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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.
Bullshit.
I was in a very touristy area of New Hampshire last week and got access to nothing BUT 3G.
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).
As you specified "at least in the US" you're probably living in a country that chose GSM from the very begining. Verizon does not have a "3G" GSM network such as HSPA, they went with CDMA which was a slower, more dead end technology. They're one of the last networks to get rid of it.
If you want to use 3G GSM devices in the US, you need to go with AT&T as they're the only company that implemented an internationally compatible version of 3G GSM.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Telegraphs and telephones largely do different things. Roughly, telephony is voice. Telegraphy is text. The two existed in parallel for about a century. What killed telegraphy wasn't telephony. It was satellite communications,the Internet, and the widespread availability of PCs and modems that allowed cheap, reliable, digital communications via the telephone voice network.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey
This will hit old people with flip phones the hardest. My dad uses one of these, he has one particular model he likes, and it naturally is not a 4g phone. He doesn't need a smart phone, given his tendency to leave it unplugged for days and the fact that he is so computer illiterate that he has trouble with digital gas pumps (he's bought a few car washes that he didn't want trying to get it to print a receipt). And I have an elderly friend who has an earlier version of the same phone, probably over 10 years old and still going. But I guess they aren't profitable enough to care about, compared to those on the smartphone upgrade treadmill.