Do it Beans. Get off the fence and say what you really mean.

Seriously, don't do it Beans.

If 3G was switched off, and a 2G/4G system was used in the UK (which from what I've read on here, is more likely than switching off 2G) then there's at least one MVNO that would then be 2G only if they didn't get allowed access to 4G.

It isn't going to happen for a while. MVNOs would have ample time to sort things out.

Vodafone wants 3G gone by 2020 and I don't think anyone else has given dates?

This is great news.. Last time I was there Vodafone was only 2g edge with no data throughput, Looks like 4g might also get added to Shawbury and maybe Wem, there's a vague hope coverage might be added to the main mast in market Drayton, the predicted map shows expanded 3g coverage, vo2 only have the edge of town mast done so far and coverage isn't great, most traffic in town H ones through the main water tower mast which is only 2100mhz single carrier 3g so half Meg speeds are the best it gets, O2 from the same mast gives a healthy 18mbps dc-hsdpa still only 2100mhz,
Though I've never seen any of the predicted coverage that appears on 3g and not 4g ever actually happen so I won't hold my breath.. ☺

I've mixed views about keeping or removing 3g at the earliest opportunity,
As others have said, my biggest hate is streaming content and getting stuck on 3g, which often can't cope with the said stream, this happens almost every time on Vodafone as the threshold of ditching 4g and dropping back to 3g is set ridiculously high.
And of course it's nearly always the congested 900mhz 3g not 2100mhz you end up with. So for this it would be great to finally see the back of 3g along with its slow data speeds at low signal levels..
But 2g/4g with no volte support would not be to my liking, 2g voice quality is noticeably inferior to 3g, specially when taking hands free to hands free, but the main issue is how fragile reception is, I can happily maintain a call with a 3g signal around - 105db or a bit greater but 2g breaks up too early around -85+ and is useless indoors I lock my G4 to the weaker 3g when making a call in the house as if left to its own devices it will always switch to the stronger older 2g only mast near by giving me broken reception as I move about even very slightly.

Not sure if this is due to the 2100 being REFARMED to 4G but I'm seeing 3G on my phone occasionally instead of H+ not seen that for a long time in my area

I see most of the South Hams has gone unplanned for 3G again. I assume this is the usual flaky VOD mapping nonsense and that it will be done in the next few months.

Do they? In what sense, all refarmed?

I would rather 2G was gone than 3G, especially if the 3G is HSPA+.

Are Voda any closer to VoLTE?

Vodafone are refarming 2100MHz to 4G and I assume that they would refarm 900MHz (apart from a small amount, left for 2G) to 4G as well. Thus leaving a small amount of 900 for 2G, and their 5MHz 1800 (if not used for 4G), with everything else going 4G.

I agree with you that I'd rather see 2G gone than 3G. DC-HSPA can easily provide 10Mbit/s, sometimes even 20Mbit/s or more, which is a good fallback for if 4G is not available. 2G, on the other hand, is dire for data - 150kbit/s anyone? That's kbit/s, not Mbit/s, btw...

The same goes for calling. HD Voice is much better quality, and 3G provides HD Voice. 2G doesn't - 2G voice quality can be rather poor indeed.

4G VoLTE with a fallback to 3G would be ideal - though for some reason, Vodafone wants 2G/4G by 2020. Don't know why, when for calls and data quality, 3G outperforms 2G...

To advance in tech from 2G to 3G is great but to advance from 3G to 4G is not.

That means progress stops as VF should give up on 2G & 4G as no one wants it and make everything 3G?

Have I understood the theory in its most basic format?

Beans makes almost every post the same...

They CAN NOT and WILL NOT turn off 2G anytime soon. There are too many things which rely on it. So give that thought up. If anything is going to be binned to give more 4G spectrum it will be 3G. 4G (aside from lack of voice as standard doh) is a far superior technology and while we all love a good 3G signal, it's got the shortest shelf life.

Those are the facts. Not opinion.

If you got rid of 3G, you could have more 4G capacity (refarming) and more 4G coverage (CSFB to 2G). However, voice load, with massive regret, makes the termination impossible at this present time.

Would you rather have 4G all the time
-or-
Lose 4G like sometimes now and have 3G and inevitably 2G due to cell breathing as the far from cell signal.

Out of those choices, 4G all the time. Yes 3G is very good at most things (apart from cell breathing!) but dropping to 2G is just not an option. I'd rather have solid 4G all the time, than drop from 4G/3G to 2G.
Plus, when Vodafone and O2 launch VoLTE, then CSFB to 2G won't be an issue either. You'd effectively have 4G all the time, with only non-VoLTE devices ever seeing 2G.

If they do that I assume my service provider will upgrade my current unlimited, fixed price 3G data allowance to 4G with no change of T&C?

If you were serious about phasing out 3G or 2G, the rollout of 4G needs to be much more bold and aggressive in the UK.

For instance both Swisscom in Switzerland and Three in Austria have installed every technology (2G/3G/4G) on every single mast they operate and have both been doing so for over a year ! Three in Austria for example is operating 2G900, 3G 2100 and 4G1800 on every mast, complimented by 4G2600 in urban areas and are now rolling out 4G900 (3Mhz) onto every mast as well.

I think this illustrates that any talk of switching off 2G or 3G in the UK is not realistic at the moment.

You would assume wrong unless your T&C make provision for this.

The "switch off" as said will be 2020 at the earliest so a few years to go

A lot can happen in the next 4 years when Vodafone intends to do it (but if not ready, won't and just delay things - so there's no concrete date) and I am sure EE will be adding 4G to all of its sites between now and then.

Three needs to do the same and will be left behind if it doesn't have the investment planned to do so, and refarm the 3G spectrum.

Vodafone is refarming 2G to 3G and will presumably be configuring things so in the future it can be switched from a network operations centre, thus avoiding another site visit.

3G will just gradually dissapear from sites and / or capacity will drop so you are on it less often. In 3 year's time complaining that your 3G only device will not work where 4G ones will is not going to cut it. Get a 4G one.

It's the same with everything from leaded petrol to analogue TV. There area always those who cling on and moan but they will always be ignored as we have to make progress. I don't hear anyone moaning about the lack of leaded 4 Star these days but it was a big hoo ha in the day. There is of course a tipping point and 3G could certainly not be turned off today. It will probably be gently re-farmed and become worse and worse until it dies.

Will the launch of VoLTE mean a power boost of 4G 800MHz on Voda and O2?

Once 4G coverage is everywhere, it would be a total waste having 3G anyway. Nobody would be connecting to it, so it would be a totally redundant network*.

* I realise there will be some users with 3G only handsets, but if by 2020+ they still have a 3G only phone, I doubt they're big phone users.

I'll believe that when I see it...!

I usually force my 4G portable hotspot to 4G only to avoid it falling back to 3G (or 2G) and then sticking on it. I would do so on my phones if I didn't ever need to make voice calls.

Come widespread VoLTE roll out, I may well end up 4G only long before the networks do it. I certainly set my 3G phones to 3G only 'back in the day' and would rather the odd no service warning than being dropped to GPRS or EDGE.

The UK is a different market to the both of them. Would you be willing to pay the prices of Swisscom for example?

Every mast is getting 4G at some point, we just started later and we're in a different environment.