71–80 of 112 posts
An interesting side effect of these networks shutting down seems to be a lot of car manufacturers have been cheeping out for years and relying on 2G and 3G networks on even quite modern cars, then blaming the network providers when they stop working after being the network is shut off instead of offering upgrades to the telecommunications modules to a more modern standard.
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Apple uses a Qualcomm baseband chip. They share the capabilities with other manufacturers, but Apple is working on their own baseband chip which they expect to ship in 2023.
But they don't have to implement CDMA2000 like other countries' models even though it uses Qualcomm chip.
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This is mostly about drama around Boost Mobile. T-Mobile wanted to shut down their CDMA network on January 1, 2022. Boost (now owned by Dish) doesn't want to upgrade users that have handsets that don't work with VoLTE. Upgrading users involves sending them notices, giving them options of free handsets, shipping those handsets, getting the users to actually activate them, etc. While T-Mobile gave Boost nearly double t…
> T-Mobile gave Boost nearly double the required time, Boost complained that it wasn't enough The CPUC says T-Mobile representatives lied under oath. They claimed that Dish would have until 2023 to migrate customers off of the CDMA network. T-Mobile is facing sanctions because of it: https://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M398/K955/... Not a long read.
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This is mostly about drama around Boost Mobile. T-Mobile wanted to shut down their CDMA network on January 1, 2022. Boost (now owned by Dish) doesn't want to upgrade users that have handsets that don't work with VoLTE. Upgrading users involves sending them notices, giving them options of free handsets, shipping those handsets, getting the users to actually activate them, etc. While T-Mobile gave Boost nearly double t…
> handsets that don't work with VoLTE It's kind of amazing to watch them keep pushing out half-baked protocols with the details on what phones actually support being so hard to find. I guess the lesson they learned from rolling out LTE phones with no Voice over LTE support is that nobody really cares, which is why they repeated the same issues with 5G and there's all this stuff about "non-standalone 5G".
Not mention the actual VoLTE standard came at a slightly later date than LTE itself.
Whitelisting Smartphones by US Carriers is another story.
Not surprising. T-Mobile has always been a GSM network, CDMA is what they inherited from Sprint.
This is mostly about drama around Boost Mobile. T-Mobile wanted to shut down their CDMA network on January 1, 2022. Boost (now owned by Dish) doesn't want to upgrade users that have handsets that don't work with VoLTE. Upgrading users involves sending them notices, giving them options of free handsets, shipping those handsets, getting the users to actually activate them, etc. While T-Mobile gave Boost nearly double t…
This is the big problem, the FCC is far to lax with allowing the big wireless carriers to buy and hold spectrum for years (in some cases decades) never using it for anything just so no one else uses it either
Not surprising. T-Mobile has always been a GSM network, CDMA is what they inherited from Sprint.
Furthermore, what they're specifically referring to here is Sprint's 3G network. Sprint's 4G LTE network is currently planned to be de-commissioned on June 30 2022, but that will almost certainly get pushed as well.
An interesting side effect of these networks shutting down seems to be a lot of car manufacturers have been cheeping out for years and relying on 2G and 3G networks on even quite modern cars, then blaming the network providers when they stop working after being the network is shut off instead of offering upgrades to the telecommunications modules to a more modern standard.
The newest car I've ever owned was a 2005 model, so at the risk of sounding ridiculous: Why do cars have cellular radios built-in? Just for the GPS, or for actual communication?
I have this nasty feeling my 3G prepaid phone is going to stop working one day, and I'll somehow be expected to have known in advance. Can I get a 5g non-smart phone? I don't want internet, email, or anything other that text messages and phone calls. I'm already too attached to the internet, I DON'T want it in my pocket at all times.
Nearly all major market have plan or are in the discussion of shutting down 3G. Some are even discussing 2G as well. In 2018 the industry sort of expect everyone to shut down 3G and leave 2G for legacy support. Now it seems there are discussions they might as well shut down both 2G and 3G in the future to cut down operation cost.
Given we expect 6G to land in 2030 I dont think that is too bad. But legacy devices like IoT will need lots of upgrade.
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It seemed strange that T-Mobile would have a CDMA network, until you remembered that it came from Sprint. This seems like good news. I'm glad that starting with LTE all the carriers started agreeing on a single platform with SIM cards. Even though there are little nuances between each carrier, the fact that you can buy a single phone and have it work with the four (three now) major carriers is a big deal.
Not only are phones cross network compatible, with eSIM support, you can provision new service within minutes on any supported carrier, no physical SIM required.
Is that true? If not, then why are they pushing physical SIM cards so hard?
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The newest car I've ever owned was a 2005 model, so at the risk of sounding ridiculous: Why do cars have cellular radios built-in? Just for the GPS, or for actual communication?
Telematics & remote interaction. Want to get remote diagnostics/problem notifications on your car, have emergency 911 service in the event of a crash, be able to unlock it from your phone, preheat it in the winter, precool it in the summer, get notified when your 16-year old child is driving over 70mph, get software updates for the ECUs in your car, enable remote charging notification & management, etc.? Cellular. No…
A friend used to work for a company that was purchasing that data from automakers to try and enhance weather data for real-time weather reporting.
Let's run down that list of benefits:
911 calls in event of a crash? iOS 16 is going to have that built-in. Ford vehicles (and others, I think VWs too?) can use a bluetooth paired phone to place a crash-detection 911 call.
Remote diagnostics? Only authorized dealers can access, and if you're going to your dealer for non-warranty service, you're a fool. Massachusetts passed an extension to Right To Repair requiring automakers to provide indie garages with access to the same telematics and Subaru responded by remotely disabling all remote diagnostics in any car registered in Massachusetts. That's how petulant they are.
Remote keyfob based starters (optionable on any Ford/GM and a ton of other vehicles) don't need monthly subscriptions to preheat/precool. Idling your car especially in the winter is terrible for the engine and environment anyway; it's much better to just get in and gently drive the car until it has started to warm up. 3/4 of the energy in gasoline is converted into heat.) In the summertime the fastest way to cool a car down is to open up the windows and sunroof, and drive for a minute or two.
Very, VERY few automakers do remote software updates for ECUs. For example, the Chevy Bolt, an electric car, will only update its entertainment software "over the wire" even though Chevy has said they have the capability to do OTA updates for the drivetrain. Ford vehicles can update the infotainment system via WiFi.
Remote charging notification/management? Largely useless except for very specific, limited circumstances. Electric cars have built-in scheduling and charge limits, in many cases location-specific settings can be done. There are also "smart" EVSE adapters that allow for max SoC and charge time settings. If you need to monitor the percentage charge on your electric car regularly, you have too much time on your hands.