Upcoming 3G shutdown

[trostberg]

Mine still works but my 3G phone which is definitely on the list to go down is still working too.   May take awhile to roll it all out I am guessing.

[trostberg]

This report is from the mobileinternetinfo group

At this point we have not seen any reports of the Mobley not working after the 3G shutdown date. Additionally, we discovered that AT&T lists the Mobley as a "certified" IoT device in a different database which does suggest that the Mobley will continue to work without 3G. We will continue to monitor for any reports of issues with the Mobley and provide updates as we receive them.

[Jaydrvr]

Just now, trostberg said:

This report is from the mobileinternetinfo group

At this point we have not seen any reports of the Mobley not working after the 3G shutdown date. Additionally, we discovered that AT&T lists the Mobley as a "certified" IoT device in a different database which does suggest that the Mobley will continue to work without 3G. We will continue to monitor for any reports of issues with the Mobley and provide updates as we receive them.

Thank you for that report. Jay

[folivier]

My DW's phone is supposed to continue working according to ATT's list and Redpocket (our provider). However she can no longer make or receive calls. Text still works.  I tried her sim in my phone and same problem, my sim works ok in her phone so it appears to be a sim problem.  Waiting on Redpocket to respond.

[trostberg]

My not so smart phone today will no longer work for calls but I am able to connect to my Mobley and get emails and facebook etc.   I assume if I cancel this phone and transfer my minutes to my other phone I will not be able to turn my phone on to connect to Mobley.  Is that correct?   This is a tracfone.

[Jaydrvr]

8 hours ago, trostberg said:

My not so smart phone today will no longer work for calls but I am able to connect to my Mobley and get emails and facebook etc.   I assume if I cancel this phone and transfer my minutes to my other phone I will not be able to turn my phone on to connect to Mobley.  Is that correct?   This is a tracfone.

You should still be able to use the Wi-Fi connection on your phone without having a cellular connection. Jay

[Dutch_12078]

8 hours ago, trostberg said:

My not so smart phone today will no longer work for calls but I am able to connect to my Mobley and get emails and facebook etc.   I assume if I cancel this phone and transfer my minutes to my other phone I will not be able to turn my phone on to connect to Mobley.  Is that correct?   This is a tracfone.

As Jay said, you should still be able connect to WiFi. And if you install a free VOIP app like Google Voice and have a free Google Voice account and phone number, you can even still make phone calls with it.

[Lou Schneider]

14 hours ago, trostberg said:

My not so smart phone today will no longer work for calls but I am able to connect to my Mobley and get emails and facebook etc.   I assume if I cancel this phone and transfer my minutes to my other phone I will not be able to turn my phone on to connect to Mobley.  Is that correct?   This is a tracfone.

If you transfer the minutes to another phone you'll close that phone's account.  Connecting to wifi is just another way to access the provider.  You'll connect via wifi instead of 3G but it won't do any good if the phone no longer has an account there.

[Dutch_12078]

6 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

If you transfer the minutes to another phone you'll close that phone's account.  Connecting to wifi is just another way to access the provider.  You'll connect via wifi instead of 3G but it won't do any good if the phone no longer has an account there.

If he connects the phone to the Mobley or any other WiFi source, the phone will use the WiFi source carrier, not the phone's carrier. I've made VOIP calls a number of times using a WiFi connected inactive phone that doesn't even have a SIM in it.

[trostberg]

My disconnected smart tracfone is still working for email and facebook on Mobley eventhough I transferred to a new phone.   Transferred my minutes to a reconditioned flip phone they sent me for free.  I still have another flip phone I use for incoming calls that will be going later in the year with 3G shutdown.  I will merge minutes on those.

[RV_]

On 3/12/2022 at 6:01 PM, Dutch_12078 said:

If he connects the phone to the Mobley or any other WiFi source, the phone will use the WiFi source carrier, not the phone's carrier. I've made VOIP calls a number of times using a WiFi connected inactive phone that doesn't even have a SIM in it.

Dutch you're right but there are too many limitations for me however I do connect my old phones via WiFi and can get online. But making calls either requires both the caller and person called have the same apps on their phones. I Use to use Magic-Jack VoIP and connected it to my router and base unit for our home wireless phones before we fully committed to no landlines, and then used it until we decided our cell phones were all we need.

However we kept our old phones as they are Moto and Verizon originally so we can use them with our current SIM cards just swapping them out and no setup it just works. See we can leave them in our Faraday cage and still have our current phones usable. They have all our contacts and we try to keep all of our contacts complete with physical addresses and emails. I can leave one in there and all my apps and contacts are preserved regardless of if we get hit with an EMP.

We use Duo by Google for all video calls (they also have an Apple version) It is terrific picture and voice every time and your post prompted me to pull out my old Moto Z3 and see if I could call Lynn on Duo. I fired it up and it worked perfectly. I called Lynn on my old phone without a SIM card using just my WiFi in the house.

For folks with 3G phones if they do get turned off here is a good article on how to use VoIP without a SIM for calls, in addition to my suggestion of trying Google Duo for Android and iPhones.

But for RVrs not a good solution, you need Internet for VoIP calls.

https://techwelkin.com/use-phone-without-sim-card-service#:~:text=Yes%2C a smartphone can work without a SIM,number to create and authenticate the Google account.?msclkid=8be7b88ba96b11eca3b6946a4c4e0bb9

[Dutch_12078]

1 hour ago, RV_ said:

Dutch you're right but there are too many limitations for me however I do connect my old phones via WiFi and can get online. But making calls either requires both the caller and person called have the same apps on their phones. I Use to use Magic-Jack VoIP and connected it to my router and base unit for our home wireless phones before we fully committed to no landlines, and then used it until we decided our cell phones were all we need.

However we kept our old phones as they are Moto and Verizon originally so we can use them with our current SIM cards just swapping them out and no setup it just works. See we can leave them in our Faraday cage and still have our current phones usable. They have all our contacts and we try to keep all of our contacts complete with physical addresses and emails. I can leave one in there and all my apps and contacts are preserved regardless of if we get hit with an EMP.

We use Duo by Google for all video calls (they also have an Apple version) It is terrific picture and voice every time and your post prompted me to pull out my old Moto Z3 and see if I could call Lynn on Duo. I fired it up and it worked perfectly. I called Lynn on my old phone without a SIM card using just my WiFi in the house.

For folks with 3G phones if they do get turned off here is a good article on how to use VoIP without a SIM for calls, in addition to my suggestion of trying Google Duo for Android and iPhones.

But for RVrs not a good solution, you need Internet for VoIP calls.

https://techwelkin.com/use-phone-without-sim-card-service#:~:text=Yes%2C a smartphone can work without a SIM,number to create and authenticate the Google account.?msclkid=8be7b88ba96b11eca3b6946a4c4e0bb9

The Google Voice app can connect to pretty much any phone number in the world reachable by any standard phone. Countries outside of North America do require various fees though. I've called various landline phones many times using one or another VOIP apps including Google Voice. And we also have spare cell phones and tablets with stored information on them along with a couple of solar chargers protected by a small Faraday cage. In the event of a large scale EMP event or other major electrical disruption, the cell part will likely be useless, but the info could still be quite helpful.

As fulltime RV'ers, we've found using our VOIP services to be very useful at times. Our phones are on Verizon's network, but if we're in an area with little or no Verizon service and our AT&T hotspot works, we just connect the phones to the hotspot via WiFi and make our calls with the VOIP app. 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Dutch_12078
typo

[RV_]

Dutch, try Duo with a friend or family. It is pretty awesome quality and reliable video calling messaging etc. Android or Apple.

[docj]

4 hours ago, RV_ said:

Dutch, try Duo with a friend or family. It is pretty awesome quality and reliable video calling messaging etc. Android or Apple.

All my kids and grandkids have iPhones so we just use FaceTime.  My wife has an iPhone and it's easy for her with connect to on her own.

Edited March 23, 2022 by docj

[Dutch_12078]

8 hours ago, RV_ said:

Dutch, try Duo with a friend or family. It is pretty awesome quality and reliable video calling messaging etc. Android or Apple.

We have used Duo from time to time to video connect to our kids, grandkids, etc., but it's not as universally useful as our VOIP apps for calling friends, doctors, businesses, etc., when our phone cell service isn't reliable but our alternate hotspot service is.

[RV_]

Dutch you know then. Lots of folks give me a deer in the headlights look when I ask if they tried it, especially the iPhone folks.

No it isn't for daily calls and I agree having used MagicJack VoiP for year at home in lieu of a landline that cost for local long distance back in 2003-2015. And I was local wherever I was in the world to my chosen area code. If I connected in Germany I was viewed as still in the 318 US area code. But MJ needed hardware, today it isn't needed.

 

[RV_]

21 hours ago, docj said:

All my kids and grandkids have iPhones so we just use FaceTime.  My wife has an iPhone and it's easy for her with connect to on her own.

Joel, as I said except Apple only folks, be3cause of FaceTime they usually don't know about it. We would use it too if we were all Apple fans.

All my kids and grand-kids have Android phones so Duo is our Video call of choice. Terrific quality.

Is there a FaceTime for Android app? There is a Duo for iPhones.

We tried a lot of apps and only Duo was easy enough for Lynn. But it is Google. Apple is more secure against selling your info AFAIK because like Amazon they want to sell things to you not just your info to others to sell you things. Google really only sells our info.

Edited March 24, 2022 by RV_

[Dutch_12078]

4 hours ago, RV_ said:

...

We tried a lot of apps and only Duo was easy enough for Lynn. But it is Google. Apple is more secure against selling your info AFAIK because like Amazon they want to sell things to you not just your info to others to sell you things. Google really only sells our info.

I wish people would do some basic research and find out for themselves that Google does NOT sell our data. Doing so would be completely the opposite of their business model. What Google sells is "eyeballs". If you want your product advertised to a million people in a specific geographic area with certain income and other parameters, Google will do that for you for a price. What they won't do, is tell you who those people are or any other personal details, since that would be self defeating for repeat business. In some sense, your info at Google is actually more restricted than it was years ago when brokers rented/sold mailing lists containing your name, address, and sometimes your phone number. And they rented/sold those lists based on the same geographical, income, and other parameters that Google uses.

[docj]

19 hours ago, RV_ said:

Joel, as I said except Apple only folks, be3cause of FaceTime they usually don't know about it. We would use it too if we were all Apple fans.

All my kids and grand-kids have Android phones so Duo is our Video call of choice. Terrific quality.

My wife, my kids and my grandkids all have gone over "to the dark side" and I'm alone holding aloft a waning torch for Android! But my Pixel 6 Pro was just approved for Verizon C-Band service so I may have the last laugh (if I ever find a C-band tower!)  😁

[durangodon]

1 hour ago, docj said:

My wife, my kids and my grandkids all have gone over "to the dark side" and I'm alone holding aloft a waning torch for Android! But my Pixel 6 Pro was just approved for Verizon C-Band service so I may have the last laugh (if I ever find a C-band tower!)  😁

I was a diehard Android fan for many years.  Mostly used affordable Moto phones which always did everything I wanted them to do.  I was using a Moto G5 and decided to buy a new phone.  All the Android phones I looked at were huge, even Moto.  I use a phone for a phone, not a tablet or computer.  I make calls and send texts and sometimes check the weather, don't need no phablet.

Anyway, I bought the iPhone SE 2nd Gen, which is small but capable.  It has the same processor as the iPhone 11, so is super quick and I even use it for photos occasionally.  It seems Apple is the only one which cares to build smaller phones now.  They now have the SE 3rd Gen, which just came out with iPhone 13 processor.  You can get it at Walmart on ATT or Verizon for $250.  The iPhone 13 is just a tiny bit larger, and the iPhone 13 Mini is smaller than both with a larger screen than the SE.

It took a couple of weeks to learn the iPhone, and it's not as versatile as the Androids, but I really like it.  And, as Apples fans always say, "it just works".

[Dutch_12078]

Did you know you can even buy Android flip phones from companies like Motorola, Samsung, Alcatel, etc., if you want small? Some use a folding screen, while others have the more traditional separate screen and keyboard.

https://www.maketecheasier.com/best-android-flip-phones/

[durangodon]

58 minutes ago, Dutch_12078 said:

Did you know you can even buy Android flip phones from companies like Motorola, Samsung, Alcatel, etc., if you want small? Some use a folding screen, while others have the more traditional separate screen and keyboard.

https://www.maketecheasier.com/best-android-flip-phones/

I'm somewhat familiar with them.  They are all larger than my iPhone when opened to use.  the Samsung and Moto running Android are both much more expensive also.