Fact Check: 3G Network Will Disappear in 2023, Really?

Starting in 2023, the United States will officially phase out the 3G network after Verizon (a telecommunications service) shuts down this cellular service starting December 31, 2022.

tafansa.id quotes the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC); previously, cellular operator AT&T also turned off its 3G network even in February 2022 and was followed by T-Mobile in March 2022.

According to the FCC, these networks are being phased out slowly in the country as mobile operators update their networks with the latest technology.

"The closure of old services (3G) is to free up spectrum and infrastructure so that services become more up-to-date (5G)," said the FCC.

Previously, they had also done this in the 2G network era and switched to 4G services. Cellular services are phasing out legacy networks to increase their users' convenient access.

"Cellular operators can have flexibility, such as when deactivating old services to improve consumer service. The choice of this type of technology and service has certainly been carefully thought out," added the FCC.

According to The Verge, previously, Verizon had announced this to its customers who were still using old devices. They also added a letter containing the network changes that had occurred.

"3G lines on our customers' older phones will be suspended starting the day before the December billing cycle begins," Verizon wrote in its letter.

However, customers can still use cell phones with 3G networks to call 911 and Verizon customer service.

In contrast to the United States, several countries in the world still use 3G services to communicate.

According to Fierce Wireless, mobile operator Orange will retire its 2G and 3G networks in Europe by 2030.

France started phasing out 2G at the end of 2025, then continued deactivating 3G at the end of 2028.

Just like in Europe, in our country, Indonesia, 3G is still available in a number of areas. The first 3G cell phones appeared in the early 2000s. However, in the United States, this network appeared at the same time as the release of smart devices (smartphones).

Meanwhile, in India, even though the 5G network has been launched, 4G controls almost 99 per cent of the total data traffic used in the country. This indicates that 2G and 3G are almost no longer used in India.

According to the "Mobile Broadband India Traffic Index" report from Nokia, the presence of cheap 4G smartphones makes it easier for consumers to stop using 2G and/or 3G and then start using 4G.

Image source: https://img.antaranews.com/cache/730x487/2022/10/16/Migrasi-4G-Telkomsel_1.webp.webp