You made the decision. You were going to stop driving your car, and start taking public transportation. No more high gas prices. No more car insurance payments. No more car payments. Just a small monthly bus/train pass per month. So you decided to treat yourself (and keep your sanity) by playing a few online casino games on cash casino, an online casino website that you heard great reviews about.
So you go to the bus stop, take out your phone, and BAM … no internet. You think, “Network’s down. There is a lot of construction going on. Somebody screwed up.” You let it. But two weeks later, the problem has still not been fixed. You start to think that obviously something else is going on, and you would be right.
There is no “error code” to show you what is going on because it is an error condition that nobody expected to happen when your device was produced. But it did happen … Good-bye 2G. Good-bye 3G. Welcome, 5G.
What is 2G, 3G, 4G, 4G LTE, and G5? I just want to play my game!
At this point in time, there is no point in getting too much into the technical differences. What I can say simply is this:
- 2G – Released in 1992 in the United States.
- 3G – Standardized in 2001. Development started in 1992. Research began in the 1980s. Released in 2002 by Verizon.
- 4G – Standards were formally adopted in 2008. The network released in the United States in 2012 with 5 networks.
- 4G LTE – Released in the United States in 2010.
- 5G – 2019 began to be rolled out
By 2019, almost nobody was using 2G or 3G networks. Prepaid, no data phones, security systems, and medical device companies were the major customers of these networks.
The decision was made that since a majority of “cell phone and mobile data” customers were already on 4G networks, customers would be given a 3 year warning and then the 2G and 3G networks would be shut down and converted to 5G. Simple, right! Not so fast.
Why wasn’t I told that my phone would stop working? (or my medical device or my security system)
Most likely because somebody “did not know”. Each device has its own reasons.
First, phone customers. Most people, especially the ones who just want a phone to be a phone, did even know that their phone was using the 2G or 3G network. The lived by the philosophy, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Even though the phone said it was 4G, it does not mean that everything was 4G. Data might be 3G while the phone calls might be 4G. Or the phone calls might be on 4G, but the data might be on 3G.
For security systems and medical devices, the manufacturers went with the cheapest data connection technology. How many times does your medical device or your security system need to send data or do a phone call? Not much. And usually, it is in the form of a text message or a pre-recorded message. As long as the information is getting out within a reasonably expected period of time, the system worked.
What is the timeline for 2G and 3G shutdown / conversion to 5G?
On top of that, not every country is implementing the change over at the same time or in the same order. In Wikipedia’s 3G article, there is a table with the timelines: 3G Phase out
First, double check with your country’s official press release about the topic.
Second, not every country is just flipping a switch.
Important note: A lot of old equipment has landline connections as well as cellular connections. If you have a landline in your home, you may just need to plug in the device to a landline.
United States:
The United States is one of the countries that is just “flipping the switch”. They are cutting the system over, and that is it. For phone customers, a lot of cell phone companies are “giving out” new 4G and 5G phones for both existing and new customers. You just pay for service, with 4G being cheaper than 5G. You see these deals even in places like Walmart and Target. It is in everybody’s best interest to get “old customers” changed over as quickly as possible.
For security and medical device companies, they were theoretically supposed to have done the change over during 2020 and 2021, but due to lockdowns, things did not go as quickly or as smoothly as people had hoped.
In the United States, T-Mobile is the last holdout until July 01, 2022.
European Union:
The European Union is taking a more phased approach. First, they are shutting down 3G and all 3G customers will automatically switch to 2G. The theory being “bad service is better than no service”. But that is not going to last forever, it is just to give security and medical companies more time to change out old equipment for new equipment.
Some countries have already completely changed over, while others have a target date of 3Q 2022 (September 2022).
Israel:
Israel is another country that is taking a phased approach. Israel has a lot of customers who use old style flip phones due to personal reasons of not wanting data plans on their phones. So all of those customers need to switch over to 4G or 5G.
First, 2G was shut down. Then 3G data was shut down. Finally, 3G phone service is going to be shut down. Israel is now at the place where existing phone service customers, for right now, can keep their 3G plan, but companies are not allowing any new 3G phones to connect to the network. So they are slowly trying to get customers off of the 3G networks.
Israel’s end date for the conversion is the start of 2025.
Can I just go onto any website that is selling phones and buy a new phone?
No. I just went onto Amazon’s website and typed “2G flip phone” in the search engine. Guess what, the very first item was “F1 Smallest Flip Cellphone F1 GSM Unlocked 2G Mini Phone 32MB+32MB MTK6261 300mAh Bluetooth Mini Backup Pocket Portable Mobile Phone Gift for Kid (Blue) “.
Can somebody please explain to me why that is NOT illegal? The government shuts down the 2G network and stores are still allowed to sell 2G only phones advertised as “kids phones”? It is one thing to say, “This is a toy.” So you give the toddler the “2G phone”, so the toddler does not play with mommy’s 4G or 5G phone.
In very small letters it says, “Unlocked 2G phone: supports GSM 900/1800/850/1900MHz.Some sim card carriers have cut off 2G and 3G network, please make sure your sim card supports 2G GSM network.”
But seriously, $30 for essentially a toy phone. Toy phones generally sell for around $10, so you are paying $20 more for a “toy”. Talk about “a fool and his money are soon parted.”
As of June 2022, 1 week before the last 2G/3G line gets shut down and Amazon is selling:
- 314 phones that only run on 2G networks.
- 234 phones that only run on 3G networks.
There is nothing wrong with companies being allowed to sell these phones as toys, but they should be priced as toys and there should be huge letters in the heading that say “THIS IS ONLY A TOY” (like Buzz Lightyear had to have on his packaging)
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