I have a 4G compatible phone but the sim card I am using is from before 4G. Will I need a new sim card when 3G shuts down?
When I asked the T-Mobile store associate a few days ago, he told me that when when 3g is gone, the phones that are on 3g network or lesser, will no longer work (ie, the 3g phones will not work because they’re incapable of working on any of the 4g and 5g networks).
He didn’t give any specifics on when this will take place exactly.
Userlevel 7
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When you say “4G” do you mean “4G LTE” or “HSPA+ Faux G”? What model phone is it that we are discussing?
Old SIMs will continue to work. If you have a new 5G phone you probably want a new SIM because it is necessary to take advantage of Stand-Alone 5G.
One thing about new SIMs is that they are not backward compatible with old 2G GSM-only phones as they lack the GSM SIM app. So, if you like to use old 2G phones, you may want to hang onto that old SIM.
Thanks, The Phone I intend to use is T-Mobile one touch 768T. I believe it is 4G LTE. The Sim Card that I have is what I got with my T-mobile Nokia 3G phone around 2010.
just make sure the phone has VoLTE capabilities..if it does not then it will not work even though its a 4G phone..
VoLTE=Voice over LTE..as of right now if you do not have VoLTE then all your calls and regular texts use the 3G side of things to send/receive.
Userlevel 7
+11
Thanks, The Phone I intend to use is T-Mobile one touch 768T. I believe it is 4G LTE. The Sim Card that I have is what I got with my T-mobile Nokia 3G phone around 2010.
OK. The Alcatel OneTouch 768T is a flip phone? Right? What information I can find on this device says that it’s a 2G GSM and 3G UMTS device lacking any LTE. If this is the case, you have bigger problems than your SIM card.
To be sure, remove the battery and look for the FCC ID. If you find it, post it here and I’ll double check.
Thanks everyone for your interest and help. The FCC ID is RAD287. T- mobile lists the specs for this phone on their website. For Network it says 2G/3G/4G/LTE capable and a bunch of frequencies. But it also says VoLTE not capable. If it is the case, as Fireguy says, that VoLTE will be necessary after 3G shutoff that would seem to settle the question. Perhaps I should rephrase the question to: What do I have to do to survive 3G shutoff? T-Mobile has sent me a message saying I have to upgrade or buy a new phone. What do they mean by upgrade? I am starting to think upgrade means buy a new phone. I should say they did not send the message to the One Touch phone we are discussing- they sent it to an older 3G phone I am using.
Userlevel 7
+11
FCC ID RAD287 is a flip phone by TCT Mobile of Shanghai
The FCC test report describes it as a One Touch 768T Triband UMTS & Quadband GSM phone. The manual says “Your TMobile 768 is a transceiver that operates on GSM Quadband with
850/900/1800/1900 MHz or UMTS Triband 850/1900/AWS”
When I search the T-Mobile website for “768T” I get, “We couldn't find any results for the keyword 768t". Could you please provide a link to the T-Mobile page where you found the specs.
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/devices/t-mobile-768/tech-specs-alcatel-t-mobile-768
Here is the link though at this point the matter is rather academic since I have confirmed that Fireguy’s comment that after July 1 everything must be VoLTE is correct and this phone is not and I am going to have to buy a new phone from T-Mobile.
Userlevel 7
+11
Thanks for the link. I actually believe that the part where it says it’s LTE compatible is in error. It wouldn’t be the first time T-Mobile’s website messed up the specs on one of their phones.
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