Today we peek at the expected date that the 3G network will be closed in 2022. This date is important, because they show the end point for functionality for some of the oldest smart mobile devices that are still functioning today. Not only smartphones and tablets that have the potential to stop connecting to cellular data – it’s an accessory and IoT device that is connected with 3G too.
In the United States, the largest cellular data operator has a plan to turn off their last 3G services in 2022. This includes T-Mobile USA (including Sprint), AT & T, and Verizon. If you have a telephone connected to a different brand, such as cricket wireless, it’s likely they are using the network space provided by one of the larger brands.
One way, at some point in 2022, 3G data will not work again on your device. Date for termination has been distributed by major brands over the past year – today we took the latest display where the brand expects shutdown starting from which date.
- January 1, 2022: Sprint 3G CDMA Pension Network
- February 1, 2022: Network AT & T 3G retirement
- July 1 2022: T-Mobile 3G UMTS Pension Network
- 31 December 2022: Verizon 3G CDMA Pension Network
- Unknown: 2G GSM T-Mobile networks, surprisingly still used today, will retire too, but “there is no date set.”
Verizon seems to be the least excited to turn off the last 3G network, given the December shut-down network date. In fact, Verizon has announced they turned off CDMA 3G services for almost half a decade. They have announced the dead date before it has been pushed back more than once, too – 2019, 2020, and now 2022.
If you have a smartphone now who cannot access 4G or faster data, now the right time to prepare a kind of way to improve to a newer device. If you have a device now where you have never seen the previous “4G” symbol, most likely there is no way to improve to better connectivity. You are very likely to need a new device – or at least a little newer device.