3G is shutting down, How could us making a phone call then?

Jaquesdoo · January 2022

Good Morning everyone,

I have read the news that 3G is shutting down on AT&T and T-Mobile this year in the States. Fizz is partnered with them for US coverage. If the 3G there shuts down, How could us make a phone call when we travel to the States? ;)

Luke_Skywalker · January 2022

According to the FCC, mobile providers will phase out their 3G networks as early as Jan. 1, 2022. T-Mobile will shut down Sprint’s 3G network on Jan. 1, 2022, AT&T will shut down its 3G network by February 2022, T-Mobile will then shut down its own 3G network on July 1, 2022, and Verizon will shut down its 3G network by Dec. 31, 2022. The FCC adds that many other carriers use the Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile networks, so customers of other providers may be affected.

The FCC says this means many older cell phones will be unable to send texts, make or receive calls or use data services, and will have no access to 911. This will affect 3G phones as well as “certain older 4G mobile phones that do not support Voice over LTE (VoLTE or HD Voice).”

Anyway 3G was a bit of a disappointment, it as been phased out because it has less spectra efficiency than 4G or 5G. The spectral efficiency in the real world for 3G was not as high as engineers were expecting when the system was first designed.

Here's a non-exaustive list of phones that will continue to work after 3G shuts down :

AT&T List of 3G Phones Not Supported - 4G + HD Voice Supported Phones List

https://technosamigos.com/att-list-of-3g-phones-not-supported/

AT&T is about to wipe out 3G support and if you don’t have a 4G supported phone then it’s time to upgrade your phone. According to AT&T after February 2022 you will need to have a device with atleast 4G and HD Voice support. Sadly AT&T didn’t publish a list of devices for which support […]

Some phone are not there, like my phone the Alcatel Idol 4S, but it will work.

For Canada, 3G phase out is predicted for the end of 2025 for Bell, Rogers and Telus network 🤗

Emporium · January 2022

3G is shutting down (and pretty soon), but Tmobile (and Sprint since they merged) and ATT both have 4G LTE/HSPA networks. So unless your existing phone does NOT support 4G (which would be really old), I am assuming that Fizz/Videotron will have agreements in place already for using the 4G networks of both partners.

-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

I know that Tmobile (ATT not as big) also has a huge 5G presence in the US. Obviously phone needs to support 5G, but since Fizz does not support 5G yet, not sure they would have any agreements for 5G network sharing.

Oddly enough the Tmobile older 2G (GSM) network is not being shutdown yet, and no official date set for that.

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You can also try contacting customer service and see what they say regarding the subject (assuming they have more news).

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Clive_ref_code_73TF9 · January 2022

Hello @Jaquesdoo, Fizz will still work on 4G/LTE partner networks in the US.

EricPD · January 2022

Can a fizz phone use VoLTE when roaming on US networks?

Ikonography · January 2022

Since VoLTE doesn’t seem to work in rural Quebec when certain new Bell towers are available (I have an outstanding ticket with fizz since the summer of 2021), it would be interesting to see how the roaming works in the USA. Hard to test with a pandemic still raging and with the shutdown of 3G not quite on yet.