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The United Kingdom will phase out and turn off its 2G and 3G networks by 2033, the British government today announced (via TechRadar).

iphone-3g.jpg

BT already committed to ending its 3G service by 2023, but now all major carriers in the UK are in agreement to retire 2G and 3G over the next decade. The networks are due to be switched off as part of plans to accelerate the roll out of 5G across the country. The UK government added that the move also paves the way for future 6G services.

While the number of people reliant on 2G and 3G networks is relatively low, retiring them will allow operators to reclaim spectrum to be used in 4G and 5G networks, as well as save money being spent on powering and maintaining inefficient legacy equipment. 2G may remain in use for longer than 3G because it offers wide coverage and comparatively low power requirements which make it ideal for some IoT deployments.

In the United States, carriers have begun a similar process, with Verizon planning to shut down its 3G network on December 31, 2022.

While the original iPhone from 2007 supported 2G networks, the iPhone did not support 3G until the device's second generation. Such was the importance of 3G connectivity to the second-generation iPhone that it was called the "iPhone 3G." The iPhone did not get 4G until the launch of the iPhone 5 in 2012, and the drive toward 5G across the industry did not gather pace until the launch of the iPhone 12 lineup last year.

Article Link: UK to Shut Down 2G and 3G Networks by 2033
What do those do in remote areas? In Colorado plenty of mountain locations do not have data or anything but 3G.
 
Because funnily enough over here, not everywhere has 4G & 5G coverage yet. And lots of places that do.... the coverage is awful!! Try my hometown Ipswich for example. Woeful coverage by all the networks.
Even in Denver there are locations in the city with nothing but voice.
 
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Where I live in UK, there are places where 3G is faster than 4G, and zero 5G.
Have to manually switch over sometimes, also 4G seems to be affected by the wind more than 3G, so areas where 4G is okay becomes unusable but 3G still gave me a connection.
What will happen is that the frequencies used for 2G/3G will be used for 4G/5G and so you should still have a signal. The issue of wind etc. is more likely associated with the actual frequency being used rather than the technology.
 
There are HUGE investments in many industries that utilize 2G/3G. For mass deployments that only need limited data (hence a low bandwidth need for each unit) they were the ideal solution at the time. The UK communications regulatory agency understands why this long tail exists…

Think of the tens of millions of smart electrical meters most utilities have installed, with most likely using 2G/3G. I‘d expect this sector alone to have billions and billions invested in these networks in the UK alone.
 
My town isn’t currently covered by 5G with Vodafone but on a recent visit to Leeds I saw it appear on my iPhone 13 for the first time and to be honest, it was piss poor. Hopefully things improve as it’s rolled out more widely.
 
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The United Kingdom will phase out and turn off its 2G and 3G networks by 2033, the British government today announced (via TechRadar).

iphone-3g.jpg

BT already committed to ending its 3G service by 2023, but now all major carriers in the UK are in agreement to retire 2G and 3G over the next decade. The networks are due to be switched off as part of plans to accelerate the roll out of 5G across the country. The UK government added that the move also paves the way for future 6G services.

While the number of people reliant on 2G and 3G networks is relatively low, retiring them will allow operators to reclaim spectrum to be used in 4G and 5G networks, as well as save money being spent on powering and maintaining inefficient legacy equipment. 2G may remain in use for longer than 3G because it offers wide coverage and comparatively low power requirements which make it ideal for some IoT deployments.

In the United States, carriers have begun a similar process, with Verizon planning to shut down its 3G network on December 31, 2022.

While the original iPhone from 2007 supported 2G networks, the iPhone did not support 3G until the device's second generation. Such was the importance of 3G connectivity to the second-generation iPhone that it was called the "iPhone 3G." The iPhone did not get 4G until the launch of the iPhone 5 in 2012, and the drive toward 5G across the industry did not gather pace until the launch of the iPhone 12 lineup last year.

Article Link: UK to Shut Down 2G and 3G Networks by 2033
This will allow up to 3,651 days for those challenged by evidence, facts, science and logic to invent a new conspiracy theory about everything succeeding 3G. Not that they’ll be hindered by any limits of time for that, but everyone loves a deadline.
 
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Where I live in UK, there are places where 3G is faster than 4G, and zero 5G.
Have to manually switch over sometimes, also 4G seems to be affected by the wind more than 3G, so areas where 4G is okay becomes unusable but 3G still gave me a connection.

exactly, i think many people don't know that 3G can be faster than 4G and 4G can be faster than 5G (and many times actually is), that little symbol on your phone does not guarantee you any speed, it does however guarantee higher battery drain

not only that newer technologies are more energy demanding, poor reception comsumes more battery too

in some countries 3G was totally fast enough for everyday use, few months ago my carrier switched on 5G in my current city which on iphone automatically removes an option for you to choose 3G for the apple reason... and suddenly i was not able to get through the day with my at the time 12pro. 3G - 4/4 perfect reception, 4G - 2-3 bars indoors = poor battery life
 
Per TFA, there still are lots of deices, beyond phones, that use them. Since they are likely not upgradeable that means a whole lot of stuff people use and may depend on suddenly stops working. In addition, they provide coverage in areas without 4 or 5G.



And alarm systems. And some cars. There is more than just phones that use older tech.



But those that do my have value or be hard to replace overnight. For example, some fuel pumps may still use them, which means suddenly cutting it off would mean no more pay at the pump or automated stations in some cases; not to mention data they transmit such as fuel pumped now needs to be done by hand instead of automating refills as tanks get drained.



Not quite yet. M2M needs to be worked out to allow a smooth transition.
By removing 2G and 3G, a ton of technology that people rely on will be rendered obsolete. It's funny how people just think about their iPhones, but then I don't expect anything more.

Power stations communication, shipping, aircraft, train communication, emergency services, (already mentioned alarm systems); All sorts of services rely heavily on 2G and 3G technology. You remove this, and you literally render entire industries dead!

It's not just about how fast you can scroll through Facebook....
 
Where I live in UK, there are places where 3G is faster than 4G, and zero 5G.
In my area, we have about 80 to 85% 3G geographical coverage (judged by eye from a map), maybe 50% 4G coverage and 0% 5G. (This is with Three. It varies a bit across carriers, but none is that amazing.)

I am concerned that there will be little incentive for the carriers to upgrade 4G coverage, and then 5G. And if they can close down 3G before 4G has at least matching coverage, a lot of people will be negatively affected.
 
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