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Do you still use a 3G device (that can't get 4G or 5G)? Vodafone, EE and Three are switching off their 3G networks in 2023 or 2024. O2 hasn't announced a 3G shutdown date as yet. Basingstoke and Plymouth will lose Vodafone 3G in February.
2G will still be available after 3G switch off (except Three which doesn't have 2G).
Other switch offs previously discussed on here (for example terrestrial TV and the analogue phone service) has caused some forum members to be concerned or even outraged.
Do any forum members have similar concerns about the imminent 3G switch off?
My spare dumbphone in my drawer used for things like a backup when hillwalking won't work for data very well, but as long as 2G remains it will still be OK. I'd not touch Three with a bargepole, their coverage is terrible.
Three ruined a day on a visit in London when the network went down and I was going through London having to rely on public wifi. Ever since Ive been using EE and the signal has been much better. Getting 4G signal in some of the Argyle Line tunnels and stations.
As for whether I use a 3G device, I upgraded to a 5G phone last month from 4G so nope!
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My spare dumbphone in my drawer used for things like a backup when hillwalking won't work for data very well, but as long as 2G remains it will still be OK. I'd not touch Three with a bargepole, their coverage is terrible.
I've been using Three for about 10 years for voice calls and texts without any problem. I've also used them about half the time for data, with EE about half the time, depending which has a good deal. (I have been using dual SIM phones for years). Both have been generally fine for me but Three can be slow in busy places like central London. That sometimes happens with EE, but less so. Both EE and Three claim over 99% 4G population coverage, but EE also measures geographical coverage, so you would expect EE to be the best in rural areas. But I don't travel to rural areas much, so that doesn't really matter to me. I use streaming radio exclusively in the car and it nearly always works using either Three or EE, even when travelling long distance.
I've recently switched to Lebara (Vodafone network) because it is very cheap. I've been reluctant to switch to a network using Vodafone until now as they historically lagged behind Three and EE for 4G coverage. But they now claim 99% 4G population coverage and so far in my experience, coverage has been good enough. It is wise to carry a spare SIM from a different network anyway in case you need it.
I do briefly at work still use a 3G device, though not in a personal capacity, when the driver with the delivery hands me his or her tablet, it's a 3G tablet. It means my company will have to invest in new tablets for RDC drivers.
As an aside I got several messages from TalkMobile (Vodafone budget brand) about me using a '3G' device to access the Internet but this isn't the case. My phone supports 4G but not for voice calls (at least not on Talkmobile). However it does frequently fall back to 3G when I'm in certain areas or making a voice call so perhaps this is what triggered the messages. Presumably that means I'll lose HD Voice calling.
I do however have a 3G device, mainly a 3G modem in a laptop, but I just tether so have no concerns about this being rendered useless (my laptop is ex corporate and getting on a bit).
My spare dumbphone in my drawer used for things like a backup when hillwalking won't work for data very well, but as long as 2G remains it will still be OK. I'd not touch Three with a bargepole, their coverage is terrible.
Has already happened in parts of the USA. I have a very old USA T-Mobile SIM which on my recent visit was in a 3g handset. No signal at all in parts of Florida. Alongside, my UK "three" SIM (which still has free roaming) in a 4g handset connected itself to AT&T where I had no voice service at all; only data and SMS. Apparently AT&T use VOLTE as their voice protocol and only "permit" a limited range of handsets, not including my Sony. So for both services, I'll have to do something before my next visit - probably using an internet-based virtual number for voice, and a different handset for the T-Mob SIM.
Percentages by population are marketing garbage, basically saying 1% or about 700,000 people won’t get it near or in their homes.
I often walk in the country and plenty of places where they haven’t even installed 2G yet, 4G is patchy in most rural towns, and 5G virtually non existent outside cities.
Percentages by population are marketing garbage, basically saying 1% or about 700,000 people won’t get it near or in their homes.
I often walk in the country and plenty of places where they haven’t even installed 2G yet, 4G is patchy in most rural towns, and 5G virtually non existent outside cities.
99% population coverage is better than any other radio service in history. There was great expense spent in installing UHF terrestrial television which is considered essentially universal, with most of the 1000+ transmitters covering small populations, yet that only ever reached 98% population coverage. Rural 4G coverage is perceived to be low, but it is actually very widespread in actual settlements (so not isolated farmhouses). In populated villages, you would have to be very unlucky not to be served on 4G by at least one network. Depending on what you call a "city", 5G is available in many places that aren't cities. Haywards Heath, Tidworth and Liskeard are not normally classed as cities. EE already has 50% population coverage on 5G.
Three is especially poor in London, but it is very good in Scotland
I was hiking in a rural area and surprisingly got signal when I was resting. This saved my day as I had to cut short my hike due to cancellation of my onward transport, otherwise I would have been stranded.
Three is especially poor in London, but it is very good in Scotland
I was hiking in a rural area and surprisingly got signal when I was resting. This saved my day as I had to cut short my hike due to cancellation of my onward transport, otherwise I would have been stranded.
I haven't had many issues with coverage on Three, although it was rather frustrating when they ended their 2G backup (provided by T-Mobile, if I remember correctly) as this gave better coverage when out in the sticks. I have a dual SIM phone with a prepay Tesco SIM in the second slot and this seems to cover most gaps.
I still have my first 3G phone - a Sony Ericsson K800i. I had to use it recently when trying to diagnose a SIM fault, and not only did it have a little bit of charge left in the battery after years sitting in a box, it lasted well over a week when I did fully charge it. They don't make them like they used to!
In order to provide coverage parity with other networks in the UK, Three initially maintained a national roaming agreement with an established 2G network operator. Until 2006, O2 operated this service for Three customers. However, Orange was selected as the new national roaming partner from 10 May 2006.
When in a large crowd that overwhelms the WiFi and Mobile (Football, Concerts, some Cricket) signal I frequently downgrade my handset to 3G and enjoy an ignored band with fast enough data.
5G is pretty sucky, unless you're stationary and the cell isn't in high demand.
Do you still use a 3G device (that can't get 4G or 5G)? Vodafone, EE and Three are switching off their 3G networks in 2023 or 2024. O2 hasn't announced a 3G shutdown date as yet. Basingstoke and Plymouth will lose Vodafone 3G in February.
2G will still be available after 3G switch off (except Three which doesn't have 2G).
Other switch offs previously discussed on here (for example terrestrial TV and the analogue phone service) has caused some forum members to be concerned or even outraged.
Do any forum members have similar concerns about the imminent 3G switch off?
Yes, my dad's iPad is 3G only, I still use it for minor things (however, it is getting old now) but nothing too much that I'll be concerned about the switch off on that device.
I still have my iPhone which can connect to 5G although with O2, that is a complete rarity and most of the time, it won't connect to 4G either, so by default I am constantly stuck with 3G, so on my phone, I am slightly concerned about the switch off, because if O2 doesn't rapidly improve their network, out of my house, I won't have any connection at all for the majority of the time...
Yes, my dad's iPad is 3G only, I still use it for minor things (however, it is getting old now) but nothing too much that I'll be concerned about the switch off on that device.
I still have my iPhone which can connect to 5G although with O2, that is a complete rarity and most of the time, it won't connect to 4G either, so by default I am constantly stuck with 3G, so on my phone, I am slightly concerned about the switch off, because if O2 doesn't rapidly improve their network, out of my house, I won't have any connection at all for the majority of the time...
O2 haven't announced any plans to switch off 3G, probably because smart meters use O2 on 2G or 3G. Staying on O2 doesn't sound like a good idea in your area anyway!
O2 haven't announced any plans to switch off 3G, probably because smart meters use O2 on 2G or 3G. Staying on O2 doesn't sound like a good idea in your area anyway!
When in a large crowd that overwhelms the WiFi and Mobile (Football, Concerts, some Cricket) signal I frequently downgrade my handset to 3G and enjoy an ignored band with fast enough data.
I do this when I’m working on festival sites. It’s fine for a couple of days rigging but the moment 100,000 of the great unwashed enter the ring 4G becomes unusable.
To be fair it is pretty absurd that 3 Data coverage in Mayfair is unusably dire CF Vodafone working on 5G
( As we found out when G-Network contracted next business day SLA turned out to really mean 2 weeks)
Three ruined a day on a visit in London when the network went down and I was going through London having to rely on public wifi. Ever since Ive been using EE and the signal has been much better. Getting 4G signal in some of the Argyle Line tunnels and stations.
I'm not sure this is something to hold against Three, it's something that could happen to any network, didn't the o2 network go down for multiple days not too long ago?
I'm with Three, although have RWG as a backup, my devices are 4G, but being in a remote area, can only get 3G.
Apparently, Three will turn off its 3G network by the end of 2024
I do this when I’m working on festival sites. It’s fine for a couple of days rigging but the moment 100,000 of the great unwashed enter the ring 4G becomes unusable.
Many smartphones always try for the highest "G", ignoring the quality or saturation of the band. I've found 5G to be exceptional in a low contention area bang next to the mast and woeful when moving around or when large crowds build.
I'm guessing you have your own radios for site comms, though you must have the same struggle getting off site, unless there's some leased line provision or sat comms.
I'm not sure this is something to hold against Three, it's something that could happen to any network, didn't the o2 network go down for multiple days not too long ago?
Dunno about that but EE took their network off line a few weeks ago for maintenance /reconfiguration
It is a real pain for very agile businesses like mine
I do briefly at work still use a 3G device, though not in a personal capacity, when the driver with the delivery hands me his or her tablet, it's a 3G tablet. It means my company will have to invest in new tablets for RDC drivers.
As an aside I got several messages from TalkMobile (Vodafone budget brand) about me using a '3G' device to access the Internet but this isn't the case. My phone supports 4G but not for voice calls (at least not on Talkmobile). However it does frequently fall back to 3G when I'm in certain areas or making a voice call so perhaps this is what triggered the messages. Presumably that means I'll lose HD Voice calling.
I do however have a 3G device, mainly a 3G modem in a laptop, but I just tether so have no concerns about this being rendered useless (my laptop is ex corporate and getting on a bit).
Can you update the modem as easily as you usually can with Wi-Fi on a laptop? Amazon sell Intel Wireless cards for laptops very cheap, allowing you to upgrade from Wi-Fi 4 or 5 to 6 or even 6E.
3G was a terrible technology for data.. obviously 20 years ago it was considered great, especially as speeds increased with HSPA and so on, but it was a technology that saw the signal adjusted in real time to reduce the coverage when a site became overloaded (and many sites had a 2Mbps backhaul, yes Mbps not Gbps!, to share out) - so your experience just got worse and worse.
4G (and 5G) don't work like that and works far better for both voice and data, so 3G won't be missed. O2 will cling on until it can upgrade its PAYG systems to cope with voice over 4G (VoLTE) as until that's the case, they can't turn off 3G. 2G would simply not cope, and people would notice a huge drop in call quality.
2G will be kept mostly for things like early smart meters and other m2m equipment. It won't be needed by almost everyone else who will have got a 4G device by now.
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Three is especially poor in London, but it is very good in Scotland
I was hiking in a rural area and surprisingly got signal when I was resting. This saved my day as I had to cut short my hike due to cancellation of my onward transport, otherwise I would have been stranded.
Next year should see a fair number of devices that can use messaging via satellite to help those who are in very rural areas where no network is likely to offer coverage anytime soon. It will come at a price (albeit some will include a year of service for free) but gives some peace of mind.
It will only be messaging though, and maybe voice?, but not data.
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O2 haven't announced any plans to switch off 3G, probably because smart meters use O2 on 2G or 3G. Staying on O2 doesn't sound like a good idea in your area anyway!
O2 doesn't offer VoLTE on pay as you go yet (no idea why) so has to get that sorted before it can turn off 3G. While other networks may have very few users on 3G, such that 3G can sometimes offer good speeds if you force it, O2 literally has loads of people forced to use 3G every day because they're not on a pay-monthly plan.
O2 has always been behind on everything IME. They've also implemented their spectrum extremely poorly so users get poor speeds for no good reason; it's just that they wouldn't invest properly. 5G roll out has been almost as bad.
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I'm not sure this is something to hold against Three, it's something that could happen to any network, didn't the o2 network go down for multiple days not too long ago?
There was a year where all the networks suffered major outages, on different days, and some of them were down to a software update that wasn't signed correctly or something. Given there aren't that many vendors (Ericsson, Nokia, Huawei, Samsung?) it's possible that the issues were in some way related.
I think the total downtime would still be, as a percentage, minute over the year - and even smaller if spread out over multiple years between failures.
Personally, I've always had two SIMs in a phone. A primary SIM (EE unlimited data) and a secondary SIM with a fixed allowance that I can switch to if I need to (and rarely do). You may prefer Three and O2, or any combination as long as you consider that in terms of site sharing you have Three & EE + O2 & Vodafone.
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Many smartphones always try for the highest "G", ignoring the quality or saturation of the band. I've found 5G to be exceptional in a low contention area bang next to the mast and woeful when moving around or when large crowds build.
Yes, that can be an issue - especially as networks steer you towards specific bands on purpose to try and balance the load.
800MHz, for example, is particularly good for indoor penetration so networks will try and get users outdoors on 1800, 2100, 2300, 2600, 3500 or whatever. That saves the lower spectrum (sometimes with as little as 5MHz of spectrum to go around) for only users who can't 'see' those other bands.
Some handsets will let you manipulate this, although usually the phone has to be rooted.
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