3G cellular technology has had a pretty good run. In 2001 the service began popping up in limited areas, and shortly thereafter the demand for 3G allowed the carriers to build the service out quickly. Along the way there were plenty of upgrades to the service that extended its life while allowing us all to get connected to our cellular service in a way that was completely unheard of before. People began using the service to make video calls, watch TV, and use services like Facebook, all from their smartphones.

But time does march on.

4G service has been around for years now and has been the default for most devices that are released into the marketplace, for the simple reason that 4G is both faster and more efficient than 3G. And now, as the 5G buildout begins, the carriers simply cannot justify keeping their 3G services operations. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will shut down their 3G services over the course of this year, which means that any older devices that depend on the 3G network to communicate will no longer be able to do so.

While we have been shipping 4G tracking devices for many years now, we still have a lot of customers who will need to upgrade from the 3G devices that were bought a long, long time ago. The fact that we have so many units still in the field says a lot about the durability and reliability of our hardware, but it is still an inconvenience to have to swap out equipment to keep up with the technology changes.

The good news is that this may be the last time customers need to upgrade for a very long time. 4G networks are designed to work with the small to mid-sized data requirements of the devices that make up the Internet of Things — GPS tracking devices, home alarm systems, medical equipment, parking meters — and it’s these devices for the most part that companies are scrambling to upgrade before the old networks are taken down. Once the hardware upgrade is complete though, it is likely that the 4G devices will be with us for a decade or more.

If you do still have a 3G device in use, time is running out to replace it.

The post 3G Network Sunset: For Real This Time appeared first on Sageplan Technology Consulting on Mon, 31 Jan 2022 11:00 AM CST by Don Sesler