Switching off the UK’s 2G and 3G mobile networks

[NomoneyNohoney]

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecom ... switch-off

The 2G and 3G mobile networks are gradually being switched off over the next few years. Here’s what this means for you as a customer....

[U962]

Curiously missing from the article was that your smart meter will no longer work and will need a different communications hub installed

[JohnB]

This will leave about 7 million homes without working smart meters, adding to the 3 million installed devices that already weren’t working as of March 2023, says the report.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/23 ... will-mean/

Another part of the smart meter fiasco.

[bungeejumper]

Some other devices, such as care alarms, security alarms and payment terminals, might also use the 3G network. If you have a device like this, it might need to be upgraded to make sure it still works after the 3G networks are switched off.

So did that say care alarms or car alarms? I've certainly heard that some vehicles' systems will prove mighty difficult to upgrade, or even impossible at any affordable price. But care alarms? Would be a whole new can of worms.

BJ

[88V8]

The 2G and 3G mobile networks are gradually being switched off over the next few years. Here’s what this means for you as a customer....

I'm with giffgaff and my Nokia 3110 will still work, likewise OH's Nokia 5130.
So I can continue to be exempt from 'progress' for a while longer

V8

[swill453]

The 2G and 3G mobile networks are gradually being switched off over the next few years. Here’s what this means for you as a customer....

I'm with giffgaff and my Nokia 3110 will still work, likewise OH's Nokia 5130.
So I can continue to be exempt from 'progress' for a while longer

3G is definitely being switched off as we speak. 2G will be around for a while yet, possibly up to 2033 as the article states.

Scott.

[bungeejumper]

I'm with giffgaff and my Nokia 3110 will still work

3G is definitely being switched off as we speak. 2G will be around for a while yet, possibly up to 2033 as the article states.

Giffgaff operates on the 02 network, which won't be ending 3G until, ooooh, 2025. Better start saving up for a cheapo Alcatel.

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

Some other devices, such as care alarms, security alarms and payment terminals, might also use the 3G network. If you have a device like this, it might need to be upgraded to make sure it still works after the 3G networks are switched off.

So did that say care alarms or car alarms? I've certainly heard that some vehicles' systems will prove mighty difficult to upgrade, or even impossible at any affordable price. But care alarms? Would be a whole new can of worms.

BJ

Possibly not. I don't imagine many care alarms have a long lifetime between being needed and being no longer relevant.

Is 2G really going? I thought it was 3G that was more trouble than it was ever worth!

[bungeejumper]

So did that say care alarms or car alarms?

Possibly not. I don't imagine many care alarms have a long lifetime between being needed and being no longer relevant.

Now I come to think of it, the majority of personal care alarms used to run off the domestic landline phone, although I suppose one might need something else if one were roaming the grounds of one's country estate? My old mum was one of the many elderly people who'd press her alarm button whenever she got fed up with her own company and wanted a little chat. And the providers regarded that as part of the service. Not least, because then they knew for sure that the equipment was working.

Ahem, back to the point: Remember the days when it was quite a big deal to fit a fancy car with a tracker device that would help the police to locate it if it got stolen? Most of the old ones used 2G or 3G, and indeed many do.

Nowadays of course, thousands of young drivers have an insurance black box, and every Uber cab and every Amazon delivery driver seems to have have a spy in the cab. (One reason why our local villages were always so popular with commercial travellers at lunchtme, because we were in a mobile notspot where they couldn't be chased and hassled.)

The apparent scale of the 3G problem for car owners can be seen at https://www.vehicletracksolutions.co.uk ... -affected/, which has an impressive list of models dating up to as recently as 2021 which will require conversion to 4G/5G.

Or so the company says. But then, it would, wouldn't it?

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

Ahem, back to the point: Remember the days when it was quite a big deal to fit a fancy car with a tracker device that would help the police to locate it if it got stolen? Most of the old ones used 2G or 3G, and indeed many do.

Umm, I thought 2G only dated from the 1990s?

We called it "the data network" when we produced such devices in the 1980s. The technology may have looked not dissimilar to 2G, but the name and standardisation were not yet there.

[kiloran]

I don't imagine many care alarms have a long lifetime between being needed and being no longer relevant.

Not sure about that. My mum had a red-button care alarm for the best part of 20 years. And the service was truly wonderful.

--kiloran