AbeWalters

I can not remember the exact words the phone rep used but basically she said I should receive a text message sometime next month saying I would need to trade my phone in for a 3G model. I already have a brand new 2G model enroute from Straight Talk for $20. This is a quad band phone. Does anyone have any idea if this phone will still have some staying power overseas or will most international carriers be dropping ther 2G service soon as well. I do not expect much for $20 but if it is a paper weight I am sending it back.

gfunkdave

BS.

GSM isn't going anywhere any time soon. Too many people still use it.

Either the rep didn't know what s/he was talking about, or s/he was trying to get you to buy a new phone through him/her.

mrcamp

I agree. There are way too many phones out there that are not 3G.

AbeWalters

I am not sure what gfundave means by GSM isn't going anywhere any time soon. GSM is obviously migrating from the 2nd generation network to the 3rd generation network and then the 4th generation network. I have no doubt that at some point in time the 2nd generation network will not be supported any longer. I have no idea if the phone rep I spoke to had any idea what they were talking about. They easily could have been trying to get me to upgrade my phone. I was just trying to give people a little heads up if they do have a 2G phone and the information is correct. There must be some kind of road map for this network migration. I know there was some pretty unhappy customers when they stopped supporting the first generation analog networks. So, I just got home and the $20 bargain or paper weight is sitting on my door step. My neighbor signed for it.

UALOneKPlus

According to Wikipedia 80% of the world is still on 2G, so it is unlikely they are getting rid of 2G any time soon.

ScottC

There is no way an AT&T rep would know about this before any kind of official announcement. These things are told to them in the final step of planning.

Dubai Stu

There are thousands and thousands of mile of 2g only networks in the US. The US makes tons on European roamers and many Euro3g phones can only roam on 2g because they don't support our 3g frequencies. ATT is required to allow voice roaming for various carrier. Lastly, ATT and Tmobile don't share any frequencies. The representative who told you that should be terminated.

soitgoes

Do you happen to be an AT&T 'blue' customer? That means a pre-Cingular merger AT&T wireless subscriber who never changed to an 'orange' plan or got a new SIM card. They are forcing those customers onto new plans.

Skyman65

Here in Taiwan, I know that there is at least one carrier that is "3G Only". Since my wife wanted to use her 2G phone that she brought from the US, we had to select a different carrier that supported both.

SFOLIS

http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...-GHz-PCS-Band?

Maybe it's related to this discussion at Howard Forum. That some older 1900MHz only devices may be a casualty in this.

Or can be a rep. who just wants his/her commission, too.

AbeWalters

I am not sure if I am an AT&T Blue customer, I have been through enough mergers, acquisitions and hostile take overs of my own to keep track of my phone companies ownership. I do know that I have had my AT&T pay as you go service since 02/09, I have a 2G Nokia phone and I am on my second SIM card because the first was somehow corrupted and the current SIM has an orange 3G logo.

CPRich

Just ask yourself this question. Do you think one of the major carriers, competing on the "widest coverage" front is going to turn all of the light blue areas on their map to white? I don't think so,

AbeWalters

Thanks SFOLIS for the Howard Forums link. Very informative site. Someone posted similar question there with no reply. http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...mp-T-GSM-areas

weekilter

Unless you can bring us something more than "I can't remember" and some nebulous statement by some hourly rep either at a store or over the phone I wouldn't put much stock in that. Considering that absolutely nothing of this "discontinuation" of the 2G network has been on any tech blog or news source the credibility of what you've "discovered" is questionable at best. GSM has many more years of life left. Considering that there are parts of AT&T (as well as other operators) who have yet to roll out 3G networks it's way way way too early to be calling the death of GSM.

rally

problem is not 2G since AT+T and Tmobile use the same frequency ,

the big problem will be 3G because AT+T uses 2100 and Tmobile uses 1700,

many phones sold by Tmobile do not even have the 2100 3G band.

We will see .....

Rally