Verizon has announced it is pausing plans to retire its legacy 3G network for the foreseeable future.
In comments to Light Reading, Verizon spokesperson Kevin King confirmed that the company’s “3G network is operational” and said Verizon “doesn’t have a plan to shut it down at this time.”
The carrier has mentioned intentions to wind down 3G several times over the past decade. The discussion began in earnest after Verizon launched its 4G network in 2012, and the company has repeatedly revised timelines since then.
At one point Verizon planned to deactivate its 3G infrastructure by December 2019, a deadline that was later postponed to 2020. Those dates passed without a full shutdown, and the 3G service remains active today.
The COVID-19 pandemic likely complicated efforts to migrate remaining 3G customers to 4G or 5G devices and services, but even with that disruption now behind us Verizon’s 3G network continues to operate.
Verizon hasn’t disclosed how many subscribers still rely on 3G, but the population is evidently significant enough to justify keeping the network online. Legacy IoT devices and older machine-to-machine connections are likely contributors to the lingering user base.
Interestingly, Verizon stopped activating new 3G handsets in 2018 to encourage a transition to LTE-capable devices, and at the time reported that most traffic already ran on 4G. Despite that, the remaining 3G footprint has not disappeared as quickly as expected.
King said Verizon will continue efforts to transition the remaining 3G customers to newer technologies when possible.
Other U.S. carriers have set clearer timelines: AT&T plans to retire its 3G network in early 2022, citing faster speeds and new features enabled by newer technologies. T-Mobile has taken a different approach by requiring handsets to support VoLTE starting January 31, 2021, a move that effectively phases out many 3G-only devices.
(Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash)
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