Cell Tower PHOENIX - For a number of Americans, their current smartphones will stop working this year, as major cell service providers say they will switch off their 3G network, also referred to on some websites as the 3G sunset.Here's what you need to know to plan ahead.According to officials with the FCC, mobile carriers "periodically shut down older services, such as 3G, to free up spectrum and infrastructure to support new services, such as 5G.""Mobile carriers have the flexibility to choose the types of technologies and services they deploy, including when they decommission older services in favor of newer services to meet consumer demands," read a portion of the FCC website dedicated to the pending 3G shutoff.FCC officials say similar network transitions have happened before, such as the switchoff of 2G networks by some mobile carriers when their networks were being upgraded to support 4G services.Officials with AT&T say their 3G network has been phased out, effective Feb.
22.T-Mobile has a more complicated schedule in their 3G network switchoff. Officials with that cell service provider say the 3G CDMA network that originated with Sprint will be retired as of March 31, 2022, while the 3G UMTS network that originated with T-Mobile itself will be retired as of July 1, 2022.
In addition, the LTE network that originated with Sprint will also be retired as of June 30, 2022.Officials with Verizon say they are "actively decommissioning" their 3G CDMA network, and they expect the decommissioning to be completed by no later than Dec.
31, 2022. This comes after the cell service provider delayed their switchoff date twice, from 2019 to 2020 and now, to 2022.