T-Mobile, PLEASE DO NOT shut down 2G on April 2nd of 2024

  • 15 February 2023
  • 46 replies
  • 2649 views
D
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T-Mobile, yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and on the day of love, instead of loving us and making 2G extra better for us, what you do is set a date to shut it down?! I don’t understand why you are doing this? There are a number of people in this country that like to use their 15-20 year old bar/flip phones, 2G is still reliable also for M2M connectivity and for cell phone service, 2G in some cases is also much better than LTE where-as LTE only gets 1 bar but 2G gets 4 full sometimes! I also just got off the phone with a customer service person with T-Mobile USA that ALSO agreed with me that 2G is extremely important and it’s sad it’s going away! Yeah, I understand that 5G is the newest and most shiniest network technology yet but I don’t see why we can’t have the right to use older phones? I myself use an iPhone 14 Pro because I like the 120MHz display and all the shiny features that it brings but I really enjoy using a Nokia 3390 on the GSMT network with an MVNO called FreedomPop/RedPocket, and this makes me VERY sad that all of you T-Mobile engineers want to get rid of 2G completely and I am not the only one, trust me!, there are LOTS more people like me!!!!!! In Germany, Deutsche Telekom hasn’t set a date to shut down 2G and it is running in the fullest capacity there, and they are saying it will stay too? Why can’t we be the same way? And why can’t

T-Mobile improve their 1900MHz 2G network so it works pretty much everywhere and gets service everywhere for us?! T-Mobile, PLEASE listen to us and PLEASE don’t be greedy and shut it down on April 2nd 2024! April 2nd is also my birthday and it will be the worst birthday present EVER if 2G is going to be useless on that day. 

2G should stay even when 6G comes out! Luckily carriers are keeping 2G at reduced capacity!

46 replies

C

I live in a rural area close to a lake and I have a Verizon as it works really nice no matter where you are very few dead zones. I qualified and now have a Qlink SIM which uses T Mobile and I do have some complaints. First off there is only one T Mobile tower within 20miles of me & its about 5 miles from where I live. I get full bars at my house on 4g. I go to the lake and it works ok data is really unusable though. Most of the time my phone will switch to 2g because there is zero 4g service anywhere past town. I like to go to more remote parts of the lake & only 2g works with 1 sometimes 2 bars and it'll make calls. But I can't get data to work at all on 2g. I've reset my network settings, restarted my phone, I've even reinsert the SIM. Nothing seems to work to get data. Does anyone else have this issue with data not working on 2g. 

gramps28
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2G data is usually no faster than 40kb’s so it's not to useful for data.

C

It is for me cause I do load the weather & stuff like that and I do like looking some things up. I had it at one point & I use a vpn so it'll make it faster. Last time I had a 2g connection I could get about 100kb.

gramps28
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It all depends on location and what towers you're connecting to.

Also if you're using an MNVO using Tmobile towers you may not have full access to them like a Tmobile user.

C

 

D
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2G data is usually no faster than 40kb’s so it's not to useful for data.

It really depends. I live right next to a tower so I get around 20mbps on EDGE, sometimes overloading and busy/city areas slow down the network (since 2G is crammed with LTE bands) so it can throw off the speeds. Usually google loads insanely fast on 2G phones somehow though

I like using 2G phones on T-Mobile.
gramps28
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I actually turned off 2G on my phone because if security risk. My work sent a memo to turn it off if you use your phone for work.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/2gs-security-weaknesses-are-still-a-problem-even-for-modern-phones/

D
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I actually turned off 2G on my phone because if security risk. My work sent a memo to turn it off if you use your phone for work.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/2gs-security-weaknesses-are-still-a-problem-even-for-modern-phones/

I just test a lot with 2G phones and occasionally call on them for fun, I still have a VoLTE device on the side, but just for after April 2024.

Plus that article is for hacking 2G which nobody does anymore since that was long ago and they assume no one is on 2G anymore, there hasn’t been any 2G hack reports in a long time. 

(Also, why are people so scared of their call being recorded over 2G as if they are doing anything illegal)

I like using 2G phones on T-Mobile.
gramps28
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Userlevel 7
Badge +14

I actually turned off 2G on my phone because if security risk. My work sent a memo to turn it off if you use your phone for work.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/2gs-security-weaknesses-are-still-a-problem-even-for-modern-phones/

I just test a lot with 2G phones and occasionally call on them for fun, I still have a VoLTE device on the side, but just for after April 2024.

Plus that article is for hacking 2G which nobody does anymore since that was long ago and they assume no one is on 2G anymore, there hasn’t been any 2G hack reports in a long time. 

(Also, why are people so scared of their call being recorded over 2G as if they are doing anything illegal)

2G is a back door to the hack of your phone, hence turning off 2G.

F
Userlevel 6
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It really depends. I live right next to a tower so I get around 20mbps on EDGE, sometimes overloading and busy/city areas slow down the network (since 2G is crammed with LTE bands) so it can throw off the speeds. Usually google loads insanely fast on 2G phones somehow though

You might have that backwards.  EDGE will give you ~128k-160kbps typically.  Theoretical is 384kbps (good luck!).  20Mbps isn’t even reality.    

 

I
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

Sorry Fellas, T Mobile isn’t anticipating to keep their older 2G GSM network forever because they want to focus on 5G and 4G. It’s time to let go of 2G phones and your old phones because they’re not compatible on a 5G/4G network. T Mobile maintaining their own 2G network is expensive. T Mobile maintaining 5G Ultra Capacity, 4G LTE, Voice Over LTE, and Extended Range LTE are cheaper. T Mobile wants to save money.

T Mobile shouldn’t have shutdown their own 3G network on July 1, 2022 and BlackBerry shouldn’t have stopped supporting their own phones on January 4, 2022.
I
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G#:~:text=Past%202G%20networks,-Country&text=2G%20availability%20cannot%20be%20guaranteed,be%20shut%20down%20in%202024.

Likewise CTIA (trade group for wireless)

https://www.ctia.org/what-to-know-about-the-sunsetting-of-2g-3g-networks-in-preparation-for-5g

https://blog.telegeography.com/2g-and-3g-shutdowns-continue

https://flickswitch.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/23000020408-2g-3g-switch-off-in-south-africa

T Mobile shouldn’t have shutdown their own 3G network on July 1, 2022 and BlackBerry shouldn’t have stopped supporting their own phones on January 4, 2022.
J

T-Mobile, yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and on the day of love, instead of loving us and making 2G extra better for us, what you do is set a date to shut it down?! I don’t understand why you are doing this? There are a number of people in this country that like to use their 15-20 year old bar/flip phones, 2G is still reliable also for M2M connectivity and for cell phone service, 2G in some cases is also much better than LTE where-as LTE only gets 1 bar but 2G gets 4 full sometimes! I also just got off the phone with a customer service person with T-Mobile USA that ALSO agreed with me that 2G is extremely important and it’s sad it’s going away! Yeah, I understand that 5G is the newest and most shiniest network technology yet but I don’t see why we can’t have the right to use older phones? I myself use an iPhone 14 Pro because I like the 120MHz display and all the shiny features that it brings but I really enjoy using a Nokia 3390 on the GSMT network with an MVNO called FreedomPop/RedPocket, and this makes me VERY sad that all of you T-Mobile engineers want to get rid of 2G completely and I am not the only one, trust me!, there are LOTS more people like me!!!!!! In Germany, Deutsche Telekom hasn’t set a date to shut down 2G and it is running in the fullest capacity there, and they are saying it will stay too? Why can’t we be the same way? And why can’t

T-Mobile improve their 1900MHz 2G network so it works pretty much everywhere and gets service everywhere for us?! T-Mobile, PLEASE listen to us and PLEASE don’t be greedy and shut it down on April 2nd 2024! April 2nd is also my birthday and it will be the worst birthday present EVER if 2G is going to be useless on that day. 

No company on the planet has any responsibility to support a product beyond the point specified in the user agreement, and nobody on the planet has a “right” to use anything that isn’t specified in whatever constitution or law they may fortunately or unfortunately be subject to, let alone an electronic device that is many years beyond obsolete. Is your car supported indefinitely by the manufacturer? No, and law only requires manufactures to support them for 10 years. But what you’re expecting is orders of magnitude more than this! What you’re expecting is that all of cellular communications networks (ATT, Verison, tMobile, etc) collectively agree to continue to support cell phones which, due to the exponential growth of technology, were rendered almost obsolete 15 years ago, and which the manufacturers stopped supporting 10 ago. So why would cell phones, the technology for which has developed much faster than for automobiles, be supported any longer than 10 years? At only 1/250th to 1/15th as expensive as a car (depending on models compared), supporting a cell phone for 15 years, let alone 20, is a preposterous expectation. If you’re that attached to your antique phone, keep it on the bookshelf as a conversation piece, then buy yourself a 3G (new, no-contract) for only $30-40.

I
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

T-Mobile, yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and on the day of love, instead of loving us and making 2G extra better for us, what you do is set a date to shut it down?! I don’t understand why you are doing this? There are a number of people in this country that like to use their 15-20 year old bar/flip phones, 2G is still reliable also for M2M connectivity and for cell phone service, 2G in some cases is also much better than LTE where-as LTE only gets 1 bar but 2G gets 4 full sometimes! I also just got off the phone with a customer service person with T-Mobile USA that ALSO agreed with me that 2G is extremely important and it’s sad it’s going away! Yeah, I understand that 5G is the newest and most shiniest network technology yet but I don’t see why we can’t have the right to use older phones? I myself use an iPhone 14 Pro because I like the 120MHz display and all the shiny features that it brings but I really enjoy using a Nokia 3390 on the GSMT network with an MVNO called FreedomPop/RedPocket, and this makes me VERY sad that all of you T-Mobile engineers want to get rid of 2G completely and I am not the only one, trust me!, there are LOTS more people like me!!!!!! In Germany, Deutsche Telekom hasn’t set a date to shut down 2G and it is running in the fullest capacity there, and they are saying it will stay too? Why can’t we be the same way? And why can’t

T-Mobile improve their 1900MHz 2G network so it works pretty much everywhere and gets service everywhere for us?! T-Mobile, PLEASE listen to us and PLEASE don’t be greedy and shut it down on April 2nd 2024! April 2nd is also my birthday and it will be the worst birthday present EVER if 2G is going to be useless on that day. 

No company on the planet has any responsibility to support a product beyond the point specified in the user agreement, and nobody on the planet has a “right” to use anything that isn’t specified in whatever constitution or law they may fortunately or unfortunately be subject to, let alone an electronic device that is many years beyond obsolete. Is your car supported indefinitely by the manufacturer? No, and law only requires manufactures to support them for 10 years. But what you’re expecting is orders of magnitude more than this! What you’re expecting is that all of cellular communications networks (ATT, Verison, tMobile, etc) collectively agree to continue to support cell phones which, due to the exponential growth of technology, were rendered almost obsolete 15 years ago, and which the manufacturers stopped supporting 10 ago. So why would cell phones, the technology for which has developed much faster than for automobiles, be supported any longer than 10 years? At only 1/250th to 1/15th as expensive as a car (depending on models compared), supporting a cell phone for 15 years, let alone 20, is a preposterous expectation. If you’re that attached to your antique phone, keep it on the bookshelf as a conversation piece, then buy yourself a 3G (new, no-contract) for only $30-40.

Sorry Fellas, It’s time for all of you to let go of 2G phones or older phones and upgrade to 5G and 4G phones are newer phones because 2G is going away on April 2, 2024. 2G is old technology. 5G is new technology. 5G is better than 2G.

T Mobile shouldn’t have shutdown their own 3G network on July 1, 2022 and BlackBerry shouldn’t have stopped supporting their own phones on January 4, 2022.
F
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if youre going to tag someones post at least read it..he already said all of this in his post..

***I like many others come onto this site for assistance and to help others. Marking a reply as helpful or correct helps others with like issues when they try to search the site for assistance. I do not work for Tmobile and my suggestions and or opinions are my own**.~~~~ The site here is primarily peer to peer with some TMO moderation to keep the site in order..They do not have account access..The prefered method would be to contact TMO through either calling in (tier 1 support) or by contacting them through either Facebook/Twitter (tier 2 support)**~~~~
I
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Badge +4

if youre going to tag someones post at least read it..he already said all of this in his post..

2G phones or older phones are not compatible on a 5G and 4G network. 5G and 4G phones or newer phones are compatible on the T Mobile network.

T Mobile shouldn’t have shutdown their own 3G network on July 1, 2022 and BlackBerry shouldn’t have stopped supporting their own phones on January 4, 2022.
F
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Userlevel 7
Badge +15

if youre going to tag someones post at least read it..he already said all of this in his post..

2G phones or older phones are not compatible on a 5G and 4G network. 5G and 4G phones or newer phones are compatible on the T Mobile network.

youre saying this as if this hasnt been mentioned numerous times in this thread..if youre going to reply i recommend thinking it out first..and for the love of god if youre going to quote someone actually read it first before you just start ranting away..even responding to me made zero sense when i pointed out to read the post before you start quoting and not making any sense.. what does your quote there have to do with ANY part of what i said? at all? even remotely close to what i said? no..not even close..

***I like many others come onto this site for assistance and to help others. Marking a reply as helpful or correct helps others with like issues when they try to search the site for assistance. I do not work for Tmobile and my suggestions and or opinions are my own**.~~~~ The site here is primarily peer to peer with some TMO moderation to keep the site in order..They do not have account access..The prefered method would be to contact TMO through either calling in (tier 1 support) or by contacting them through either Facebook/Twitter (tier 2 support)**~~~~
I
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

if youre going to tag someones post at least read it..he already said all of this in his post..

2G phones or older phones are not compatible on a 5G and 4G network. 5G and 4G phones or newer phones are compatible on the T Mobile network.

youre saying this as if this hasnt been mentioned numerous times in this thread..if youre going to reply i recommend thinking it out first..and for the love of god if youre going to quote someone actually read it first before you just start ranting away..even responding to me made zero sense when i pointed out to read the post before you start quoting and not making any sense.. what does your quote there have to do with ANY part of what i said? at all? even remotely close to what i said? no..not even close..

T Mobile maintaining 2G is expensive. T Mobile maintaining 5G is cheaper.

T Mobile shouldn’t have shutdown their own 3G network on July 1, 2022 and BlackBerry shouldn’t have stopped supporting their own phones on January 4, 2022.
gramps28
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

if youre going to tag someones post at least read it..he already said all of this in his post..

2G phones or older phones are not compatible on a 5G and 4G network. 5G and 4G phones or newer phones are compatible on the T Mobile network.

youre saying this as if this hasnt been mentioned numerous times in this thread..if youre going to reply i recommend thinking it out first..and for the love of god if youre going to quote someone actually read it first before you just start ranting away..even responding to me made zero sense when i pointed out to read the post before you start quoting and not making any sense.. what does your quote there have to do with ANY part of what i said? at all? even remotely close to what i said? no..not even close..

T Mobile maintaining 2G is expensive. T Mobile maintaining 5G is cheaper.

Weren't you talked to about liking your own posts? If don't stop I'm sure someone will report this issue to the mod.

I
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

if youre going to tag someones post at least read it..he already said all of this in his post..

2G phones or older phones are not compatible on a 5G and 4G network. 5G and 4G phones or newer phones are compatible on the T Mobile network.

youre saying this as if this hasnt been mentioned numerous times in this thread..if youre going to reply i recommend thinking it out first..and for the love of god if youre going to quote someone actually read it first before you just start ranting away..even responding to me made zero sense when i pointed out to read the post before you start quoting and not making any sense.. what does your quote there have to do with ANY part of what i said? at all? even remotely close to what i said? no..not even close..

T Mobile maintaining 2G is expensive. T Mobile maintaining 5G is cheaper.

Weren't you talked to about liking your own posts? If don't stop I'm sure someone will report this issue to the mod.

Sorry about this. I apologize. I promise that I won’t do it again. Please do not have someone report this issue to the mod.

T Mobile shouldn’t have shutdown their own 3G network on July 1, 2022 and BlackBerry shouldn’t have stopped supporting their own phones on January 4, 2022.
I
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

if youre going to tag someones post at least read it..he already said all of this in his post..

2G phones or older phones are not compatible on a 5G and 4G network. 5G and 4G phones or newer phones are compatible on the T Mobile network.

youre saying this as if this hasnt been mentioned numerous times in this thread..if youre going to reply i recommend thinking it out first..and for the love of god if youre going to quote someone actually read it first before you just start ranting away..even responding to me made zero sense when i pointed out to read the post before you start quoting and not making any sense.. what does your quote there have to do with ANY part of what i said? at all? even remotely close to what i said? no..not even close..

Sorry about this. I apologize. I promise that I won’t do it again.

T Mobile shouldn’t have shutdown their own 3G network on July 1, 2022 and BlackBerry shouldn’t have stopped supporting their own phones on January 4, 2022.

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