Verizon ending 3G?

Telecom
1

Verizon has announced plans to end 2G and 3G service and go all LTE by the end of 2019.

2

Looks like T-Mobile also ending 2G/3G in 2019. So much for using a Dual SIM Phone to get voice service using T-Mobile tower and FP AT&T LTE SIM for data. Lots of options disappearing.

3

Enjoy it while you can! I've been hoping to do this, too, and thought I might get a chance with CN/Red Pocket.

I'm also trying to enjoy my FreedomPop Global SIM while I still can-- most users seem to report now that these will only connect to T-Mobile 3G (no more AT&T). It's already killed the devices (for practical purposes) in those areas where T-Mo has already re-purposed frequencies from 3G to LTE. Mine will only connect to T-Mo as well-- but we still have T-Mo 3G here.

4

This is interesting, so I guess they are phasing out the Global SIMs. Too bad I paid $10 and $5 for those.

I am still able to use the Global SIM, so I guess keep using it until it croaks.

5

I've ead a couple of threads elsewhere about the Global SIM not connecting to AT&T anymore. I tested mine using Signal Check Lite, and can confirm that it will only connect to T-Mo: the phone still sees the AT&T tower, but will not connect with data even if I manually select the AT&T signal. SpeedTest showed 3.5 and 6 mbps on 2 different tests (down), so I've lost coverage, but not throughput when I have coverage.

6

New AT&T 3G phone - obsolete in 2019?

7

It's getting close to that time...

https://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2018/02/rumor-verizon-to-end-3g-and-non-volte.html

8

It would be nice if they actually rolled out things like VoLTE to all verizon MVNOs sooner rather than later. Perhaps this means that by July they will.

9

3g hotspots are still worth buying until then, though. A $79 hotspot and 12 to 15 $5 payments is still cheap internet access before the 3g network gets decommissioned.

10

Verizon Ceases Activating 3G Phones On Its CDMA Network

As Verizon continues on its move to decommission 3G...

11

Seems like some sellers have figured out how to make those $5 hotspots into 4g unlimited ones for the same price...

12

Please give me a link!

13

Replied in the other thread

14

https://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2019/01/verizon-prepaid-users-can-still.html

15

MVNO getting ready too...

https://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2019/07/us-mobile-now-offers-cdmaless-calling.html

16

I read the linked article several times, and it didn't make sense to me..... (US Mobile is definitely not the first MVNO to enable Verizon VoLTE.....).

This article

does a better job of explaining what this is about, and what US Mobile is "first" among MVNO's for.

Basically, all (?) Verizon MVNO's already had VoLTE. What they didn't have was a way to disable legacy CDMA, and Verizon's backend wanted to force phones to CDMA for text. Problematic for some of the non-CDMA phones that Verizon has been willing to activate because they are VoLTE capable.

So to me it doesn't sound so much like US Mobile is really doing anything here-- Verizon is just enabling a route to fix a problem that they created and dropped in MVNO's laps.

17

Yes until now these phones like the oneplus 6T wouldn't work properly with a verizon MVNO. Verizon hadn't given anyone the ability to add cdma_less to mvno lines which was a feature you could get on verizon postpaid to avoid routing texts over cdma. I don't think there were that many phones with this problem but it is at least good to know there is at least one verizon mvno that you can use.

18

https://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2019/07/verizon-wireless-to-retire-cdma-network.html

"In addition to this, Verizon will be moving all devices to its HD Voice LTE network starting January 1, 2021. This means that Verizon CDMA network will only be available until December 31, 2020. Service requests for CDMA devices will not receive limited support."

... so what WILL these customers receive?!? No support? Superior support?

19

Bumping this thread to see if anyone has heard anything about whether or not Verizon is still on schedule to decommission their 3G CDMA network at the beginning of next year.

I'm not dependent on their 3G network but will be curious to know whether

  1. my iPhone 5s will still work as a data only device
  2. same for an iPhone 6 running IOS 9 used by my parents (Verizon VoLTE needs at least IOS 10)
  3. my Umidigi A3s will get full text functionality
  4. any of the ZTE devices sold by Visible can be made to work on Verizon MVNOs
20

I'm not aware of any updates to Verizon's decommissioning schedule.

But I'm very curious about your items 3 and 4.
It seems to me that the answers to those items might be 'yes', if CDMA-less provisioning becomes the default. (Although the whitelist issue will remain a problem for initial activation, and a harder line on monitoring and terminating service on 'unofficial' use might actually make the situation worse for unsupported devices than it is now.)

Personally, I doubt that Verizon will grandfather data use on phones that don't support VoLTE and CDMA-less provisioning. Maybe hotspots and tablet lines. Leaving semi-functional devices eligible for service creates further issues as they're resold or passed along to other users.

It seems clear to me that Verizon is setting themselves up for a nightmare situation if they stay to that current schedule. We know for a fact that Verizon has not been proactive about re-provisioning VoLTE-capable phones for VoLTE if they were originally set up as CDMA lines. (It's harder to be certain that all VoLTE capable phones are capable of full CDMA-less functionality, though.)
With that lagging conversion, it seems like when they actually shut down 3G, they're going to have a lot of customers with suddenly non-functional lines as a result.