Verizon is giving 3G users a free 4G flip phone

[ebprince the computer nerd]

Summary

The telecommunications service, Verizon is giving customers stuck on 3G networks, free 4G flip phones. The 3 phones Verizon will be giving are the Orbic Journey V at $99, TCL Flip Pro, and Nokia 2720 V Flip, both at $79.

 

Quotes

Quote

After a few delays, Verizon seems poised to actually follow through on shutting down its 3G CDMA network at the end of this year. But the carrier is still contending with a subset of customers who sat out the 4G LTE era and haven’t yet upgraded their 3G phones. So, as 2022 rolls onward, Verizon is sending those wireless subscribers a free extremely basic flip phone to prevent them from losing connectivity when the 3G network goes offline.

 

According to its website, Verizon will provide customers with one of three phones: the Orbic Journey V, TCL’s Flip Pro, or the Nokia 2720 V Flip. The retail value for each of those devices is under $100: the Orbic is $99.99, with the other two running $79.99.

 

My thoughts

I like this. People need to get off of 3G since one, it's slower compared to LTE and a snail compared to 5G. And two, it's already about 20 years old and needs to be phased out. Yeah, these are SUPER basic phones, (actually they have 2 star ratings on Verizon's website lol) but they have LTE now!

 

Sources

the verge

[jaslion]

14 minutes ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

I like this. People need to get off of 3G since one, it's slower compared to LTE and a snail compared to 5G. And two, it's already about 20 years old and needs to be phased out.

I disagree here completely. For most people it's more than fine to use. Just because it's old doesn't mean it needs to be suddenly replaced. Yes a steady replacement to 4g is good but a sudden cutoff just feels wrong.

 

My grandma loves her 3310 and she can still use it just fine here. That phone is never going to be replaced and I'd be extremely sour if the network would cut it off (not that they can really do that since a ton of goverment infrastructure here relies on 2g bands still). Yes she can use android she has a tablet for internet recipes and such but she wants that 2-3weeks of battery as that is very important for her and wants to keep things simple.

[Mihle]

7 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I disagree here completely. For most people it's more than fine to use. Just because it's old doesn't mean it needs to be suddenly replaced. Yes a steady replacement to 4g is good but a sudden cutoff just feels wrong.

 

My grandma loves her 3310 and she can still use it just fine here. That phone is never going to be replaced and I'd be extremely sour if the network would cut it off (not that they can really do that since a ton of goverment infrastructure here relies on 2g bands still). Yes she can use android she has a tablet for internet recipes and such but she wants that 2-3weeks of battery as that is very important for her and wants to keep things simple.

2G will probably never get cut off as it's plenty of things that can still use it, and it can be an emergency usage plus other things.

 

I think it's also cheaper to maintain/run than 3g or faster ones because longer range, so fewer antennas are needed.

[An0maly_76]

I was with Verizon for awhile and went to another carrier in March. They could give me a free 5G phone and a year's service on them and I still wouldn't go back. Their customer service, billing and payment processing has been a sh**show for the past year.

Edited July 10, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised, more info

[ebprince the computer nerd]

3 minutes ago, An0maly_76 said:

Their customer service, billing and payment processing has been a sh**show for the past year.

My family has thought of going to T-Mobile, but we just get too much value from Verizon. They have treated us OK, but we may switch, idk.

[An0maly_76]

5 minutes ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

My family has thought of going to T-Mobile, but we just get too much value from Verizon. They have treated us OK, but we may switch, idk.

All these carriers suck in some way or other as far as I'm concerned. What one carrier is really good about, another one wants to complicate things reinventing the wheel or stick their hand in your pocket for nitnoid BS. It all comes down to exactly what you stated -- what one feels is the best value for their money.

 

Me, I always got the best bang for the buck with Straight Talk (and yes, it was on Verizon towers, but I wasn't doing business directly with them, which is the entire problem). In five years driving a tractor-trailer cross-country with Straight Talk, the only places I had service issues were small remote parts of Iowa and Missouri, and mountains, which is to be expected.

Edited July 10, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised

[Quackers101]

"4G flip phones"

- still stuck with 4G.

[OhioYJ]

3 hours ago, An0maly_76 said:

Their customer service, billing and payment processing has been a sh**show for the past year.

I don't think it's the past year.... It's just always been a mess.

3 hours ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

 but we just get too much value from Verizon.

Too much value...? Verizon? Isn't that an oxymoron?

 

Seriously though, I was stuck with Verizon for many years as they were the only one that worked where I lived. Finally that changed. Probably like most things, it's all good until you have something go wrong, then then it's how a company handles it. With as much as Verizon charges, you'd think they could for afford some customer service...

[OhioYJ]

3 hours ago, An0maly_76 said:

Me, I always got the best bang for the buck with Straight Talk (and yes, it was on Verizon towers, but I wasn't doing business directly with them, which is the entire problem).

I was with Straight Talk for many years after I left Verizon. Their website got to be a mess though, I got tired of it switched to Mint about a year ago. So far I've been happy with that, it's been cheaper.

 

My wife and mom left Straight Talk for the same reason. I don't know who thought they were making improvements to that website but....

[Arika]

5 hours ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

People need to get off of 3G since one, it's slower compared to LTE and a snail compared to 5G

These are flip phones...what benefit do they get from 4g? they wont have internet on them anyway so speed doesn't matter.

 

5 hours ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

And two, it's already about 20 years old and needs to be phased out.

just because something is old, doesn't mean it should disappear. cable internet has been around for a long time, so has ADSL, Yes fiber internet now exists, but it's expensive, not available everywhere and a lot of people don't need it and are happy with what they have now. just like 3g phones.

[Senzelian]

5 hours ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

20 years old and needs to be phased out.

Electric motors are like 200 years old. Let's get rid of those stoneage electric cars already! 

[An0maly_76]

2 hours ago, OhioYJ said:

 With as much as Verizon charges, you'd think they could for afford some customer service...

The really sad part is, the CEO is too stupid to realize poor customer service is why they're losing business, they're trying to cite recession.

[tim0901]

20 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

Electric motors are like 200 years old. Let's get rid of those stoneage electric cars already! 

The difference is that electric motors don't take up precious spectrum space.

 

That's the reason that 3G is being discontinued. It's not about cost this time - this "let's get rid of 3G" move comes from the FCC, not the carriers. Because 3G still hogs the same frequencies that it did when it was first launched, despite usage now being very low. This prevents us from using that spectrum space for something else - something that might be more useful to a far larger percentage of the population.

 

Yes, it sucks. I agree. In an ideal world we would love to keep it running. But doing so - when there is a solution of "just give people an upgrade" - just doesn't make sense when it comes to spectrum allocation.

[Senzelian]

30 minutes ago, tim0901 said:

The difference is that electric motors don't take up precious spectrum space.

 

That's the reason that 3G is being discontinued. It's not about cost this time - this "let's get rid of 3G" move comes from the FCC, not the carriers. Because 3G still hogs the same frequencies that it did when it was first launched, despite usage now being very low. This prevents us from using that spectrum space for something else - something that might be more useful to a far larger percentage of the population.

 

Yes, it sucks. I agree. In an ideal world we would love to keep it running. But doing so - when there is a solution of "just give people an upgrade" - just doesn't make sense when it comes to spectrum allocation.

 

I was just mad he said a reason to discontinue 3G is because its old and you're going on about it as if my point was to get rid of electric motors. wtf dude

[Donut417]

9 hours ago, ebprince the computer nerd said:

People need to get off of 3G since one, it's slower compared to LTE and a snail compared to 5G. A

The problem has been connected cars, like On Star and services like it were using 3G on older cars. Next not everyone cares about speed. Some, especially older folks might only use their phones for calls. I do know that Verizon has been trying to kill 3G for several years now. 

 

2 hours ago, tim0901 said:

move comes from the FCC,

I have not once seen the FCC issue such orders. This move is from the carriers. They are trying to sunset 3G so they can more efficiently use their spectrum for 4G and 5G. Hell they are already talking about a 6G spec.

[Sauron]

7 hours ago, Quackers101 said:

"4G flip phones"

- still stuck with 4G.

I have a feeling that if you had a 3G only phone you probably don't care much about being "stuck on 4G". You might care about having to use a flip phone though.

[Donut417]

7 hours ago, Quackers101 said:

"4G flip phones"

- still stuck with 4G.

Remember part of the reason 3G stuck around so long was because 4G was originally DATA ONLY. It wasnt until VoLTE became a thing that they considered killing the 3G network. Im not sure if 5G has voice as of yet or if they use VoLTE for voice services. 

 

Also those with a flip phone are probably not using much data services. 

[WhitetailAni]

29 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Remember part of the reason 3G stuck around so long was because 4G was originally DATA ONLY. It wasnt until VoLTE became a thing that they considered killing the 3G network. Im not sure if 5G has voice as of yet or if they use VoLTE for voice services. 

They still use VoLTE for voice.

[ebprince the computer nerd]

For everyone saying that I’m being dumb for calling 3G “old” or “needs to be changed,” I see where you are coming from, but we cannot be on 3G forever. I know that phones that grandparents use don’t use a lot of service, but the flip phone and “not really a smartphone” era has been phasing out and has only made a slight return in the past 10 years. They are going to have to get a lower-budget smartphone, instead of the flip phones we have now. This will take time, probably like 20 to 30 years from now, but it will happen.

Edited July 10, 2022 by ebprince the computer nerd

[Gamer Schnitzel]

OP you honestly sound like a child. WAH WAH THIS IS OLD! IT HAS TO BE UPGRADED FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON AT ALL! 

What is 5G good for again..? To worship influencers on TikTok and Instagram while you are outside? JK you are of course a CEO and need to send 50 MB spreadsheets to your secretary while you are having business meetings. Of course.

People who grew up in the 90s and had abslutely no choice but to watch the cartoons that the TV channels chose for you to watch have some of the healthiest brains of the human race whereas children, probably like you OP, who have trillions of choices when it comes to content are some of the most incompetent brains.

If all the people older than 25 vanished right now the world would genuinely end. Young people today simply cannot cope with any kind of work.

 

How old do you think are the people who are coming up with 5G, 6G and 100G, huh?

 

I just clicked on your profile hoping to see an age but instead was greeted by a Roblox profile. Weird how I am always correct, eh?

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

What is 5G good for again..?

Home internet. In some cases it provides people in Rural America good internet options. In the suburbs it gives people another option besides DSL or Cable internet. In many areas of the US people only have 1 "real" option, so 5G provides another "Real" option.  

 

Outside of that its not really that big of a deal. My mom's iPhone 13 Mini has 5G and she really hasn't said anything about how well it performs, etc. 

1 hour ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

Young people today simply cannot cope with any kind of work.

You blame the young people for all the world's problems, but the older people are the ones who raised them. The older people are the ones in goverment who are fucking their future. The older generation is just as likely to end humanity as the younger ones are. 

[AnonymousGuy]

5 hours ago, Donut417 said:

I have not once seen the FCC issue such orders. This move is from the carriers. They are trying to sunset 3G so they can more efficiently use their spectrum for 4G and 5G. Hell they are already talking about a 6G spec.

Give me a G that has extended range instead of trying to push stupid speeds that only work if you have line of sight.  

[ebprince the computer nerd]

1 hour ago, Gamer Schnitzel said:

If all the people older than 25 vanished right now the world would genuinely end. Young people today simply cannot cope with any kind of work.

You guys literally raised the people! People seriously always want to target young people for people incompetent and dumb, but you guys literally raised us. Plus, YOU guys are making these new cellular systems, (5G, 6G, etc) and YOU guys are canceling out the old ones! Plus, you think we can’t do any work? In 2020, about 20-40% of workers that were employed were 16-24. That’s anywhere from a fifth to almost half of the works employed were under 25. We do work! I just looked at your profile, where’s the age? Also, maybe look at my profile a little more. I am a stock investor! How do you think I can do that if I’m a kid?

[Donut417]

1 hour ago, AnonymousGuy said:

Give me a G that has extended range instead of trying to push stupid speeds that only work if you have line of sight.  

T Mobile's 5G on 600 Mhz can do a decent distance from what I have read. The issue with range is you need to use low bands, well the low bands are used by things like OTA TV and Radio. Some of us use OTA TV. The other way is to use micro cell sites, but the tin foil hat crowd would throw a fucking fit, as they already feel the transmitters on the towers give you cancer or covid or what ever they think now days. 

 

[StDragon]

There's already talk of 6G, and 5G isn't close to being properly utilized. Also, the modems draw more power than 4G. I'm not sure of Android, but iPhone at least takes a hybrid approach: use 5G when in close range, but switch to 4G when far away to reduce battery consumption. This can be changed, but why bother? If I'm outside, 4G is good enough to check e-mail, get map updates, order food via app. If I actually plan on watching a movie or YouTube, it's going to be while inside with WiFi anyways so as to not blow my monthly usage quota. WiFi is also a heck of a lot more reliable for bandwidth needs.

So, 5G or 6G, why do I care about it and why should I? If you really need an alternate ISP, Starlink is within a year or so away.