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4G networks - does SMS and standard voice calls still work if 3G/2G networks are shutting down?
Hey all,
Over here in Australia (imagine in USA and a few other countries), the 3G/2G mobile networks are being shutdown. My carrier Vodafone is gradually shutting its down with Dec 15th 2023 being the final closure date. The 4G network will have VolTE but my device (LG V20) does not appear to support VolTE nor does it look like i can update the firmware easily (if at all) to do so.
Anyone else have this issue with their phone? (i realise it will be older ones)
Question about VolTE though - will sms and standard voice calling still work on 4G on my device or similar devices without VolTE ?.
thanks
Nig
Short answer - it will stop working, yeah.
Not a bad time to pick up a new phone, though. If cost-cutting is important to you, the Google pixel 7a is a great device.
+1. Another less visible thing happening is the operators migrating spectrum from older gen to new gen. So even if they leave 2G/3G alive to serve legacy customers, its a ghost of its former self. You'll certainly get way less network resources (speed) and probably less coverage too. Only solution is a new handset unfortunately.
GPRS will remain (2G-ish) and that is for legacy devices that need to text. Many cars and systems like that depend on it.
In the UK, 3G will be gone by 2025 on all networks. If you rely on that or any of your devices, that's it, it's done. Many car manufacturers are annoyed by this due to them having their SatNavs use it.
2G will be limited for text and calls, it's not designed for data (even though BBM worked great on it!), however, they expect that to be gone by 2033 too.
tl;dr: Upgrade anything you want to work on data to at least 4G before the end of 2024, or be disappointed.
As others have said, you will lose access to essential phone functions.
Reach out to your carrier. A lot of them are trying to migrate as many people off of older phones that don't support VoLTE, so they may offer you a good deal on a newer phone if cost is an issue.
This is definitely a question for your carrier I think. They may have some systems in their backend to handle situations like yours.
Does your carrier have an FAQ somewhere that might answer this without need to contact their help lines maybe?
Someone more experienced in Cellular Networks might be able to give you an explanation.
In Czech Republic we don't have 3G network anymore. 5G is slowly spreading out while 4G already has very good coverage. But what I wanted to mention the most - 2G is still working for legacy/fallback reasons and in some areas only 2G network is available.
I know why you're holding onto the V20, love that phone, but unfortunately you're going to be looking for a new phone.
No real advice outside of that, the Moto G100 has a headphone jack and the Xperia lines from Sony if you're willing to shell out a bit more.
Cheers. Wish it could keep going tbh. Darn telco networks. Havent found anything good im willing to pay much for so a Poco, Moto G54 or Nokia Xr20 on sale at moment might tide me over...
This is exactly how it happened with Jio Telecom here in India. They launched way back in 2016 with a "4G LTE Only" service, they were able to offer cheap data rates as 4G towers are cost-effective, this was good for consumers.
But many consumers still had the old 3G/2G phones, they had no choice but to upgrade their phones!
But some of them (like you) had phones that supported 4G but not VoLTE. It seems the number of such people was quite large because especially for them, Jio has launched this Jio4GVoice android app which enables the VoLTE calling feature even in non-VoLTE phones!
Inquire with your service provider, they must also be having a similar compatibility app for making their VoLTE service more usable. As long as your phone supports 4G (Internet), you should be able to use an app like this to get over the non-VoLTE limitation to make calls, provided your service provider offers such an app.
4G has indeed been designed as a data-only addition to 3G/2G. While the proprietary VoLTE protocol has been added to paper over the fact that 4G is not self-suporting, there is no way for Open-Source firmwares to support it. When the 2G and 3G networks shut down, your phone will be unable to receive SMS, MMS and voice calls.
This design flaw has not been repeated in 5G, that is able to handle the full scope of transmissions (voice, SMS, data). This is why you should go for a 5G phone if you value longevity.
From my research, your carrier is the first to shutdown while another is waiting until September 2024. Assuming the coverage is OK, I'd consider voting with my wallet and switching carriers.
VoLTE is not a proprietary protocol. It is defined by the same standards bodies (GSMA, 3GPP) that define LTE itself. It makes use of well-known internet protocols such as SIP and RTP. The Permanent Reference Document defining VoLTE is public: https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IR.92-v7.0.pdf
There is no fundamental or legal restriction for an open-source LTE-capable firmware that prevents it from supporting VoLTE.
Indeed, there's a bit more nuance than what I put in. Although these telecom protocols are public, they are encumbered by a huge number of patents that require licensing fees.
Features that are implemented in the modem are relatively trivial to use by Open-Source firmwares, as the patent is paid for by the manufacturer. My understanding of the situation is that 4G modems used in Android phones don't handle VoLTE, so it's implemented by proprietary userspace software.
If Lineage were to try reimplementing that protocol, they'd get into a dicy legal situation the moment they distribute it. For some phones, hackers extracted the original VoLTE implementation and re-packaged it for reuse, but they're highly hardware-specific.