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Old 04-08-2012, 07:12
Everything Goes
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Ameican phone company AT&T have announced that they intend to close their 2G network on 1st January 2017. Apparently on 12% of their subscribers use 2G only.

I wonder if any of the UK networks are planning to do this. O2 and Vodafone are already using their old 2G 900Mhz for 3G. Im sure we have more 2G only subscribers than AT&T. But it must be on the cards at some point.

http://m.engadget.com/2012/08/03/att-plans-to-shut-down-entire-2g-network-by-2017/?icid=eng_latest_art
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Old 04-08-2012, 08:31
ney
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Untill the likes of 02 improve there 3g network coverage. There is no way 2g will close. Parts of North Scotland dont have 3g coverage on any network. I have been just past Perth a few times this year and there is no 3g coverage unless you are in Perth.

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Old 04-08-2012, 09:46
Everything Goes
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Obviously O2 are a good example of not to run a 3G network (unless you are an accountant looking to save money by making a minimal investment)

In Japan Softbank switched off their 2G network in March 2010 followed by NTT DoCoMo in March 2011.

It will happen eventually. Im sure people said they would never switch off 1G but it happened.
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Old 04-08-2012, 10:14
fmradiotuner1
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In Many parts of Clacton I only get 2G on my S2 on T-Mobile.
3G goes where I live but just down the road where the main town is it can be really hard to get a signal where the shops are.
Really surprised its not improved at all round here and three can be the same.
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Old 04-08-2012, 10:30
niceguy1966
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One of the reasons to switch off 2G is to reuse the frequency for 3G. So the 3G coverage should improve after 2G is turned off. 900MHz has much better penetration of walls than the normal 3G frequencies (2.1 GHz I seem to remember). 3G at 900 MHz is good for everyone except those with a 2G only phone or 2G only subscription (both of these are likely to be low spending groups, so the operators aren't too worried if they change network ).
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Old 04-08-2012, 10:51
Thine Wonk
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O2 have a lot of work to do before they could do that as others have said.

If Ofcom set a date I think that would be really cool, there's nothing you can do on 2g that you can't do on 3g and you can get 3g phones quite cheap these days even if you don't want the mobile internet services.

I think it would be a good move.
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Old 04-08-2012, 11:25
jjesso123
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Why is it two countries with high population can manage to do this but we can't ?
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Old 04-08-2012, 13:50
alan1302
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Why is it two countries with high population can manage to do this but we can't ?
Who says we can't?
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Old 04-08-2012, 16:01
Daveoc64
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Why is it two countries with high population can manage to do this but we can't ?
In the US, they have regional networks.

While AT&T is a national network, it doesn't have a licence in every state, so it doesn't have as big a network as you'd expect.

AT&T also happens to have a terrible reputation for coverage and customer service.

As an aside, the networks in the US are considered to be far more expensive and unreliable than the networks over here.
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Old 04-08-2012, 16:51
Martin Phillp
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Can't see it happening yet, while there's a healthy market for smartphones in the UK, there are still plenty of customers who use budget phones or the growing market in easy to use mobiles for older people, which only use 2G.
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Old 04-08-2012, 17:59
niceguy1966
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Coverage in the USA is far worse than in the UK, they focus on the cities and highways and leave a lot gaps where farms or country lanes are.

The USA is also far happier to ditch old technology than Europeans. They are queuing up to buy the next big thing and accept that something they bought could be outdated after a couple of years.

In the UK we are very lucky to have the coverage we have on all major networks. Turning off 2G and reusing the frequency for 3G could increase total capacity, improve data rates and reduce the need for inter system hangovers (a common cause of dropped calls)
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Old 04-08-2012, 20:52
reclusive46
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Coverage in the USA is far worse than in the UK, they focus on the cities and highways and leave a lot gaps where farms or country lanes are.

The USA is also far happier to ditch old technology than Europeans. They are queuing up to buy the next big thing and accept that something they bought could be outdated after a couple of years.

In the UK we are very lucky to have the coverage we have on all major networks. Turning off 2G and reusing the frequency for 3G could increase total capacity, improve data rates and reduce the need for inter system hangovers (a common cause of dropped calls)
I've lived in the US and never experienced these types of problems in the US on Verizon or AT&T. Infact many states have regional carriers as well, which pay monthly customers of the major networks can roam onto for free. I've found 3G (Well Verizions sort of 3G) to cover the majority of the country and 4G LTE covers much of it now (Not on AT&T admittedly)
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Old 04-08-2012, 22:09
Step666
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I've found 3G (Well Verizions sort of 3G) to cover the majority of the country and 4G LTE covers much of it now (Not on AT&T admittedly)
Whilst you're pretty much right about 3G coverage on Verizon, LTE coverage is absolutely nowhere near covering even half of the US.
Verizon have LTE coverage in 330 'markets' (or, in English, 330 cities) with little-to-no attention being paid to more rural areas - as illustrated by this map.


I understand it's completely different to the UK due to the way in which the population is distributed across the country but in terms of overall coverage, I doubt any US network would measure up to the UK networks - not even O2.
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Old 04-08-2012, 22:24
swills
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When I was on my hols in the USA last year everyhting seemed to revolve around AT&T, and 4G seemed to be the 'norm' but where I live twixt Colchester & Clacton, not only is 3G only a dream most days, 2G is not much better, VF was absolute pants, so ditiched them, my son has 02 that does not seem much better, now gone with 3, whose coverage although badly lacking seems a tad better then the other two !
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Old 04-08-2012, 22:30
monkeysoap
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Why is it two countries with high population can manage to do this but we can't ?
Oh, boohoo, do stop your whinging! It's not like switching off 2G will cure cancer or bring world peace!
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Old 04-08-2012, 22:53
Step666
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When I was on my hols in the USA last year everyhting seemed to revolve around AT&T, and 4G seemed to be the 'norm'
Only because the likes of AT&T and T-Mobile in the US are marketing 3G as 4G.

Proper 4G (LTE) requires an altogether different handset from '4G' as some of the US networks advertise it.
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Old 05-08-2012, 01:17
neo_wales
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Get out into the sticks in the States and cell phone signals are truly awful, we have much better coverage in the UK overall.
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Old 05-08-2012, 01:59
AyeJay
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EE are planning on using their 2G spectrum for LTE so I guess despite the money they (will) make off (LTE) smartphones outweighs that they will make off existing 2G only phones.

Considering o2 & Vodaphone are waiting it out for the spectrum auction they seem to have no plans to follow suit.
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Old 05-08-2012, 02:00
AyeJay
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Only because the likes of AT&T and T-Mobile in the US are marketing 3G as 4G.

Proper 4G (LTE) requires an altogether different handset from '4G' as some of the US networks advertise it.
They're marketing HSPA+ (3.5G) as 4G. 3G is HSPA.
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Old 05-08-2012, 07:46
zantarous
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Get out into the sticks in the States and cell phone signals are truly awful, we have much better coverage in the UK overall.
I thought too but my mum lives in the middle of no where and when I was their in June I had HSPA+ on my handset in doors with five bars.

As for turning of 2G they will start doing it so the networks can ruse the frequency for LTE services.
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Old 05-08-2012, 08:12
nigelbb
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They can't possibly turn off 3G when so many people use phones that are 2G only.
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Old 05-08-2012, 08:51
ba_baracus
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They can't possibly turn off 3G when so many people use phones that are 2G only.
The same was probably also said about analogue TV. But that's happened.
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Old 05-08-2012, 10:24
Step666
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The same was probably also said about analogue TV. But that's happened.
But for years and years beforehand, only digital-capable TVs were sold.
There are plenty of non-3G phones still on the market.
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Old 05-08-2012, 11:05
Everything Goes
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The same was probably also said about analogue TV. But that's happened.
People tend to forget that if they are on Vodafone or O2 the frequency they use on 900Mhz used to be part of their analogue mobile phone service which got switched off in 2001.
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Old 05-08-2012, 11:32
Thine Wonk
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They stopped supporting pagers, 1G phones, analogue tv, the first gen digital set top boxes are now obsolete.

The average mobile lifespan is 2-3 years. I think 2g only folks should expect the operators to gradually start moving over frequencies to 4g services over the next few years with a total cut over of at least 1 network in maybe 5 years in the uk.
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