Any phones that were built for these old networks will stop working after these network shutdowns happening in the next few months:
As of March 31, 2022 Sprint’s older 3G (CDMA) network will be retired
As of June 30, 2022 Sprint’s LTE network will be retired
As of July 1, 2022 T-Mobile’s older 3G UMTS network will be retired
https://www.t-mobile.com/support/coverage/t-mobile-network-evolution
T-Mobile also plans to shut down their 2G GSM network fairly soon.
Here is the community announcement about this at Republic Wireless forum a lot of people are unhappy about these changes.
This is bad news for me because my phone is among those not compatible with the newer networks. They say they are not certain how phones will react to the shut down hopefully will still be able to make calls over wifi at least.
I remember when still having a flip phone was am option. You can’t even find them anywhere. I wonder about this cuz parolees in halfway houses were not supposed to have smartphones. After Covid 19, that rapidly changed and they gave the internet with simple monitored tablets to inmates who weren’t allowed to leave their cells. It blew up Tiktok. It was crazy cuz it was completely counterintuitive to the old paradigm. You know The saying, “You might not care about war, but war sure cares about you…” They need to change it to, “You might not care about transhumanism, but transhumanists sure care about you.” I’ve been thinking about buying those old CB radios they used in Nam. I guess they can communicate even after an EMP attack. They can act kinda like the old internet. I’m sure there’s someone here on this community with tons of knowledge in them. My neighbor suggested it to me, he’s a vet.
There are still flip phones available here is one!
Been reading some more on Republic’s forum they use the exact same forum structure as this site.
They are offering some discounts to people to change plans before the end of the month, $5 off monthly fee for life (which is 1/4 off the regular minimum monthly service fee of $20) and $50 account credit wow they are really jonseing to get people to let go of their old phones.
This company has slowed down a lot in recent years they were pioneers of wi-fi calling back in the early 2010s offering amazing low rates but by now the other companies have caught up with this.
They had a baby company named relay which makes these little radio-like beacons that work over cell towers https://relaypro.com/
Anyway I used to have a phone with a really good slide out two-thumable keyboard the “sparq” phone that was great but stopped working a few years ago.
Where I’m from there isn’t hardly any cell service anyway so this is all moot.
Radios are the way to go not dependent on towers or the grid to work.
Anyway so turns out Republic is switching from T-Mobile/Sprint to AT&T but signed a contract that prohibits them from telling anyone they are now working with AT&T, that is a little unsettling.
So part of the reason for these shutdowns if for the transition to 5G, some of the old systems are being recycled and then stamped with that new label. This includes some old HAM radio bands that are used for low-frequency 5G.
Have been hearing a lot of very frightening things about 5g, not sure what to do with this information or fear-mongering sometimes can’t tell the difference on sites like this.
Here is one good punchline I came up with recently: all 5g stands for is “fifth generation” so technically for anyone to say something like “I don’t want any 5g on my planet!” Literally translates to “I don’t want any more children on my planet! Everyone please stop having babies!”
Omg, I got to really read this, but boy did I catch the end about the babies part. Kinda sad cuz until Covid we were planning our 2nd but with the crap going on with covid, the indoctrination at schools inflation, I think I’d sear my own tubes with a hot poke. I know everyone tells me it’s not the right way to feel cuz I wanted atleast 3. It is strange cuz the 5g rollout rolled out the red carpet for our crisis, coincidence wise… or not. That being said, thanks for the links. I do plan on getting a flip phone, if for no other reason but to plug out. Thanks Bahri!
I heard someone say that there has been some kind of health crisis following every single release of new wireless communications tech, haven’t verified that but this does seem very suspicious the timing on that.