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

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

#31
A lot of people in car forums are super upset about this and angry with their specific automaker. But of course, it is happening to all of them that haven't moved off of 3G.

https://www.toyota.com/audio-multimedia/support/3g-faq/

https://lexus2.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10537/~/...

https://www.subaru.com/3g-network-retirement.html?SIE=9ad00c...

Etc. https://autobala.com/how-3g-shutdown-in-2022-will-ruin-your-...

Amazing that Honda have current cars affected.

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

#32
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically 2g will still be around forever as a fallback and so much industrisl equipment relies on it At least thats what uk operators told me

Thats good to know thank you. I like to fall back on 2G phone rather than a smartphone from time to time.

[deleted]

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

#33
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically 2g will still be around forever as a fallback and so much industrisl equipment relies on it At least thats what uk operators told me

Thats good to know thank you. I like to fall back on 2G phone rather than a smartphone from time to time.

[deleted]

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

#34
What are the technical characteristics of 3G and LTE? Will we lose a very useful fallback?

I ask because I have a very modern device which is basically useless when I put there a SIM of an operator which has LTE only, and works well with a 3G/LTE operator. I am speaking of the countryside and I wonder if the problem is the operator coverage or the technology utilized.

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

#35

Newer phone networks are much more efficient than old ones. For a certain amount of 3G spectrum the carrier can serve more customers at higher data rates with 4G or 5G. From their viewpoint it is expensive to keep serving 3G customers.

Ironically 2g will still be around forever as a fallback and so much industrisl equipment relies on it At least thats what uk operators told me

I still use GSM daily in the US with a few new and classic phones. The technology is at just the right level with only calls and some texting.

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

#36
post #14

What is your favorite thing that was built to last? This is, perhaps, a cheesy country song that speaks to the idea https://youtu.be/E4i2fC1U38s . Is "built to last" an obsolete notion?

This probably would have been more appropriate as an Ask HN. Editorializing the headline like that is a no-go.

Good idea. Please reply here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29510819 .

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

#37

What is your favorite thing that was built to last? This is, perhaps, a cheesy country song that speaks to the idea https://youtu.be/E4i2fC1U38s . Is "built to last" an obsolete notion?

Were things actually "built to last" or really "built to be maintained"?

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

#38

Newer phone networks are much more efficient than old ones. For a certain amount of 3G spectrum the carrier can serve more customers at higher data rates with 4G or 5G. From their viewpoint it is expensive to keep serving 3G customers.

Yes. 4G can stuff 300% more data hertz for hertz bandwidth compared to 3G. But 5G only does about 15-20% more data hertz for hertz than 4G. It really is a very minor increase in speed. All advertisements about 5G speed are really advertising for limited availability 3.5 GHz and mm-wave deployments in new spectrum... but of course the telcos are now realizing this spectrum, even the half gigahertz they stole of C band, doesn't actually propagate well around Earth instead of straight up and down. If speed alone were the desire, upgrading to 5G standard would not be worth it for anyone. What it does offer is vastly improved minimum latency and easier modularity in network backends.

So realistically, this shutting down of 3G should have happened when 4G came in if speed demands for spectrum were what mattered. But of course back then there weren't enough users to really justify it even if the speed argument applied more then than now.

2G and 3G standards have their place and keeping a 2 MHz channel open for them is not going to get in anyone's way, on the towers, or spectrum-wise.

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

#39

Is there any way to fix my old 3G phone to continue to work under 5G?

unlikely as long as you can't switch out the modem and antenna. So you would need: - a new antenna - a new modem - a driver working with your CPU/OS, which is likely to not be the case - a way to replace the parts Sometimes the modem is part of the CPU package, making it impossible. Driver limitations make it often even impossible to produce "the same phone but with just another modem", not even speaking about upgrad…

A single board computer could get you close to these requirements, as long as there are USB dongles for everything [0]. That takes care of 1, 2, and 4. As for drivers, I'm not sure if you can pipe voice calls across these (VOIP, yes, but cellular calls? I have no clue how that works).

[0] https://www.amazon.com/4g-usb-modem/s?k=4g+usb+modem

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

#40

Is there any way to fix my old 3G phone to continue to work under 5G?

I wish.

My iPhone is affected by this (or so Sprint tells me) and I'm holding off as long as I can. I'm seriously considering one of these: https://www.sprint.com/en/shop/cell-phones/sonim-xp3-plus-no...

I won't buy an Android because I don't trust Google, and I'm just tired of Apple's poor quality lately.

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