Carriers are Killing 4G & 3G Devices – Your 4G Phone May Soon Stop Working

27 thoughts on “Carriers are Killing 4G & 3G Devices – Your 4G Phone May Soon Stop Working”

• James' full write up and guide for checking VoLTE compatibility: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QaVDYnZCdI2jKk0-DEZmlKTP33rt1vARd5cKKDA1ObI/edit?usp=sharing

• Personally, I think it’s fine to be shutting off the 3G voice network – it needs to happen sooner or later to free up the frequencies for newer networking technologies.

  What I’ve found surprising is the lack of notification from the carriers themselves.
  I’ve just replaced our business phone due to the 3G shutdown – an iPhone 5s on the Vodafone network. Obviously this is a 4G device, but no VoLTE support so come December 15th, it would no longer be able to make or receive calls (kinda required for our business).
  Despite only replacing the 5s with an SE in the past few weeks, we had no notification from Vodafone that our service would be impacted. Surely they could see the model of phone via the IMEI and send an SMS to impacted customers?

  This was not an issue for me – I knew the network was being shut off and had previously looked up the dates, so I knew when I had to replace the business phone by. But non tech-savvy customers (who are more likely to be impacted, both mine and my partners past 4 personal phones have all supported VoLTE) are unlikely to know until it’s too late, resulting in a mad rush to upgrade when they could have had over a year to plan, had the carriers been sending SMS notifications and reminders

• We already got rid of 3g phones here in The U.S. but I was not aware of the underlying network still being used.

• Phasing out 3G and 2G was somewhat acceptable(for decongesting crowded urban networks) hadn't they botched the VOLTE/VONR/VOWIFI provisioning process with the whole whitelisting and the carrier triggered setup process.

• In india, almost 80-90% people stilk use a keypad phone. Either secondary or even primarily. Thats why except for Jio, no other brand offers LTE network. Something that cannot work without VoLTE device……. 4G can work on 5G, 4G, VoLTE/Non-VoLTE, 4G, 2G, keypad etc.

• Idk if this would happen in the Philippines, and if it will, then people would be angry..

• In the USA at least, they are seriously contemplating shutting on A.M. radio broadcasts in favor of digital radio only on those frequencies.

• Are you talking about LTE or UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA/(+)?

• The issue with my phone is that it SHOULD do VoLTE, but because it's originally a Verizon model, they completely disabled it, with no way to flash an unlocked ROM onto it either.

• Well. Living in developing countries is paying off now. Mexico has GSM, 3G and LTE. 5G is a mythological animal at most, even when large and well developed cities have some access.

• We in Belgium have 2G 3G 4G and 5G

• Hope Telefónica doesn't start doing this

• In Greece, if you have Nova, you only get 3G and 2G 🤣so I dont think they wont shut it down here

• They just show you that You purchased 4G network is their proprietary, not yours.

• In Indonesia 3G service had been disable

• Cell phones will never replace amateur radio.

• My lost p20 lite could handle volte, I miss that phone 🙁

• Notices started in the US over 2 years ago

• wtf.
  5G is unreliable and has a very small coverage. 4G should remain as a fallback for when 5G isn't available.
  i personally would also keep 3G just in case but that's kind of understandable at least

• it’s also going to affect rural coverage. When i go on road trips and to rural places 3G is the most reliable network. 4G can just be super spotty in a lot of places. some people that live in remote areas rely on 3G so you’re telling me all these areas are going to be left with no coverage? also i’m on Telstra btw

• U S Lobbyist lied World Bans WIFI

• I just discovered this issue by chance even though i am a tech in electronics that worked repairing mobile phones in the 90´s, my phone is 7.5 years so its very old and im only still using it since there is nothing wrong with it apart from that the battery capacity isnt what it originally was but still acceptable and that my funds are limited at the moment. The telephone doesnt support VoLTE but my operator here in Sweden is apparently keeping the whole 2G network up until the end of 2025 with the 3G being shut down bit by bit before that so i guess that i will be fine for a few months more as im planning to exchange the phone anyway as soon as possible because it is also losing app support, but its nothing critical so far at least.

• In March of 2018 my mom bought the Motorola Moto G5 Plus for AT&T in the US. It used 3G only for calls as Hugh mentioned. I think it was February of 2021 when AT&T started murdering their 3G network. We were staying at her parents house while she had in another a distance 40 minutes away town doing different things. She never called at any point but I could track her phone with a third party app.

  When she returned she said she wasn’t able to make or receive calls. On our 1.5 hour long drive back home I tried to make calls from her phone and failed. Later that night is when I remembered her phone used 3G to make and receive calls. When I told her she would have to get a different phone, she almost burst into flames from anger. That’s a summary the best I can remember it.

  A warning 3 months in advance would have been very nice of AT&T.

• I have a Samsung Galaxy s23 ultra in 4 years I'll have whatever the newest Samsung is I just buy a new phone when it stops getting software updates or tablets or anything really AT&t shut down their 3G and 2022 to be honest I didn't even know about it because I buy a new phone every 4 years

• Here in the us where its been off for almost a year on verizon they have allowed volte on any supporting phone to my knowledge not all 4g lte phones support it physically like early 4g iphones think 5 and 5s which support data not calling. But any device in the past few years work as long as it supports verizons exclusive B13 they are the only network on it and its ltes rural backbone.

• I get shutting down 3g can’t even remember last time I had the 3g bar but shutting down 4g that’s most of what is used for me

• In Malaysia, 3G ended long ago by Dec 2021.

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