Verizon sets the date for shutting down its 3G network, for real this time

The saga of Verizon planning to sunset its 3G services, only to delay it again might finally come to end. The Big Red originally had plans to stop 3G operations in back 2019, but extended it to 2020. Then in January this year, the company put those plans on hold indefinitely. Now, the company has announced it is going to shut down its 3G CDMA network – for good this time – on December 31, 2022.

December 31, 2022 is the day when Verizon finally says goodbye to 3G

“We worked for the past several years to help those who still have 3G devices transfer to devices capable of accessing the 4G LTE or 5G networks and continue to actively work with remaining 3G customers to migrate them to new devices and technology. As a result of those efforts, we can now report that more than 99% of our customers are using the enhanced features of 4G LTE or 5G, with less than 1% still accessing the 3G network.”
Verizon

To recall, Verizon no longer allows activation of non-4G devices on its network, and is now trying to migrate its remaining 3G customers to 4G or 5G with a host of plans and services for both its regular and business customers. However, Verizon says it is strongly encouraging the existing 3G users to make the upgrade. Verizon notes that it would be among the last carriers to abandon the legacy cellular networking standard.

Existing 3G users might face network degradation and lack of support moving forward

And to achieve that, Verizon says that users might experience what it calls ‘a degradation or complete loss of service’ as the company also plans to reduce its support services and will only offer assistance for extremely limited troubleshooting. More details about Verizon’s CDMA services can and the facilities that are allowed / defunct can be seen here

However, Verizon has made it clear that the December 31, 2022 shutdown date for its 3G telecom infrastructure will not be extended again. So, yeah, this pretty much is the final nail in the coffin. 

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Carriers should continue to build-out HSPA networks even though LTE is faster

LTE is the best thing since sliced bread. I doubt you’ll find anyone to argue that point. Latency on an LTE network is generally low, while speeds on an LTE network are typically fast. Pretty much the only problem with LTE is its “newness”, which translates into the service not being available as widely as many of us would like. When I abandoned Windows Mobile for Android, I picked up the T-Mobile G1 — the very first commercially available Android-powered smartphone. I was about a year late joining the Android party. Why? T-Mobile wouldn’t sell it to me! I ...

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