Clarifying Some Myths Around the UK Shutdown of 3G Mobile
In recent weeks the news has been full of reports (e.g. here and here), which frequently warn – without challenge – that the move by Mobile Network Operators (MNO) O2, Three UK, Vodafone and EE to withdraw old 3G services will push “millions of people” into “digital poverty” and disconnect them from the internet. But are they correct?
By technology standards, 3G is positively ancient and has long since been superseded by two further generations of mobile technology – 4G and 5G, with 6G looming on the horizon. The first operator to start withdrawing the service, Vodafone, has been using it for 18 long years and in January 2022 related data traffic across their network accounted for just 4% (down from over 30% in 2016).
The government and all major mobile operators have already agreed to phase-out existing 2G and 3G signals by 2033 (here). The main reason why 3G is going first is that there are so few critically 3G dependent devices and services left in circulation, partly because the technology – bogged down as it was by overpriced spectrum licensing – never quite took off like 4G did.
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Meanwhile, 2G remains useful as a low-power fallback for basic voice services (as well as very limited data / IoT requirements) and is still widely used by particular applications, such as some home energy monitoring Smart Meters and various other solutions (i.e. it’ll be sticking around for a lot longer).
3G Phase Out Plans by Operator
➤ Vodafone UK has technically already started to phase out 3G and aims to complete by December 2023.
➤ Three UK said they’ll be phasing out their 3G network service gradually over the next 2 years and switching it off by the end of 2024.
➤ EE (BT) will this year begin moving customers off 3G rather than switching the network off, but they aim to switch it off in early 2024.
➤ O2 (Virgin Media) informed us that they’ve yet to announce a public sunsetting timeframe, but are supportive of the Government plans to switch off both 2G and 3G by 2033.
However, a fair few recent news reports have suggested that the move to withdraw 3G services is a negative development, with some even warning that it could leave “millions” of people disconnected from the internet. Often these claims have gone unchallenged and risk causing fear, as well as confusion, where none need exist.
Myth Busting the 3G Shutdown
➤ Some reports highlight complaints from consumers who live in weak 4G signal areas, which causes their handset to fall back to 3G. Such people tend to expect that switching off 3G would thus leave them disconnected from mobile data, which would indeed be a particularly big problem if local fixed line broadband is similarly poor or non-existent.
However, this overlooks the fact that operators will be switching the spectrum that 3G uses and re-farming it to 4G or 5G services, which means that those in the above situation should find that 4G coverage, and thus mobile broadband speeds too, actually improve to compensate.
The catch is that different operators have different approaches for different areas, thus there’s still the possibility of some people being caught out if operators fail (in some areas) to correctly balance or prepare coverage when the change occurs, but the goal of all operators is to minimise that. We asked all of the operators about this and got the following responses.
– Vodafone said part of their 3G switch off activity includes optimising their 4G and 5G networks, and they’ve already started to re-farm some of the 3G spectrum. The operator has also been in contact with customers who will be impacted by such issues. “By repurposing 3G network – we can grow the UK-wide reach of our more energy efficient 4G and 5G networks instead – this means faster data speeds, higher quality voice call services and a chance to continue improving connectivity in previously ‘cut-off’ areas, including rural communities and the London Underground,” added the operator.
– Three UK noted that just 3% of their network traffic was 3G and customers could expect “faster downloads, better quality streaming and a more reliable experience” when it’s switched-off. “Retiring 3G enables us to repurpose network assets where our customer need them (4&5G) … this plan has been carefully developed by our network teams to ensure that it benefits our customers,” said a spokesperson for the operator.
Three added that they were also upgrading many of their legacy 3G sites and repurposing them onto newer technologies ahead of the switch-off. Many of the sites that offer a 3G service already have 4G equipment on them, so they suggest there will be “no impact to customers with a compatible handset“.
– EE (BT) confirmed that spectrum used for 3G would be re-farmed for 4G and 5G, but they added that this will be a process that happens over time (i.e. it won’t be immediate on the same site). The operator will focus early reuse of it in areas of the greatest need (sites more congested, or areas at risk of congestion), which mirrors how they operated with 15MHz of the 2100MHz band that has already been refarmed from 3G. To date, this has happened across around 20% of their sites and they’re more than doubling that (to just under 50% of all sites) by end of 2024.
The operator noted that, in areas with both 3G and 4G, the 3G service generally doesn’t expand the reach of the site beyond what existing 4G services can do and so it’s mostly about ensuring that 4G has enough capacity to cope when the 3G switch-off occurs. If more work is needed on spectrum, then EE expects their tools to help identify that so they can, as above, prioritise such areas.
One other reason why they can’t immediately re-ferm the 3G spectrum is because it may first require them to have completed their network refresh work in the area (i.e. refreshing their 4G and replacing some 5G vendor equipment). Once that work is completed, then it becomes easier to utilise the remaining 5MHz of 3G. Some sites can be upgraded remotely, but others will require a physical visit due to site configuration issues. On sites yet to be modernised, EE aren’t yet in a position to refarm the spectrum, so that will happen over time.
– O2 (VMO2) didn’t provide a clear answer because they’ve yet to publish any plans for switching off 3G services.
One other important point to make here is that a weak 4G signal can still be better than a strong 3G one (i.e. how many signal “bars” you see on your handset doesn’t always reflect capability). As a side note, the £1bn industry-led Shared Rural Network (SRN) project is working to bring 4G to 95% of the UK (geographic coverage) by the end of 2025, so mobile coverage and performance is only going to get better.
➤ The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) recently warned that “older and basic devices do not have 4G capabilities, so individuals who can only get online using a basic device will fall into digital poverty.” But this isn’t entirely accurate.
Basic 4G capable feature phones have been on sale for many years (my mother has been using one for 5-6 years) and these tend to cost around £20-£50 outside of a contract (e.g. Nokia 110 – £35 or less on eBay). Similarly, some operators will practically bundle them for free with their cheapest plans, and indeed they’ve often handed such devices out to vulnerable users at no extra cost upon request. Not to mention that some charities are giving them away.
Suffice to say, yes lots of basic devices do exist that support 4G and those in poverty who are worried should look around, as there are various examples of sub-£10 per month plans that bundle cheap 4G mobiles. Failing that, give your mobile operator a call to seek help and they’ll often have no trouble finding you a solution.
Now admittedly, some people may still be caught out by the switch-off due to unique edge cases or other quirky issues (e.g. some handsets are better at signal reception than others), but this is only likely to impact a tiny minority of consumers – assuming the operators have put enough time, money and effort into planning the switch-off properly (we’ll find out soon enough).
The other issue is that not all 4G handsets can make calls over the same generation of network technology, so it will help if you ensure that the handset you’re using supports Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) – this is common today, but some of the older handsets didn’t support it.
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In addition, a lot of more modern 4G handsets also support Wi-Fi Calling, which is handy if you do have a home broadband connection, although this is only useful indoors and isn’t as common on basic feature phones. But one catch with both Wi-Fi Calling and VoLTE is that quality and support can vary between both operators and devices (e.g. Google Pixel handsets seem to struggle with VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling on certain operators).
However, in most cases the issue of making calls and texts will be less relevant, since 3G/4G handsets tend to fall back to 2G for that when they can’t use the more modern generations. Meanwhile, consumers who do find themselves losing internet connectivity during the 3G switch-off, if using a 4G phone, should consider switching mobile operator as they all have different coverage strengths and weaknesses, which will vary between sites.
At the end of the day, the 3G switch-off should perhaps be considered more of an upgrade than a downgrade for mobile connectivity. But some people will still have problems, yet in most cases those with issues should be able to find a solution that works.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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“Three added that they were also upgrading many of their legacy 3G sites and repurposing them onto newer technologies ahead of the switch-off. Many of the sites that offer a 3G service already have 4G equipment on them, so they suggest there will be “no impact to customers with a compatible handset“.”
I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago in Crossmaglen, in southern Co. Armagh (no sniper jokes, please!). Much of the local area has poor coverage from the UK networks, though there is a CTIL mast carrying Vodafone & O2 2/3/4G located next to the GAA grounds that covers the village. Interestingly, my 3 UK Sim was able to lock on to a 3 UK 3G (Band 1) signal with fair to moderate strength (and yes, it was 3 UK, not 3 Ireland from across the border – I double checked) and with usable data throughput – but no 4G to be seen from them at all, even on Band 20. Given that prior to MBNL’s rollout in NI a decade ago which vastly expanded 3’s coverage, it’s coverage was limited to a lot of urban areas with very little rural coverage – and it seemed strange to apparently have this rural 3G only 3 UK signal especially as (1) EE only had a very weak 2G signal available, no 3G or 4G available at all, and (2) 3 UK’s own coverage prediction for their 3G coverage in Crossmaglen is pretty much hopeless! In any case, this looks like a cell site in the area that’ll need to be upgraded to 4G before 3G gets switched off.
Ah the place (The Border Fox) made is name … Funny enough till recently Ballymoney Co Antrim had terrible signal from Three UK … Then one day woke up to 5G inside & out 5 bars outside 4 bars inside
@SuperKipperFlipper Now that’s a dream come true experience many of us would like to have! But then again I’m still totally shocked I can get EE 5G in what ever iteration it is in my rural North Dorset area. Even if the signal isn’t the best, seems worst now it’s sunny and warm?? Still get around 30mbps to 70mbps indoors.
> Vodafone’s closure will free up 10MHz of frequency in the 900MHz band
Well, no. Vodafone’s 3G hasn’t used their 10 MHz block for quite a while now, and it’s only legacy sites that still use it. That 10 MHz has been switched over to 4G/5G since mid-2021, and 3G runs on their 5 MHz allocation instead.
Their allocation is 5 MHz (3G) – xxx – 2.4 MHz (2G) – 10 MHz (4G/5G). They aren’t switching off 2G yet, so no improvement there, and moving 2G to the bottom 5 MHz to allow 12.4 MHz 4G/5G won’t work due to interference with Network Rail GSM-R and the license restrictions on the 900 MHz band as a result.
It’s a good question what they will do with the extra 5 MHz. Maybe a second LTE carrier, or perhaps move LTE to the 5 MHz and run n8 10 MHz nationwide. We’ll need to wait and see. It might be that the 900 MHz gets sold off as part of the auction to reduce their low-band allocation, too.
The “Digital Poverty Alliance”? Some people really have too much time on their hands.
And it’s sponsored by Currys. Insert your own Currys != Digital joke here.
Says the guy with internet.
I literally can’t afford tampons or wifi. It definitely has nothing to do with poor budgeting, snobbishness to shop own brands or my inability to distinguish between luxuries and essentials.
So let’s unpick that, then Leanne. Hopefully a first name is sufficiently anonymous.
Where’s the problem that’s leading to your circumstances? I’m not saying there isn’t one, merely that relying on some corporate charity is perhaps not a structural solution.
While there are important things like a roof over people’s head, food, heating and water, we are being pushed towards doing everything online, but if someone can’t afford to get online then how are they going to do it?
While it is possible to live without going online, I know someone who does, it is flipping hard.
Also these people don’t get the deals if they are not online.
Thanks for a very helpful summary of the situation . Reassuring especially for Highland rural, low user-density areas. And with an ageing population it becomes even more critical to maintain basic digital connectivity to contact support and services should landline, power or transport is out. Which occurred for weeks on end in the last three years here.
The leading network in Scotland, EE, haven’t installed any new 3G sites since many years, and both their 2G & 4G coverage far exceeds that of 3G.
This has nothing to do with 3G being bad, or 2G/4G being good, and everything to do with extensive 4G800 rollout, and lack of new 3G equipment since at least 5 years.
Beware that providers such as Plusnet don’t support Wi-fi Calling so a good reason to avoid signing up with them.
Plusnet Mobile are not accepting new customers and are closing down. Currently they are offering to move their customers to EE on new contracts (seem to be priced at £2 more per month for the same package from what has been reported)
yes but it’s still 30 days.
Plusnet mobile also have limited frequencies to EE can’t mind if it’s the 800 band or 2100 they don’t have won’t make much difference now as they are shutting up shop.
I’ve never found wi-fi calling particularly useful. My voice calls still cut out constantly. On Vodafone, about 2 metres away from my wireless access point. Phone displays WiFiCall but it’s pretty pointless.
We get shockingly poor network coverage from all the providers.
Upstairs: https://imgur.com/a/Bp9rK2R
Downstairs: https://imgur.com/a/FPy16iT
Urban area in the South East of England. In 2023. Mobile coverage in the UK is a joke.
people like to exaggerate how bad coverage is based on their own location, but doing so on the basis of indoor coverage (which no one has ever guaranteed because of differences in construction) takes the cake.
I’ve never had great coverage at my parents place because of its thick stone walls, the same reason wifi coverage is poor and needs multiple access points, but at no point do I think that reflects on the entire state of the UK mobile sector. Have you tried a different network?
I gather the parameters over wifi calling are set by the operator, eg EE seems to prefer wifi calling while wifi is available, whereas Vodafone might wait for the signal to be rather weak (and in my experience with a Voxi SIM, that seems to be the case)
5G is currently reliant on 4G to utilise it. No 4G signal, no 5G signal. 5G hasn’t added extra coverage, its just added extra capacity. As typical for the mobile phone industry 5G was released too early and bodged to work in order to make us all upgrade. They did this with 4G which was reliant on 3G/2G to make calls until only a few years ago and even now many devices don’t support 4G calling and will now drop to 2G to make calls (if they can get 2G) once 3G is switched off.
So by removing 3G, coverage is lost, and we haven’t yet gained another real G version until 5G standalone has arrived for everyone.
It will be hard for you to find places where 4G is available, but 2G isn’t, so I doubt people without voLTE will struggle to make calls.
Part of the reason that 2G remains active is to allow CSFB for non-VoLTE phones. EE’s 2G coverage fractionally exceeds that of 4G1800 precisely for this reason.
This isn’t going to work for everyone in all locations. In some areas, Vodafone 4G is significantly weaker than 3G, despite coming from the same mast, so in those areas where you can’t get 4G well (but you can 3G), you’ll lose signal.
There are also legacy 3 3G masts that are not upgraded to 4G yet, Southwold (suffolk) has EE 4G, VF/O2 4G but only 3 3G, so that would need to be upgraded!
Also 2G is not a suitable technology to be using even in 2023 for calls because call quality on 2G is significantly worse than 3G and 4G HD Voice.
Networks aren’t going to turn off 3G where they don’t have 4G yet (in 2023… they should be ashamed). You’ll have some edge cases, but I’d be surprised if it was a widespread issue.
Voice quality on 2G isn’t the best, but 2G is only there as a fallback for everyone without a more modern phone (~5 years old) and for old equipment. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than not being able to make calls.
It is completely incorrectly to compare 3G and 4G signals levels even from the same mast for the reason different method are used for them. 3G shows entire power mobile device receives over whole 5MHz band as example. As your payload is distributed accross entire band. But 4G does have all power it receives but for the “bars” it uses so named “reference channel” that is just tiny portion.
From the other side. 4G uses more advanced signals encoding, allowing to achive better performance on the same badwidth and be more sustainable to noises.
4G/5G is useless for those of us who have 3G phones. We don’t want ten quid a month plans. I dont use plans or bundles. Not buying another phone when the ones I already have work and have swappable batteries. Also, who is going to install and configure all the apps for a 4G/5G phone? What a time wasting pain that will be!
you can buy feature phones which have 4G compatibility which don’t run android and don’t have apps you need to download
3G is an early 2000’s technology, so it’s had two good decades now.
Q1: Do you propose a fixed time it should be maintained for?
Q2: If not, what criteria for switch off?
What are you doing with 3G that can’t be done with 2G?
Tough.
Mobile companies aren’t obligated to continue to support obsolete standards indefinitely whether people pay for them or not.
The UK’s communications infrastructure has already been harmed enough by pandering to obsolete technologies.
You got your answer already, it’s tough. The tech has had its day. Just like if you had a cassette player which worked fine still but didn’t want to buy a CD player, eventually you had to if you wanted to keep being able to buy new releases.
Your old TV won’t work anymore without a Freeview decoder. You can’t buy stuff on VHS. You need to purchase additives for cars that use leaded fuel. Etc, etc.
So, fine, don’t buy a new phone – the only thing that’s going to do is stop you using many of its features. You sound like a relic though.
There’s a reason this is happening which isn’t solely about profit, and it stands to benefit the vast majority.
There was a time when it was possible to get only talk and text, and now that is impossible or very close to it. Every plan comes with data, so people who don’t want data and just have a basic phone ends up paying for something they don’t need or use. I know someone with a basic phone, it is 4G, but still basic, it can do email at a pinch, but you would not want to and yet they still have to pay for a data plan.
If you want a dumb phone, one example is already given – the Nokia 105 or 110 (the latter has a camera). Will make and receive phone calls and texts just fine, and it has 4G + VoLTE (4g calling) so it will work everywhere a smartphone would.
Of course, 2G isn’t going anywhere any time soon so if you really are just making calls then this should continue working too.
Anyone who is still using a 3G only *smartphone* deserves credit for the perseverence but it is time to shut the network down.
I didn’t say I wanted a simple phone. That won’t run apps.
2G is the mobile equivalent of dial-up, far too slow for online use. 3G is faster than my ADSL connection.
They should get rid of 4G by the date stated, not 3G, as the difference between 3G and 4G isn’t anywhere near as large as 4G/5G and would provide better results for 5G usage.
Describing a considerable part of rural UK as niche or edge cases is pretty arrogant.
The simple reality remains, many rural areas do not have viable 4g coverage. They do have 3g.
There being a desire to reuse frequencies from the shut down is all well and good but as this article says, it won’t be straight away, if ever.
So, that means exactly what the alliance says. That people will be cut off.
Very true, I get EE 5G in my rural Dorset area, but I notice when it drops to 4G it’s performance falls off a cliff. And there are pockets where you get nothing at all. So I’m not sure how it works with a 5G mast and this extra spectrum usage? But concentrating on metropolitan areas first with spectrum redirecting whilst switching 3G off in rural areas is not the way to do it. As you say that will leave millions with poor to no signal.
Three has a very poor speed performance but its signal is a bit more reliable for voice, often though I drop from 4G to 3G and that’s outside, inside it can be worst.
Have to say though when my home routers played up for a day. EE’s 5G via 1P Mobile saved the day rather well as a backup.
Will be an interesting time.
Vodafone is actively refarming as the 3G goes.
Testing the Peak District and Exmoor in the past month, Vodafone is now widely deploying Band 8 4G – on the same frequency band used for 3G.
The result: a phone will hang on Band 8 4G instead of 3G until it drops to 2G. 3G isn’t seen unless you force your phone. At the point where it drops to 2G, there isn’t any 3G available anyway.
EE won’t be in a hurry to refarm, because its 4G base layer on Band 3 (1800 MHz) will, thanks to the lower frequency, have better coverage than the Band 1 (2100 MHz) 3G network. And where Band 20 (800 MHz) 4G from EE is available, coverage will surpass 3G.
The resulting problem is that of capacity, which as Mark says in the article is being looked at by EE. Arguably 4G sets that don’t support VoLTE, which miss out on EE Band 20 coverage, are more of an issue than the small number of 3G devices still in use.
Three needs to get a move on upgrading masts to 4G. And O2 still hasn’t decided when it will switch of 3G.
Mike, EE uses 1800MHz for 2G, so the coverage should be at least as good as 3G. Phones without B20/VoLTE can fall back to 2G to make/receive calls. Not as good as it could be, but at least in practice it shouldn’t be worse than 3G.
Three can be a problem because they don’t have 2G and if they turn 3G off the phone really needs to support VoLTE for calls. I guess in this case the customer should move to a different network if they don’t want/can’t upgrade.
Vodafone seems to be doing refarming right, but I’d like to see them using more than just B20 or B8 for 4G.
isn’t it similarly misleading and arrogant to declare that “many” rural parts don’t have 4G?
I’ve lived and travelled all over rural southern England and I think I can count on one hand the number of times my phone has stayed on 2G or 3G for any appreciable time, and in my experience if it doesn’t have 4G it probably doesn’t have useful service on 2G/3G (or any service at all)
on EE there is however a significant difference when the phone does not support VoLTE (or it has been turned off), as the device won’t be allowed to use band 20. I wonder if this is why people report such different experiences. Every iPhone since the 6 can support VoLTE but it is much patchier on the Android side. Even the Nokia 105/110 as referenced in the article (£15 at Argos) supports it.
Whilst these operators speak the usual wonderful reliable services. It will very much be a case if wait and see how the switch off actually impacts you. I await with great anticipation to see how Three turning off 3G in my area will affect me for instance. I can get 5G with EE but a poor 4G and 3G with Smarty, 4G used to be better but this year it’s been pretty poor.
But in areas where you can get Three 5G it is far superior to EE from my testing.
Annoying. My Tomtom 6200 has lifetime traffic which is 3G – so i guess this will be ending. Not my fault I wonder if Tomtom will upgrade it.
our BMW has 3G navigation too. It cannot be upgraded. But I think if it stops working then i’ll just rip out the head unit and replace it with a cheap chinese android head unit. Problem is that BMW radios are not standard DIN size but it looks like at least one company makes one that is the right shape and size. Not cheap though. £600. When a regular DIN/Double-DIN sized one is half that amount. Oh well.
It should only be RTTI realtime traffic that is affected, the nav should still work and you can update maps via USB. My 2017 320 is the same, bit crazy. Let’s hope it can use O2 who have not announced plans yet.
If your 2017 £20k+ car relies on 3G then that was deserved, so easy to look a few years into the future
Devices with 3G support often have 2G support too, so it should still work, right?
Jon I paid £14k for it, when it was 5 years old and had 55k miles on the clock. We’re not all coke sniffing salesmen that have money to burn. And surprisingly, what tech LTE my nav system used was not a top priority at the time after my 2003 Peugeot 206 bit the dust when I had a diesel engine runaway and the engine seized causing irreparable damage and requiring an entirely new block. Having kids, and living in the countryside, a vehicle is pretty much a necessity. All to easy to say that i’m stupid for not looking to the future, and in hindsight, sure you have a point, but it is what it is and that’s what I have. Of course, I can always put my phone in a holder and use gmaps. But try not to paint us all as idiots eh. I didn’t have the option to say to the second hand dealer hur hur well im not gonna pay because the nav system is only 3G.
anonymous, I meant that BMW could have looked ahead a bit more, really if this was advertised as a lifetime service they should be fitting the bill for upgrading whatever part is needed to work on an LTE network
2017 was 4years before US AT&T turned off 3G, nowhere near a lifetime navigation service for anyone who brought the car new
Down here in Bournemouth at the moment. There are thousands of people on the beach and I’m on three and O2 and neither of them has any data when on 4G/5G. But, switching to 3G does give me a workable data connection. I’m not technical when it comes to mobile networks but I hope if they cut off 3G that they will be able to provide better 4G/5G because as mentioned, it doesn’t work at all on O2/Three when on 4G.
Exactly the same in Brighton. Only way to get any data connection on a busy day on the beach is to switch phone to 3G only. No-one using it so get a reasonable 10Mbps fine for streaming music. 4G or 5G nothing at all. Although having said that on O2 I could be the only person in a 5 mile radios and still their 5G works like 2G! Thankfully a second sim on Three gets 300+ when is not a sunny day!
O2 uses long range, but slower bands (B20/B8) as their main bands in some areas. It’s ridiculous to see them with only B20 on a beach when Three/EE/Vodafone have at least B1/B3/B7 to help out. And they’re doing the same with 5G by using n28, which is why their 5G is often slow.
Check CellMapper. If they’re like this where you’re usually at, simply change networks. Don’t reward their lack of investment in your area.
O2 is a unique case – they’ve not invested in their 4G network for many years compared with the leading networks, and taking on several million additional Virgin Mobile customers hasn’t helped.
In short, they have many hundreds (possibly thousands) of sites where their 4G spectrum is in congestion causing slow/unusable data.
Poor speeds are the symptom of this. Please don’t confuse this with 3G being good – the leading networks have invested in their 4G networks consistently over recent years, O2 haven’t.
i use an old doro phone as i have peripheral neuropathy & can’t use a smart phone.who will transfer all my phone contacts to a new phone?
i only use my phone to make calls & send texts.i use a tablet with a keyboard for everything else at home.
You should be able to copy your contacts to the sim card and when that is inserted into the new phone, access them directly from there or copy them to the new phone’s memory.
If you only use the mobile for calls and text then losing 3G isn’t going be a issue 2G is fine for that.
If you go to a store to buy a new phone and don’t want/can’t do it yourself, they should be able to do it there for free.
But as others mentioned, if it’s only calls/texts you do, there’s no need to change phones as 2G will still allow you to do that.
Vodafone was selling 3G mobile phones in the UK in 2003 with 3G service.
The theory is lovely – but in reality, for example, in Plymouth where Vodafone have turned off 3G, the already poor 3G service hasn’t been replaced with 4G or 5G, but now just falls back to ‘no service’ or 2G.
There are *plenty* of times where you fall back to the older networks in various places – a good example is Torquay where both Three and EE are considerably better performing near the seafront in some parts on 3G than 4G – indeed a few months back I had to switch my phone to 3G to have any usable data service on both networks – not during any sort of peak tourist time – and the situation is the same as of a week ago.
It’s not as simple as the claims made.
The situation is very similar here on the Suffolk coast. I have had Motorola 5g handsets on Vodafone for a couple of years, but have the phone pinned to 2g & 3g only unless traveling because the data service is considerably more reliable. There is no 5g here, but seemingly decent 4g coverage, however the data is incredibly patchy, with many areas showing strong signal but non existent data.
Presumably because there is coverage, the phone won’t auto switch, staying connected to 4g, but with non existent data. Forcing 3g gives a very reliable, usable connection.
So to be clear 3G wasn’t keeping covid at bay and its now going to come back once its turned off.
Also won’t it make people grow older turning 3G off….
I think its time to start burning things and graffiting on everything.
😀
The OpenSignal app uses crowd sourced signal data to give actual coverage.
It also has a handy signal connection type showing how much of your day is spent in None,2G,3G,4G coverage. It’s a great geeky insight.
Networks say the use of 3G is dropping so they can switch it off, what will they do if the data shows an increase in 2G usage after switch off…
The MNOs aren’t going to leave a place without 4G coverage if it currently only has 3G. Three & Vodafone state that on their sites about the Switch off.
That’s been the biggest thing that people have been worried about. But an Operator cannot take away coverage & not upgrade the technology.
For those who are too stubborn to change their devices, if one has a phone that isn’t VoLTE then it will fall back to 2G for calls and sit on 4G just for data. [Unless one is on Three then U have to upgrade]
“The MNOs aren’t going to leave a place without 4G coverage if it currently only has 3G. Three & Vodafone state that on their sites about the Switch off.”
We can all rest easy, then. Shall we do a quick check to make sure everyone is happy? Hands up everybody who believes a coverage commitment from a mobile network!
Come on, there must be lots of you…
Alright, a few, now come on, hands up
A few brave souls, please raise you hands; There’s no shame in believing the mendacious trumpeting of a corporate marketing department – in fact being mugs for marketing makes us British, happy to overpay and believe the charlatans. So where are you?
Please? Anyone?
VoLTE is an issue as 2 phones that have moved from virgin media to o2 have lost VoLTE calling where it was working fine on virgin media (even thought its the same network or it might have been a Vodafone network, ever really looked to far into it as both customers was annoying)
Vodafone and o2 customers are going to be hit the worst with non functioning voice calls or it has to drop to 2g to make a call assuming it’s successful (3 and ee almost universally works on any phone as they never restricted the VoLTE settings like o2 and Vodafone has done in the past or even still recantly)
And I haven’t even got to the virtual network providers that don’t use VoLTE at all, that mess needs to get started out before they start turning off 3G
O2 still restricts access to VoLTE and WiFi calling (eg: pay-as-you-go customers can’t use them) and their virtual networks also don’t offer either. According to a thread on ispreview’s forum, you can get VoLTE on Virgin Media if you call them, so I guess users lost VoLTE when they moved from Vodafone to O2’s network. Essentially, VoLTE on O2 is a mess.
They don’t seem to be in a hurry to turn off 3G though (or to upgrade their network, lol), so I guess their customers are “safe” for now.
I’m one of the unfortunate Pixel owners who purchased a phone that was sold as VoLTE and VoWiFi enabled but the Lebara network doesn’t support this. Or vice versa, Google doesn’t support Lebara. Either way, neither seem keen to fix it. Buy a Pixel from Vodafone and it works on Lebara, buy from anywhere else and it doesn’t. This is the case for all Pixel handsets regardless of model.
Doesn’t work for new customers either. A friend moved to Virgin Mobile (I think he just looked at price, he isn’t a Virgin Media customer as he lives just outside the coverage area) and VoLTE/wifi calling don’t work for him either. He has an iPhone so it’s not a device compatibility issue. I can’t work out why they make you phone in to enable it.
I’ve been trying to convince him to move to something like 1pmobile or Lebara where he’d get it straight away.
Must be a bit rough for those who signed up to the original EE based service and have been taken through two MNO changes in the last few years.
I presume 4G will be with us for many years,
I have been watching progress on Three switching 3G only sites in the east of England, and noticed there is very little progress being made. Only 1 site out of 20 or 30 of the 3G only ones I can see on the map even has a planning application made in over a year.
At the current rate of progress, many in rural areas will lose coverage on Three altogether at the end of 2024 as there is nearly zero effort being put in to upgrade the sites to 4G.
3G is a radio technology, and coverage patterns are dictated much more extensively by the frequencies and bands in use by each operator. 3G has some major shortcomings as a radio tech, nothing it does can’t be done equally well or better by 2G/4G techs.
Anyone with coverage issues as a result of 3G switchoff, is likely covered by a site that just needs (most likely) 4G deployed using the same frequencies. To be fair, the leading networks haven’t been installing any new 3G equipment for several years now – all new sites have been 2G/4G only.
Got text from ASDA Mobile, they will shutdown 3G in my area (B’ham) “by early 2023”
So all of the times I see 4g drop out and my phone drops to 3g, then what?
With no 3g, no service?
This doesn’t add up, it seems to me like this is a cost-cutting measure and it sounds like actual required level of investment in decent working alternative to 3g is not being made.