Verizon Shutting Down 3G Network on December 31, 2022

[MacRumors]

Verizon is planning to shut down its 3G network at the end of 2022, effectively ending 3G support, the company announced today. Verizon has pushed back the sunsetting of its 3G network several times now, but it sounds like a concrete end date has finally been established.

We will turn off the last of the 3G CDMA network on December 31, 2022, months after our competitors have shut off their networks completely. The date will not be extended again. We're communicating this again now in order to provide customers plenty of time to complete their migration.

Verizon first announced plans to shut down its 3G network in 2016, and at that time, said that 3G would cease working on December 31, 2019. Verizon ultimately delayed until the end of 2020 to give impacted customers more time to figure out their plans, and then in January 2021, said that the network would not be shut down in the near future.

Though Verizon has kept 3G up and running, it stopped activating 3G phones in July 2018. Verizon says that it has been working with customers who still have 3G devices to transfer them over to 4G and 5G phones, and less than one percent now use the 3G network.

Verizon is encouraging customers with a 3G device to transition to a 4G device now, and as the cutoff date approaches, 3G customers could see a degradation or complete loss of service, with service centers offering "limited troubleshooting help."

Article Link: Verizon Shutting Down 3G Network on December 31, 2022

 

[mtneer]

"Verizon says that it has been working with customers who still have 3G devices to transfer them over to 4G and 5G phones"

Does anyone know what this means specifically? Is VZW giving these holdouts discounts on newer devices? Or are they just being sent texts and communications asking them to upgrade their devices?

 

[munpip214]

There are still a lot of places (in the middle of nowhere) where I still rely on 3G while traveling. Hopefully they can spend some money on improving 4G coverage instead of blowing it all on 5G.

 

[jz0309]

way too late Verizon, should have killed this long ago ...

 

[kalafalas]

Good. Hopefully they can repurpose the spectrum for stronger 4G/5G

 

[adamjackson]

Cool. Thanks Verizon. Glad to see my $150 a month is going to the future development of bringing LTE to my area?

Unfortunately no other carriers in my area even give me service.

We’re communicating this again now in order to provide customers plenty of time to complete their migration.

Migrate to what? I'm using the latest hardware, I run a Verizon Booster which works a bit. This is so frustrating. Maybe they'll get LTE rolled out in my area by December?

 

[iamMacPerson]

Cool. Thanks Verizon. Glad to see my $150 a month is going to the future development of bringing LTE to my area?

Unfortunately no other carriers in my area even give me service.



Migrate to what? I'm using the latest hardware, I run a Verizon Booster which works a bit. This is so frustrating. Maybe they'll get LTE rolled out in my area by December?

They’re shutting down the 3G network to refarm it into LTE. They have already said they intend to have the entire 3G footprint covered with LTE before the shut down.

 

[xraydoc]

They’re shutting down the 3G network to refarm it into LTE. They have already said they intend to have the entire 3G footprint covered with LTE before the shut down.

This might lure me back to Verizon, actually.

 

[adamjackson]

They’re shutting down the 3G network to refarm it into LTE. They have already said they intend to have the entire 3G footprint covered with LTE before the shut down.

That would be amazing news. I could finally stream music on my way to work. My biggest use-case is my HomeKit geofence doesn't work currently. I have it set to unlock my doors and turn the HVAC on and it doesn't work currently because I don't have service when I get "near home"

 

[manu chao]

This is happening in other countries as well. My understanding is that this is mainly about repurposing the spectrum used by 3G. In Verizon’s case, the aspect that CDMA sort-off lost out to GSM might have hastened the demise of their (CDMA) 3G.

This puts into question how much of a bargain the 3G mobile router (that I bought some years ago) really was.

 

[Airforcekid]

Cool. Thanks Verizon. Glad to see my $150 a month is going to the future development of bringing LTE to my area?

Unfortunately no other carriers in my area even give me service.



Migrate to what? I'm using the latest hardware, I run a Verizon Booster which works a bit. This is so frustrating. Maybe they'll get LTE rolled out in my area by December?

You might be on a secondary network. I know in some rural areas of the midwest it shows Verizon but if I look up my IP it shows it through a Verizon partnership or a detailed breakdown of my bill I am actually roaming on another network (Not really roaming in the traditional sense though) I imagine these smaller networks will keep 3G around longer.

 

[Baff]

They’re shutting down the 3G network to refarm it into LTE. They have already said they intend to have the entire 3G footprint covered with LTE before the shut down.

I'm not sure how this will effect me. In my rural, hilly area, on the roads we have about 5% LTE coverage, about 10% is 1x/2x, 85% no coverage. I almost never see 3G. The nearest 5G is over 100 miles away.

 

[i486dx2-66]

way too late Verizon, should have killed this long ago ...

For what it's worth, do consider that the final holdouts on these technology sunsets typically aren't people with ancient phones who are too cheap to upgrade.
It's connected passenger vehicles (OnStar, etc), fleet services, and other commercial/industrial users who have expensive embedded hardware on the network that is either expensive to replace, has no retrofit option available, or is significantly important for the role in which it was deployed.

 

[adamjackson]

I'm not sure how this will effect me. In my rural, hilly area, on the roads we have about 5% LTE coverage, about 10% is 1x/2x, 85% no coverage. I almost never see 3G.

My experience is similar. I see 1X about 15% of the time. in town (8 miles away) I do get LTE but it doesn't feel very fast to me and at the house, 3G but if I go 5 miles past my house away from town, I'm in LTE again. I've been shopping for some land to buy and build on and now for me, the dealbreaker is no service and no Comcast access. If no Comcast or cell phone service, I'm not interested. It's ruled out a lot of places

 

[macinfojunkie]

Cool. Thanks Verizon. Glad to see my $150 a month .....

Yikes that’s expensive!
If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly do you get for what amount? Seems very high for a voice/data plan.

 

[alphaswift]

I think my CPAP device to maintain my breathing while I sleep uses 3G to update itself.

 

[69Mustang]

My father-in-law is going to be super PO'd. He is still rocking a 3G Blackberry smartphone. Refuses to relinquish it. Verizon even offered him a free upgrade a year ago to a Galaxy S10 or iPhone 11. Thanks but no thanks. the man is set in his ways. He's going to have to now. I don't know if he'll survive it.

They went on vacation a couple of months ago and I upgraded their internet from AT&T's Internet 10/1 to Fiber1000... which lowered their cost by $20/mth. They hadn't upgraded in over a decade.

 

[Lozza013]

Telstra meanwhile won’t shut off 3G till 2024 which is a bit silly considering most of Australia is covered by 4G. I’m sure Optus and Vodafone are not far behind.

 

[deeddawg]

"Verizon says that it has been working with customers who still have 3G devices to transfer them over to 4G and 5G phones"

Does anyone know what this means specifically? Is VZW giving these holdouts discounts on newer devices? Or are they just being sent texts and communications asking them to upgrade their devices?

There's also a lot of non-cellphone devices that rely on the 3G networks.

We'd been using a StraightTalk HomePhone device for our legacy home telephone line - it used Verizon 3G service and let us keep the home phone functioning at a cost of ~$16/mo vs the $55-60/mo AT&T wanted for the POTS line. We'd been getting emails from StraightTalk about needing to buy a new device. Ended up just dropping it instead.

The after-market remote-start in my truck also uses the Verizon 3G service - it's what lets me lock/unlock/start my truck from my phone or watch -- handy if I'm in the garage and need to grab something out of the truck without going back in the house for my keys. The maker of the device is encouraging changing the hardware and offering an incentive to do so. Nice to know there's a bit more runway.

 

[Apple_Robert]

We have heard this 3G song before.

 

[adamjackson]

Yikes that’s expensive!
If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly do you get for what amount? Seems very high for a voice/data plan.

I'm happy to share.

Here's a screen shot

I'm on the road enough (first phone) that I tether to my iPad Pro and want a pretty high data cap / limit on that first phone + iPad.

The second phone, my wife's is still on an iPhone 11 Pro payment plan and she doesn't travel as much so she just has the standard unlimited. The $10 extra per month I spend gets iPad Pro 30GB of tethering data which is the same price if I just had the iPad on our plan as its own device ($10).

 

[mariusignorello]

My father-in-law is going to be super PO'd. He is still rocking a 3G Blackberry smartphone. Refuses to relinquish it. Verizon even offered him a free upgrade a year ago to a Galaxy S10 or iPhone 11. Thanks but no thanks. the man is set in his ways. He's going to have to now. I don't know if he'll survive it.

They went on vacation a couple of months ago and I upgraded their internet from AT&T's Internet 10/1 to Fiber1000... which lowered their cost by $20/mth. They hadn't upgraded in over a decade.

It’s sad when people like this throw a temper tantrum over something that might actually benefit them. Is it wisdom or is it just being too stubborn for your own good?

 

[iamMacPerson]

This might lure me back to Verizon, actually.

I wouldn’t expect faster speeds, at least at first. The problem would be the internet connection serving the tower not the service itself. But this was concerning to me when they first talked about killing 3G because I take a lot of ‘out of the way’ road trips every year (pre-Covid) and find myself on 3G a lot as well. It would be very short sighted for them to lose their claim to fame.

EDIT: I should also add Verizon’s objective here in not to kill 3G, it’s to kill CDMA. So again, don’t expect blazing speeds in these areas even with LTE.

 

[jz0309]

For what it's worth, do consider that the final holdouts on these technology sunsets typically aren't people with ancient phones who are too cheap to upgrade.
It's connected passenger vehicles (OnStar, etc), fleet services, and other commercial/industrial users who have expensive embedded hardware on the network that is either expensive to replace, has no retrofit option available, or is significantly important for the role in which it was deployed.

I’m aware of that, but it has held up LTE and 5G deployment... it’s time to move on, for everyone.

 

[Baff]

the dealbreaker is no service and no Comcast access. If no Comcast or cell phone service, I'm not interested.

Why Comcast? Starlink should be available just about everywhere by the end of the year.