Many probably don’t follow older network availability, but I know a few people (mostly seniors) who still have ancient phones used just for voice and texts, that will soon be forced to upgrade. Looks like the end of 2020 is the cutoff for most of the network providers.
I believe it’s actually the end of 2022 that the switchover happens. These companies are just using a flimsy excuse to get customers to spend money now.
Ah, Feb 2022 is when AT&T switches.
I have a GPS tracker for my luggage which is 3G-based. COVID already killed my primary use case for it. Guess this will kill it off entirely.
Ah ok, yeah I was going by Tmobile. Which is end of 2020.
Not just seniors, certainly. I have a friend in her early 40’s, for example, who just has an antique flip phone for emergencies because she doesn’t have any use for anything else. I suspect there’s more of that kind of thing going on that techies suspect.
…and that kind of thing is part of the reason why. I myself only had a flipphone up until 2016 when my (70 year old) parents insisted I get a smartphone, so there you go. :) To be honest i don’t use it much, and not at all right now with COVID (the service expired at the end of June and I only noticed yesterday, though I did re-up it for emergency roadside calls at least).
That’s a damn good point, there are plenty of places in the rural US where I’m sure that’s true, too.
Dudes. There are still agencies, government agencies that use Win XP/98. I know this because when I was in the NYCDOJ as an intern back in the ancient 2000s, we had to do checks on various buildings for security compliance. The last time I spoke to my friend, maybe 2015, he said, “Same OS. Same shit.”
Pretty sure even the cheap flip phones in your average supermarket use 4G chips now.
The 2G networks are still running here with no sign of being switched off.
Rather infamously, much of the UK health service does, hence it getting hit hard by WannaCry.
