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  • Re: [Telecom] When will 4G be Obsolete?

    From Bill Horne@21:1/5 to Fred Atkinson on Sat Jul 30 22:08:09 2022
    On Thu, Jul 28, 2022 at 07:17:48AM -0700, Fred Atkinson wrote:
    Folks,

    I have a question. I've searched the Internet and so far I have not
    found the answer.

    Is there a projected date for when 4G will no longer be supported by
    the cellular carriers?

    If there isn't an exact date for 4G to go away as yet, is there any
    kind of rough projection? A year, two years, etc.?

    For practical purposes, Verizon is removing 4G on December 31,
    2022. The company had said that it would continue into 2023, but then
    they sent me a letter saying that my wife's "4G LTE" phone didn't meet
    their criteria for 4G, and that I would have to buy a new phone -
    limitied to "their" brand of 4G, of course - to continue her 4G
    service.

    I've decided to do without both Verizon Mobile and their deceptive
    marketing: I got a 5G phone for myself and switched to Ting. My wife's
    "4G LTE"ng phone will need to be replaced, most likely with the same
    brand and model that I have, but I might put an Internet-only texting
    and talk app on it, give her mine (again ...), and use the 4G LTE phone
    around my home, since we'll have her phone when we travel.

    Bill

    --
    Bill Horne
    (Please remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)

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  • From Fred Atkinson@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jul 28 07:17:48 2022
    Folks,

    I have a question. I've searched the Internet and so far I have not
    found the answer.

    Is there a projected date for when 4G will no longer be supported by
    the cellular carriers?

    The battery on my 4G flip phone is draining entirely too quickly. And
    it seems to charge instantly (maybe thirty minutes unti +l it is fully
    charged again). I am taking this as a sign that the battery is about
    to go south.

    I am trying to decide if I should just get a new battery or upgrade to
    a 5G flip phone (weighing the economics).

    It is my understanding that 3G goes away completely at the end of this
    year. Some carriers won't create a new account for a 3G +phone at
    present [if my research is correct, of course]. Verizon customer
    service could not tell me about when 4G would no longer be supported.
    They had no idea.

    If there isn't an exact date for 4G to go away as yet, is there any
    kind of rough projection? A year, two years, etc.?

    Regards, and thanks,

    Fred

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  • From John Levine@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jul 31 01:02:40 2022
    According to Bill Horne <malQRMassimilation@gmail.com>:
    Is there a projected date for when 4G will no longer be supported by
    the cellular carriers?
    For practical purposes, Verizon is removing 4G on December 31,
    2022.

    No, they're turning off 3G at the end of the year.

    What's confusing is that some of the carriers lied about their early
    "4G" phones which were really 4G data but 3G voice, so they will stop
    working when 3G turns off. Full 4G is sometimes called 4G VoLTE.

    Doubly confusing is that some 4G phones have VoLTE but some carriers
    or MVNOs don't turn it on. I have a Samsung S9 that no longer works on
    Tracfone because they can't turn on its VoLTE with a Verizon SIM which
    is all they have now.

    But it works on Ting which is also Verizon underneath. Beats me.

    At this point I'd suggest Ting if you don't use much data, for
    $10/mo for voice+SMS, and $5/GB shared among all phones on your
    account. Or Mint for $15/mo for voice+SMS+4GB if you pay a year
    at a time.

    Mint has a one week free trial at https://www.mintmobile.com/free-trial/
    --
    Regards,
    John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
    Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

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  • From Fred Goldstein@21:1/5 to Bill Horne on Sun Jul 31 11:19:50 2022
    On 7/30/2022 6:08 PM, Bill Horne wrote:
    On Thu, Jul 28, 2022 at 07:17:48AM -0700, Fred Atkinson wrote:
    Folks,

    I have a question. I've searched the Internet and so far I have not
    found the answer.

    Is there a projected date for when 4G will no longer be supported by
    the cellular carriers?

    If there isn't an exact date for 4G to go away as yet, is there any
    kind of rough projection? A year, two years, etc.?

    For practical purposes, Verizon is removing 4G on December 31,
    2022. The company had said that it would continue into 2023, but then
    they sent me a letter saying that my wife's "4G LTE" phone didn't meet
    their criteria for 4G, and that I would have to buy a new phone -
    limitied to "their" brand of 4G, of course - to continue her 4G
    service.

    I've decided to do without both Verizon Mobile and their deceptive
    marketing: I got a 5G phone for myself and switched to Ting. My wife's
    "4G LTE"ng phone will need to be replaced, most likely with the same
    brand and model that I have, but I might put an Internet-only texting
    and talk app on it, give her mine (again ...), and use the 4G LTE phone around my home, since we'll have her phone when we travel.

    LTE isn't going away. "5G" is a set of extensions to LTE, and mostly
    compatible with older devices on the older bands. Verizon is discon-
    tinuing 3G (CDMA) service, turning off cells this year. And it may be
    requiring LTE phones to support Voice over LTE (VoLTE) as their method
    of voice calling, which is not perfectly standardized across devices.
    So there may be some older LTE phones that still used CDMA for voice
    and LTE for data. Those are toast. I just bought a new 4G LTE (no 5G)
    phone for use on Verizon and there seems to be no risk about losing
    support. Verizon still sells some such models, like the Motorola G
    Power.

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  • From Marco Moock@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jul 31 14:46:21 2022
    Am Donnerstag, 28. Juli 2022, um 07:17:48 Uhr schrieb Fred Atkinson:

    It is my understanding that 3G goes away completely at the end of this
    year. Some carriers won't create a new account for a 3G +phone at
    present [if my research is correct, of course]. Verizon customer
    service could not tell me about when 4G would no longer be supported.
    They had no idea.

    It depends on the country, but many providers already ceased 3G or
    plan to do that in the near future. In Germany 3G is history. 4G and
    5G will stay because it is still very widely in use and most devices
    support it.

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