AT&T Shuts Down 2G Network and Ends Cellular Connectivity for Original iPhone

[Chupa Chupa]

2G might be officially dead now but my unlimited data plan survives. Still have my original iPhone along with my original FireWire iPod and and an old Sony TV from college, also obsolete. Somewhere I have a portable CD player and typewriter. Ha.

 

[meaning-matters]

Step-by-step his legacy fades away.

 

[Taisiya]

my car's hardwwired anti-theft tracking system runs on AT&T 2G.

guess it's time to either install a new system.

 

[usarioclave]

The only original iPhone devices that could use T-Mobile were jailbroken. Remember, not only did you have to pay full price for an iPhone, you were required to have a two-year contract and the device was permanently locked to AT&T in the United States.

At some point you could unlock them from AT&T's website somewhere.

Oh, and yeah EDGE was slow, but it was still faster than nothing, which is what most people had. I have vague memories of using a WAP browser in some phone or another, and it was really terrible. Things took a long time, but a long time was still faster than "impossible."

 

[konqerror]

I find it amazing that a country the size of the USA can have 3G coverage everywhere (or no coverage at all.) GSM, GPRS and Edge had further reach, if nothing else.

No, the newer technologies have better reach, all other things being equal. For the same data rate, WCDMA requires 3 dB less signal strength than EDGE. It was just the economics of upgrading rural sites that resulted in greater 2G coverage.

 

[toph2toast]

What about all these sensors devices, monitoring, alarms - devices with GSM communication? They are dead now. Did all these devices migrate to newer (3G+) versions or switched to non-AT&T instead?

I'll apologize in advance if this was already answered - haven't made it through all the comments yet. Regarding monitoring (assuming you're talking about security systems for homes/businesses) the company I use sent out a letter saying they would upgrade the transmitter I have in my closet for free due to the 2G network shutting down.

 

[Speechless]

Fortunately, the only folks who will be pissed are on 2G, so we won't see their comments for a while.

View attachment 684166

OH MY GOD

 

[iPhysicist]

Lucky, the phone coverage in Germany is still utter crap and i have a plan on all three.
[...]
So embarrassing for a european country.

Rant over 😀

You know that LTE has been developed in Dresden Germany? But maybe just for export 😳

 

[Avenged110]

Joke fail.
You wouldn't be able to browse a site like MacRumors on a 2G connection.

I'm posting this from an iPhone 5 running on EDGE just to prove that it's fine. Took about 2x longer than using LTE, which is actually rather impressive.

 

[Cineplex]

Who's paying the bill? An organization as big as SF has their own dedicated account manager who's job is to liaise on things like this. Besides, you think they sent somebody to a store and ordered 1000 lines on their credit card? (MUNI has over 1,000 vehicles, then add bus stops) They have dedicated telemetry/IoT plans which would have been flagged.

May not be totally accurate. The company that provides the telemetry service may be the one paying the bill. SF may just pay them a monthly service contract rate for everything (software, support, cell service). A lot of major vendors like that do exactly that. The telemetry company may have the entire bulk service billed as a whole. They simply add SIMS to the account and that is it. They pay by usage and not SIM from what I understand. Since these are embedded devices they may be even harder to track since they are not billed in a way that makes sense. Add to that the company that makes the GSM module that the telemetry company purchased...may not have told anyone that it's not 3G compatible. Its probably some crazy Chinese made part with very little information other than "GSM" printed on it.

I had a similar situation happen to me in a large company when WiDEN was shutdown before iDEN in 2005. The vendor of the product had not idea there was a difference or that it even supported one and not the other. It was a very custom integration. I imagine this is closer to the real story.

 

[MacNut]

It's stupid Tim Cook's fault.

He SOOO needs to go.

Stupid MacRumors.

An article about a ten year old iPhone.

No articles on new Macs.

Where are the new Macs?

Stupid Jony, too.

All stupid.

That's some good sarcasm. Unless you are being serious in which case, have a cookie.

 

[Larry The L]

Very inconsiderate for those that are in a 10 year upgrade cycle.

Phones aren't that expensive these days. Surely, you've saved up enough money in 10 years to buy a new phone. If you think it will help you, you can have the tin cans and string I used to make a phone when I was a kid.
[doublepost=1484690570][/doublepost]

It's stupid Tim Cook's fault.

He SOOO needs to go.

Stupid MacRumors.

An article about a ten year old iPhone.

No articles on new Macs.

Where are the new Macs?

Stupid Jony, too.

All stupid.

There are medications that can help. Thorazine comes to mind.
[doublepost=1484690701][/doublepost]

First world problems... um..

Don't you think that phrase has become so overused as to become the expression from someone who just doesn't want to (or is unable to) think more creatively. And why would you want to insult the person whose post you are referring to just because he mentioned some observations about cell coverage in his country? Sheesh.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I don't remember 2G iPhone ever seeming slow before the 3G iPhone came out. Was it really that slow or have I just forgotten?

It was slow. Just watch the Steve Jobs original iPhone intro demo to get an idea. Don't you remember those gray checkerboards on the maps app?

 

[coolfactor]

It was stupid that the original iPhone could only run 2g when 3g technology existed at the time, but I digress.

I waited until the iPhone 3G before getting my first smartphone. I don't think coverage was that good before that model came out. Nothing stupid about it, really.

 

[kiranmk2]

Strange - I'm sure I read that (in the UK, at least) 3G would likely be switched off before 2G (leaving 2G and 4G) as so many low level devices rely on 2G.

 

[tooloud10]

Joke fail.
You wouldn't be able to browse a site like MacRumors on a 2G connection. They would be using wi-fi, which would be unaffected by this.

Of course you could browse Macrumors on a 2G/Edge connection. Heck, I remember streaming music over Edge sometimes.

 

[AppleScruff1]

It takes courage to shut down 2G.

 

[smirking]

If you think it will help you, you can have the tin cans and string I used to make a phone when I was a kid.

I'm pretty sure the post from Appleaker was a joke.

The one from justiny was most likely sarcasm too.
[doublepost=1484691901][/doublepost]

Of course you could browse Macrumors on a 2G/Edge connection. Heck, I remember streaming music over Edge sometimes.

I remember trying to watch video on a Ricochet modem!

 

[kwikdeth]

Disconnect your current phone from power, leave it on airplane mode, don't use it for anything but white noise.. I guarantee you double or tireless that battery life. Ignorant comment....

how is it ignorant that pointing out that an apple device still gets 10 hours of battery life after 10 years? its a comment that the device is still very useful and reliable after a decade.
let me find my mirror here to show you the definition of ignorant comment.

 

[joueboy]

Meanwhile on T-Mobile my iPhone 7 still picking up GPRS. It's funny how Legere brags about his network.

 

[Wowereit]

Lucky, the phone coverage in Germany is still utter crap and i have a plan on all three.

Was in Costa Rica for vacation, even had LTE in the jungle and never saw anything below 3G. Got back home and just out of Frankfurt ... 1 bar of edge before dying completely. At my parents place i turn on airplane mode and use wifi cuz 1 bar of edge is useless. Some places i even see "GPRS"!

At the train station in Stuttgart it shows me 3G but nothing loads. So embarrassing for a european country.

Rant over 😀

I'm always surprised how much better mobile data is when I'm outside of Germany.
Lower prices, better availability, higher maximum speeds. Even much poorer countries offer way better mobile networking.

 

[goobot]

The only original iPhone devices that could use T-Mobile were jailbroken. Remember, not only did you have to pay full price for an iPhone, you were required to have a two-year contract and the device was permanently locked to AT&T in the United States.

The original iPhone didn't have upgrade pricing and thus everyone had to pay full price and had no contracts.

 

[balticgreen]

Yup... some BMW owners were really ticked off by this. I get it that things get phased out, but some of the BMWs affected by this were as late as 2014 model year. I know on some models they are offering a new cell. module to make it work again.

They offered replacement modules to owners who had active BMW Assist contracts. I do and they offered me a replacement module, which I accepted, but I'm still waiting for an installation date.

 

[seanmcbay]

Did anyone even use edge today? I remember thinking it was painfully slow even back in 2007.

 

[arpiggies]

EDGE still works on T-Mobile! I fired up my iPhone 1s yesterday just to recharge the battery, and it came up fine.

1S - HILARIOUS....
[doublepost=1484697022][/doublepost]

It's stupid Tim Cook's fault.

He SOOO needs to go.

Stupid MacRumors.

An article about a ten year old iPhone.

No articles on new Macs.

Where are the new Macs?

Stupid Jony, too.

All stupid.

Your current hardware attributes are fairly dated, with the exception of your Apple TV. So why do you care?