AT&T To Drop 3G Wireless in 2022

VidThreeNorth · Feb 18, 2022

Last year I bought a Sony Xperia 10 iii mainly to avoid worrying about dropping previous technology support. It seems to be happening sooner than I thought:

"3G shutdown could have big impact, especially among most vulnerable",
posted Feb 17, 2022 by "CNBC Television", [Length 2:52]
""

This surprises me. I have not been keeping track of phone technology over the past few years. What little I heard about this made me think that 3G phones would be supported for a long time. From what I heard, 3G, 4G and 5G were designed to be layer-able. That is to say, you could add each new generation on top of previous generations. But AT&T is actually going to stop allowing 3G devices from being used on their networks. Maybe I misunderstood this from the beginning, but I am surprised at how this is turning out.

Rickbb · Feb 18, 2022

All cell phone carriers, not just AT&T are dropping 3G. They have not allowed any 3G devices to be activated on their networks for a year or so to prepare for this.

Plan Ahead for Phase Out of 3G Cellular Networks and Service

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www.fcc.gov

VidThreeNorth · Feb 19, 2022

I have not heard anyone say that the companies cannot continue to support 3G. All I have heard so far is that they will not support 3G. So far, it seems to be an unnecessary choice to force people to stop using 3G devices (and buy new products). It is not going to be a big problem for me. I have at least one LTE based 4G phone and, as mentioned above, my new Sony Xperia 10 iii 5G phone anyway, which I specifically bought to prepare for all this. I knew it was going to happen. I am just surprised at how pushy they are going about it. As far as I know, 5G is already in use. So that seems to imply that 3G + 4G + 5G layered service is possible, isn't it? So the question becomes whether 5G is going to actually need the spectrum space where it is operating so badly that they have to push out the remaining 3G (and older 4G). But 5G is being allocated new spectrum space, and is supposed to be more efficient. And 3G is already going away by attrition. It would be interesting to see proof that ending 3G support is actually necessary. On the other hand, I mentioned attrition, so maybe there really is not much 3G left to replace.

Let me be clear that I do not have any doubt that AT&T has been in touch with their customers long ago, warning people this was coming. It does not seem to be the kind of company that is particularly bad in its operations compared to other companies. I guess I am saying that this is probably getting an unnecessary push so that they get to put it in their annual shareholders' report.

Rickbb · Feb 20, 2022

They need the bandwidth. Verizon is already done with 3g and advertising an advanced 5g UW for ultra wide, for an extra fee of course.

RacePhoto · Mar 8, 2022

They warned my Sister in law last Fall. She's quite attached to her old flip phone. "Don't text me I won't respond, Phones are for talking."

Wouldn't you know, some companies have introduced new flip phones for people who like the design. She got a nice new one. This also solves the problem of replacing batteries in old phones as they get harder to find and more expensive.

AT&T announced that it will finish shutting down its 3G network by February 2022.

Verizon announced that will finish shutting down its 3G network by December 31, 2022.

T-Mobile announced that it will finish shutting down Sprint's 3G CDMA network by March 31, 2022 and Sprint's 4G LTE network by June 30, 2022.

Many of the others are simple resellers of these same networks.

VidThreeNorth · Mar 15, 2022

RacePhoto said:
. . .
T-Mobile announced that it will finish shutting down Sprint's 3G CDMA network by March 31, 2022 and Sprint's 4G LTE network by June 30, 2022.
. . .

Well, this is the first I've heard of 4G LTE going away this soon. I expected 4G pre-LTE to go away with 3G since it was a small "upgrade".

Anyway, here is a bit more news. It seems that the 5G roll-out is also hitting an unforeseen snag:

"Gravitas: Why pilots flying to America are afraid of 5G?",
posted Jan 20, 2022 by "WION" [ Length 6:53]
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[Added 2022-03-18 19:34]
I wanted to point out that "WION" is a news source that I have not seen much of before. I do not yet consider it a "trusted news source". If you have a second source for the same story, or any further coverage, I'd appreciate seeing a link.

RacePhoto · Mar 19, 2022

Yeah I read all kinds of stories. As I'm not an aeronautical computer designer, I can't say if this is some kind of knee jerk or if someone forgot when they started the whole thing, that this was going to be an issue. I mean, wait until they are ready to turn on 5G and then suddenly, a crisis alert?

I don't fly much anymore but remember to turn off all your hand held devices. So Gameboy, phone, computer, hey what about that guy taking photos out the port window? Would a flip phone really bring down a plane back then?

Here's something funny to consider. No 5G around airports. Welcome travelers, your phone will not function here, so you can't call friend or family to say Hello/Goodbye. Will they bring back those banks of credit card phones? :biggrin-new:

VidThreeNorth · Mar 27, 2022

If I understand what was said, it should not be a matter of "no 5G" but rather, at worst, not having the new frequency bands working near airports. 5G also uses the older bands that were/are used by 3G and 4G. Those will still work. Also, it sounded like the aircraft signals were probably supposed to be re-located to new bands. That was not said in the report but I thought that this was implied.