OUT WITH THE OLD
Carriers are moving to next-generation 5G, will turn off the older network
Carriers are ditching the still-used 3G network as 5G rolls in.
“By 2022, I might have 30,000 miles. I don’t need or want a new car just to get OnStar to continue working.”
Herman Storey
5
G may be coming, but 3G is going away.
It was the first really useful mobile data service, holding so much promise in its initial years that the very first iPhone was dinged by critics for not supporting it.
But as wireless carriers ramp up plans for 5G, the next-generation data network, they’re scavenging spectrum from 3G and, soon, will be turning it off altogether.
While 3G may have been supplanted by 4G LTE some time ago, it’s still in use. Those who have not wanted to get a smartphone and who still use older, “feature phone” cellular devices rely on it. And there are some places in rural America where LTE is still not available, where modern phones fall back to 3G networks.
Some 4G data plans still rely on 3G for some features. For example, I have a T-Mobile plan aimed at people over 55 that limits its hot spot capability — in which the phone converts cellular signals to WiFi so other devices can connect to the internet — to 3G only.
Then there’s the case of Herman Storey, a retired Shell Oil executive who is wondering about what will happen to the OnStar service in his 2014 Cadillac CTS. His vehicle is the last model that used 3G provided by AT&T for the OnStar service, and that carrier plans to shut down its 3G network in 2022.
“I have 26,000 miles on the car. By 2022, I might have 30,000 miles. I don’t need or want a new car just to get OnStar to continue working,” he said.
Introduced in 1996, OnStar provided safety features such as crash notification and security alerts. Users could press a button and talk to an OnStar concierge and get directions. The service evolved to also allow voice calls, as well as communicate to owners about the status of their vehicles, a feature known as telematics.
AT&T took over the wireless service for OnStar from Verizon in 2013 and switched to 4G service in late 2014 — after Storey bought his Caddy.
“I like getting the monthly email that tells me my tire needs a little air, or it’s time for an oil change,” Storey said, adding that he relies on his iPhone for most of the features available from OnStar.
GM spokesperson Stuart Fowle said OnStar’s voice calling is no longer offered on new vehicles, but there has been no announcement as to when it might go away on older models. There also has been no word on the telematics services.
All three of the major carriers in the United States are planning to eventually decommission their 3G service. When that will happen is not always clear, however.
Late last month, AT&T sent an email to customers whose 4G smartphones still use the voice-calling aspect of 3G, warning that their phones would quit working and urging them to buy a new phone that supports Voice over LTE, or VoLTE. But what AT&T didn’t say in the email is that this would not happen until 2022. Customers would have had to tap on a link to learn that date.
Later, the tech website Android Police acquired apparent internal T-Mobile documents that indicated that the same thing would happen to its customers who still relied on 3G for voice in January 2021. TMobile would not confirm that the information in the documents was accurate, but did send a formal statement:
“We haven’t shared timing for when we’ll phase out older technologies. We’ve only sold VoLTEcapable devices for years, and that’s why the overwhelming majority of devices on our network are already VoLTE capable. But we’re working to get everyone on to VoLTE devices for the best network experience.”
AT&T and T-Mobile have said they plan to use the spectrum used by 3G for its more advanced networks, though neither would say exactly how it will be used.
Verizon is taking a different approach. In an interview, spokesperson Karen Schulz said the carrier has very few 3G customers left. As its 3G users upgrade to 4G or leave the network, Verizon has been “organically moving” the resources used for 3G to its 4G network.
“As we do so, we have been carving away blocks of 3G spectrum and repurposing it for 4G,” Schulz said.
Verizon has no fixed date for shutting down 3G, she said, adding “we are not seeing a need to make a hard stop at this point.”
“We have talked about the end of 2020 (for shutting down 3G), but we will continue to take care of our customers still using it,” Schulz said.
So what are the options for users of devices that still use 3G? For those who prefer old-school phones, such as flip phones, there are 4G versions of those available.
But for folks like Storey, there may or may not be a solution. It’s possible that a GM dealer could replace the 3G OnStar module with a 4G version, at some expense to Storey. GM’s Fowle said customers like him “count on the same service they expect, and as needed we will communicate updates and options for future service.”
But there are other instances of 3G tech in nonphone uses, such as in sensors, home alarm systems and notebook computers. Those components will all need to be replaced, or the devices themselves scrapped, or at some points, those who rely on them will sudden find they do not work.