I will need to use a full 4G LTE system (at least in the US).
How much of Verizon's spectrum is currently allocated to 3G? How much will this move free up for its 4G and future 5G networks?
Funny! I have several persons in my circle of friends and acquaintances who still use 2G phones and don't want anything else. And why should they? Why should someone need to use the internet at all with their mobile phone? But then again telcos won't try to switch them off anytime soon in the country where I live, I guess.
Bullshit.
I was in a very touristy area of New Hampshire last week and got access to nothing BUT 3G.
Welcome to New Hampshire...
You'll only get decent coverage near Manchester, Concord, Hampton (seacoast area, but not Rye or North Hampton) and Portsmouth / Dover areas...
I don't think that by the end of 2019 the places that I go where my phone switches to CDMA are going to have LTE support. Sure it works in the cities. But driving from city to city all I can get is EVDO, sometimes 1xRTT. I doubt that Verizon will have all of those cell sites converted to LTE by the end of 2019.
Does this mean a reduction in coverage? The only reason to go with Verizon is that it works everywhere. When I'm driving in the boonies and still need to take a work call -- that's why I pay through the nose for Verizon. And deal with having to find a CDMA capable phone (which is a serious limitation).
Most operators around the world, specially in developed countries, are planning to shutdown 2G and 3G services. The sunsetting is expected in most of the world between 2020 and 2025
Some operators on the loosing side of 3G (CDMA2000-EVDO and TD-SCDMA) are shooting down 3G first, and then 2G. Other operators are shooting down 2G first, keeping 3G to support Voice, in order not to pay for VoLTE Licenses. Yet others plan to keep 2G in a restricted mode for M2M Communications (think smart meters, IoT, etc.).
This is actually a Good thing. We had 3 standards for 2G (GSM, IS-54/136 a.k.a. TDMA and IS-135 a.k.a. CDMA2000), then we had 3 3G standards (CDMA2000-EVDO, WCDMA and TD-SCDMA). Then we had two (or three, depending on how you count) standards for 4G (802.16m a.k.a. WiMax, FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE ).
You can imagine how crowded a radio shelter is nowadays. How much electricity it consumes, how much heat it generates, and how costly the O&M contracts and logistics of all that gear is...
And how crowded the spectrum is as well since the spectrum tends to be very expensive.
With (hopefully) only one 5G standard, and sunseting of all 2G and 3G networks, more harmonization worldwide is possible, which leads to simpler radio modems (the end Game is TDD-LTE + 5G), and cheaper equipment. Also, spectrum that is currently used for 2G and 3G can be refarmend for 4G and 5G, leading to better service.
this should be seen as a welcome development.
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
Cell phones work in New Hampshire? Who knew?
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
I am in the UK, and I still get 2G connections on my 4G phone in some areas. The first network here to dump 2G is going to lose a lot of subscribers because their phones will find large areas of "no signal". Also, a lot of phones switch to 2G only when the battery is low cos it uses less power. (They go back to 4G when a call is initiated).
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
I suppose I can now box my 3G phone hoard of "backup" phones for electronics recycling. I wonder how this will affect MVNOs, and the many 3G phones activated on those that sell service on Verizon's network? I have one on PagePlus for the few times I don't think I'll have usable T-Mobile access.
"All our traffic is 4G, because those poor 3G plebs can't get any bandwidth from the one tower per 400 sq miles we've deigned to provide them with"
"this should be seen as a welcome development."
Why should it? I still use a 2G feature phone since it does everything I need, i can operate it without looking at the screen and while wearing gloves and the battery lasts over a week on standby. What is so welcome about me having to spend money on a phone with 4G when I don't need the functionality?
when you pry it from my cold dead hand!
Rick B.
Bury the dead with phones, like that, when 2G/3G dies, the dead will be able to enjoy it in the afterlife.
"Well, in Vermont they don't work at all "
Not so. There are several places in Vermont where if you stand in the right spot and hold your phone just so, you can sometimes get one or even two bars on your cell phone.
Seriously, cell phone coverage in Vermont used to be pretty bad to nonexistent. But for the past decade or so, it's been much improved. Heck, in some places you can even get a signal indoors these days.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
911 calls can use any available network (hence the "emergency service only" which us t-mobile users see when we go anywhere off the highway), so they should work in areas covered by other service providers.
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"For several years we've been been publicly saying that our 3G CDMA network will remain available through the end of 2019..."
No, that's not what they said. Verizon verbally confirmed the 3G network will be available through the end of 2019. They never stated it was not going to be available after that, they simply did not commit to keeping it up. They are leaving themselves the option of shutting it down then. Nothing has been said about it being taken offline.
1G devices still work
Where? A quick search of the internet tells me that the last 1G system was shutdown sometime around 2010.
Oh, I get it, you said the devices still work. That's like saying your old tube TV set still works. With my old TV set I can at least use that for some retro gaming with my 8-bit Nintendo and its light gun. What are you going to do with that 1G phone? My nephew has a 1G phone, he's in diapers and likes to pretend he's making phone calls like his mom and dad.
I'm sure someone will read this and just can't wait to pounce and point out that 2G phones can still make calls. Well, you'd better get a new phone for Christmas because a good chunk of the 2G network will be going dark in 2019 and all of it will go dark in 2020.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
The problem with 4G in portsmouth is that Nyarlathotep is interfering with 4G signals so that people can not post acurate photos of him before they succumb to maddness, and their phones are destroyed.
*** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
In other words, "4G LTE" is really 4G Lite. I don't know when the "i" got dropped.
I'm not disagreeing, but trying to point this out as a service to other readers:
From the Cellular network standards navbox at Wikipedia
E: Europe / the world;
A: Americas, including the U.S.
2G:
E: GSM
A: cdmaOne (IS-95), D-AMPS (IS-54 and IS-136)
2G transitional (2.5G, 2.75G):
E: GPRS, EDGE/EGPRS, Evolved EDGE (little-used / not implemented)
A: CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 1X Advanced
3G:
E: UMTS;
A: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Release 0 (TIA/IS-856) (May have also been adopted in Europe, but I'll assume not in favour of plain HSPA.)
3G transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G):
E: HSPA (HSDPA, HSUPA), HSPA+, LTE (plain; E-UTRA) (partial adoption in the U.S., and not on all networks)
A: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A, EV-DO Revision B
Other: Mobile WiMAX (802.16e), iBurst (802.20), WiBro (South Korea)
4G:
E: LTE Advanced (E-UTRA), LTE Advanced Pro
A: At this point, the Americas and the United States seem to have moved to harmonise their standards with the rest of the world. I think.
Time for a newer smartphone by the end of 2019 since this iPhone 4S goes up to 3G (can do 1X too). :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
911 will probably work, until the end of 2019. Much like how 911 doesn't work right now on an AMPS (analog) phone, unless it also supports a newer network (CDMA/1x/EVDO / GSM bands on world phones)
The phone could only make calls on technologies / bands it supports. While the phone will (hopefully) roam onto non-preferred network to make a 911 call, "emergency calls only" shows up when I'm outside of all coverage from all networks. A CDMA/1x/EVDO phone won't be able to roam and make a 911 call if there's only coverage from HSPA/LTE networks.
"3G GSM" or "3GSM" is actually UMTS/HSPA. It's still active on AT&T, T-Mobile, CellularOne of New Mexico, etc.