Verizon Again Delays Plans to Shut Down 3G Network

[mlody]

Does this mean that iPhone 12 users will be able to switch to 3G if needed? Right now, 3G is no longer available on iPhone 12, but it is on previous models.

 

[technole]

Does this mean that iPhone 12 users will be able to switch to 3G if needed? Right now, 3G is no longer available on iPhone 12, but it is on previous models.

That's not true at-all. All iPhone 12s have HSPA and EVDO which is 3G. Otherwise it's your carrier.

 

[technole]

I've visited a decent amount of datacenters throughout my career and noted there's still a good amount hardware out there that fall back on 3G as well as traffic cameras.

I wish carriers were more interested in truly expanding their network coast to coast instead of drag racing speed tests. I can hold a Discord call driving in the hills from Seattle to the Oregon border no problem but am without service/roaming for an hour on flat I-76/I-80 from Colorado to Nebraska.

Viaero Wireless practically owns E Colorado and Western Nebraska spectrum and has LTE. It's no different than say GCI in Alaska, and carriers like T-Mobile use them exclusively for service in those areas.

GCI covers practically all the townships and villages in AK, that's just not practical for even VZW or TM to cover all of it.

 

[EdT]

Verizon doesn't want to lose customers, so it's likely they will upgrade those towers for better coverage before shutting down the 3G network.

Verizon doesn’t have any competition outside of the 2 large Metro areas. AT&T and T Mobile don’t have good service anywhere in the state and it’s non existent everywhere else. Look at maps of coverage of the United States and anything west of the Missouri and north of Texas is almost all Verizon until you get to Pacific Coast states. Not a lot of people but a hell of a lot of physical area.

 

[EdT]

Verizon doesn't want to lose customers, so it's likely they will upgrade those towers for better coverage before shutting down the 3G network.

To be brutally honest, Verizon could probably gain more customers and make more money by upgrading areas with something higher than 10 people per square mile, then also expand interstate coverage and let the other 90% of the state fend for itself. And that’s probably true in Nebraska, Wyoming, North and South Dakota and Montana and Idaho. Could also be true in southwestern states like Utah and Nevada but I don’t know if they have as low of a population density.