3G being killed

[agesilaus]

ATT is killing 3G soon and Verizon by the end of the year. This affects more than old cell phones, Pre2016 GM vehicles with Onstar and those personal emergency devices use 3G.

article

[lappir]

What is a person to do? Will there be a fix or is it 1999 again when it's all worry and then nothing happened???

Rod

[Dutch_12078]

3G cell service is a 20 year old technology. Some 3G devices and even 4G devices that use 3G to validate their service will require replacement with newer devices. Other embedded devices like older OnStar systems will cease to function with no direct upgrades available. You can file complaints with your carrier, but they will likely be at the end of a very long line. All 4G and up devices that support VoLTE ("HD Voice") will continue to function normally except for not dropping down to 3G in poor/no 4G areas if any still exist.

[FlyFishn]

Not sure how much weight there is to that idea - stopping 3G. There are too many devices that rely on it. I think LTE/broadband sits between 3G and 5G, if I have my terminology right (I have Sprint and can force between LTE and CDMA - CDMA being equivalent to 3G, and my phone is not 5G capable).

Without going on a tangent too far that may have unwanted ruffled feathers - there are some nefarious purposes intermingled with 5G that I believe will be shut down. There will be a "push" for 5G from a certain segment of industry/technology - and it isn't all for good reasons. As to when - either 5G getting shut down, or there being a significant gear shift away from nefarious purposes - no idea on a timeline. And for the same reason - I can see there being an extension to the lifespan of 3G technology if there are blocks to what we see advertised as "5G" today.

[Dutch_12078]

2 hours ago, FlyFishn said:

Not sure how much weight there is to that idea - stopping 3G. There are too many devices that rely on it. I think LTE/broadband sits between 3G and 5G, if I have my terminology right (I have Sprint and can force between LTE and CDMA - CDMA being equivalent to 3G, and my phone is not 5G capable).

Without going on a tangent too far that may have unwanted ruffled feathers - there are some nefarious purposes intermingled with 5G that I believe will be shut down. There will be a "push" for 5G from a certain segment of industry/technology - and it isn't all for good reasons. As to when - either 5G getting shut down, or there being a significant gear shift away from nefarious purposes - no idea on a timeline. And for the same reason - I can see there being an extension to the lifespan of 3G technology if there are blocks to what we see advertised as "5G" today.

If your phone is 4G/LTE capable, most likely your ok when 3G shuts down. 5G is not needed for it to keep working. CDMA goes away with 3G since it will no longer serve any purpose. 5G will not be "shutting down" any time soon and will most certainly continue to expand. I don't know what "nefarious purposes" you're thinking of, but 5G is fundamentally nothing but a wide spread group of various radio signals like many others. We'll have to wait another couple of weeks to see how serious AT&T is about shutting 3G down, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on any significant extensions.

[docj]

3 hours ago, FlyFishn said:

Without going on a tangent too far that may have unwanted ruffled feathers - there are some nefarious purposes intermingled with 5G that I believe will be shut down.

The "5G conspiracy theory" machine has been going full tilt for several years.  Here's an article that examines and disposes of several of the leading 5G conspiracy theories:  

[Chalkie]

1 hour ago, docj said:

The "5G conspiracy theory" machine has been going full tilt for several years.  Here's an article that examines and disposes of several of the leading 5G conspiracy theories:  

You forgot to add your link. 😉

[Kirk W]

5G Conspiracy Theorists Are Embracing New Wireless Technology Called 5G  PC Magazine

SOMETHING IN THE AIR    The Atlantic

5 New Conspiracy Theories That Science Proved Wrong    News Week

[Dutch_12078]

I think my favorite bogus 5G claim was on another forum when a fellow said that 5G was dangerous because it uses "all new frequencies that never existed before"...

[D&J]

We just made the switch to 5G on our Verizon cell phones and won't be looking back any time soon. Would really like to see how good it is in a area that had the Ultra Wide band but for now it's way better than the 4G LTE here in Yuma.

Denny

[docj]

36 minutes ago, Kirk W said:

5G Conspiracy Theorists Are Embracing New Wireless Technology Called 5G  PC Magazine

SOMETHING IN THE AIR    The Atlantic

5 New Conspiracy Theories That Science Proved Wrong    News Week

Thanks to Kirk for posting the article I forgot to provide a link to.

[GlennWest]

20 minutes ago, D&J said:

We just made the switch to 5G on our Verizon cell phones and won't be looking back any time soon. Would really like to see how good it is in a area that had the Ultra Wide band but for now it's way better than the 4G LTE here in Yuma.

Denny

Had a 5g phone for a few months. Have not seen 5g yet

[docj]

3 hours ago, GlennWest said:

Had a 5g phone for a few months. Have not seen 5g yet

We've been seeing 4G/LTE speeds approaching 100 Mbps on Verizon in more and more places.  With speeds like that I don't care if it's 5G or not!

[pjstough]

I agree, why 5G when you can get great speeds on 4GLTE?  On February 2 at 11:59 PM at La Posa South LTVA near Quartzsite I got 69.9 Mbs download and 22.2 Mbs upload.

[GlennWest]

Not complaining. Just stating. Our speed is great. Don't see how 5 g can be an improvement.

[Kirk W]

We each have i-phones that were acquired from AT&T which are not 5G enabled. Pam got hers in Nov. of 2019(XR and mine was in June of 2020(SE). AT&T reports both to be 4G capable and Apple says that they support phones for 6-8 years. The "experts" seem to be saying that 4G will be around for at least another 10 years.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Kirk W

[agesilaus]

1 hour ago, GlennWest said:

Not complaining. Just stating. Our speed is great. Don't see how 5 g can be an improvement.

Starlink is reportedly running up to 150 MB/sec but is pricey and has a long wait list. $500 for the antenna and $100/mo. And it runs on a cell system linked to earth stations which you may or may not be able to connect to.

They are offering a super starlink that supposedly runs at 300 MB/sec but is vaporware right now an very pricey. $2500 for the antenna is what I heard.

[Bill Joyce]

https://www.thedrive.com/news/44138/the-3g-shutdown-could-put-some-ev-chargers-out-of-action talks about many electric car charging stations using older 3G networks.  I am sure the vendor selling such equipment to them gave them a great deal, without telling them the issue.

[docj]

38 minutes ago, agesilaus said:

Starlink is reportedly running up to 150 MB/sec but is pricey and has a long wait list. $500 for the antenna and $100/mo. And it runs on a cell system linked to earth stations which you may or may not be able to connect to.

Starlink download speeds do appear to vary by location and time of day but, at our home base in coastal TX, mine typically are about ~250Mbps.  FWIW the service has been extremely reliable; it averages less than one minute of unavailability per day.  Latency times are in the 30-40 msec range. 

Starlink's earth stations serve to connect the satellite system to the "internet backbone".  The ground stations don't constitute another cell system.    They are invisible as far as users are concerned and uplink speeds are in the 30-40 Mbps range.

Edited February 7, 2022 by docj

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, docj said:

Starlink's earth stations serve to connect the satellite system to the "internet backbone".  The ground stations don't constitute another cell system. 

And they do nothing to support smart phones, as far as I know.   😏

[GlennWest]

Oh, in Pasadena tx now. Got 5g. 

[Dutch_12078]

2 hours ago, agesilaus said:

Starlink is reportedly running up to 150 MB/sec but is pricey and has a long wait list. $500 for the antenna and $100/mo. And it runs on a cell system linked to earth stations which you may or may not be able to connect to.

They are offering a super starlink that supposedly runs at 300 MB/sec but is vaporware right now an very pricey. $2500 for the antenna is what I heard.

Just to be clear, you do not need cell service to use a Starlink subscriber terminal.

[D&J]

4 hours ago, GlennWest said:

Not complaining. Just stating. Our speed is great. Don't see how 5 g can be an improvement.

If you were in a area that has poor 4GLTE because it's overloaded so it's slow you would realize why 5G works better. 

4G is going to be just like 3G when 4G came along and they stopped building out 3G. 

Denny

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Dutch_12078 said:

you do not need cell service to use a Starlink subscriber terminal.

I thought that this thread was about cell phones and cellular service? Does Starlink supply phone service?

Edited February 7, 2022 by Kirk W

[usbusin]

We have a new cell tower going up in our neighborhood (going to be a pine tree).  Can anyone tell me if it is 4G or 5G?