4G network shutdown

[MC Morrado]

I was wondering when 4G will be phased out by carriers (United States). My phone connects to both 3G and 4G (and 4G LTE). 3G was phased out in 2022, now for the past few years my phone only either picks up 4G or 4G LTE. Mine is too old for 5G.

 

When do you think 4G will be phased out in your country?

[Mumintroll]

In Sweden it's happening tomorrow, on the 1st December, with many telecom companies.

 

Our phones needs to support atleast 4G and VoLTE (Voice over LTE), but also be able to dial emergency through 4G VoLTE.

That last requirement to be able to call emergency was announced like only a week ago, so alot of people who thought they had good enough phones might still need to buy new ones. And there are some new "dumbed down" models with 4G and VoLTE support but lacks that last requirement still being sold.

 

If a phone cannot dial 112 in Sweden then it's forbidden for the telecom companies to provide their service to it. Making it a useless brick more or less.

[podkall]

4 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

In Sweden it's happening tomorrow, on the 1st December, with many telecom companies.

wat

 

4 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

Our phones needs to support atleast 4G and VoLTE (Voice over LTE), but also be able to dial emergency through 4G VoLTE.

That last requirement to be able to call emergency was announced like only a week ago, so alot of people who thought they had good enough phones might still need to buy new ones.

that's like astronomically unfair to people who might just want a phone, for basic stuff or just calling, or just little bit more, that could have been fine but for some reason now will "require" to have 4G or the VoLTE...

[Mumintroll]

2 minutes ago, podkall said:

wat

Yes exactly!

Telia, which is partly owned by the state, will have their 2G net active to 2027 I think, but the others are closing down now.

 

4 minutes ago, podkall said:

that's like astronomically unfair to people who might just want a phone, for basic stuff or just calling, or just little bit more, that could have been fine but for some reason now will "require" to have 4G or the VoLTE...

Well the writing on the wall has been for some years now here in Sweden. 4G and VoLTE.

(Some of the very first 4G phones only supported 4G data transfers, and phonecalls in 3G. But those phones are almost out of circulation now.)

 

However that last bit to be able to call 112 through VoLTE being announced so close to deadline has caused an uproar over here.

Some older poor people who couldn't afford new phones might have bought second hand ones with 4G and VoLTE, thinking they're good enough, only then just last week finding out they're not able to dial 112, thus will be bricked because they don't support VoLTE emergency calls.

 

I have a good article about it in swedish if you want to read more. Idk if you can translate it somewhere, I didn't find any english source about it.

https://www.senioren.se/nyheter/tiotusentals-mobiltelefoner-blockeras-kan-inte-na-112/

 

I bought a Xaomi Redmi A3 last year, I think it'll work but we'll see about that.

[manikyath]

2 hours ago, Mumintroll said:

In Sweden it's happening tomorrow, on the 1st December, with many telecom companies.

i think you misread, OP is asking about a future 4G shutdown, not the currently pending 3G shutdown.

 

on topic: from a quick google it appears there arent plans to turn off 4G within the next decade.

[Alex Atkin UK]

The mobile phone network costs an unholy amount of money to run, its unfortunately impractical to keep running older technology forever when newer technology is more efficient.   Keeping older technology running can mean keeping an entire national network running, as 2G/3G I believe pre-date things like software defined radio, so they do not run on the same technology.  So instead of the cost of running one network, you have two or three, for a diminishing number of customers.

On top of that there is also only a finite amount of radio frequencies, turning off the older technology to reuse them with the new allows vastly more efficient use of the frequencies, faster data speeds, more users on the same tower, etc.

 

Perhaps most importantly, it suffers the problem all technology does in that once it becomes outdated then maintaining it becomes impossible as replacement parts are no longer being manufactured.

[Mumintroll]

26 minutes ago, manikyath said:

i think you misread, OP is asking about a future 4G shutdown, not the currently pending 3G shutdown.

 

on topic: from a quick google it appears there arent plans to turn off 4G within the next decade.

Oh  sorry about that.

Yes I've read speculation that 4G might not be shutdown before 2040.

[Alex Atkin UK]

15 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

Oh  sorry about that.

Yes I've read speculation that 4G might not be shutdown before 2040.

Its definitely early days seeing as many 5G networks are actually using 4G for upstream traffic and calls. I'm not sure how VoLTE translates to 5G.

[Lurking]

I'm sorry, but when were 4G capable phones sold? Phones without 4G Must be ancient by now. My 3+ year old Pixel 6 had 5G. 

 

Or is that a case of people having bought an already outdated phone at the time? Or do people here worry about 6+ year old phones? 

 

4G phones came out in 2010. Not sure if those also included whatever is needed for 112 call or VoIT. But is this really a problem for many people in 2025? The longest lasting (meaning supported) phones have 7 years, and that likely is beyond the life of the unreplaceable batteries. 

 

It isn't economical to install new modern networks, and maintain old ones. Even with enough hardware, you may not have enough space, right of way, and power at the antenna locations to run 1G all the way through 5G. And there probably is some interference or bandwidth issue with multiple networks.

[MC Morrado]

14 minutes ago, Lurking said:

I'm sorry, but when were 4G capable phones sold? Phones without 4G Must be ancient by now. My 3+ year old Pixel 6 had 5G. 

 

Or is that a case of people having bought an already outdated phone at the time? Or do people here worry about 6+ year old phones? 

 

4G phones came out in 2010. Not sure if those also included whatever is needed for 112 call or VoIT. But is this really a problem for many people in 2025? The longest lasting (meaning supported) phones have 7 years, and that likely is beyond the life of the unreplaceable batteries. 

 

It isn't economical to install new modern networks, and maintain old ones. Even with enough hardware, you may not have enough space, right of way, and power at the antenna locations to run 1G all the way through 5G. And there probably is some interference or bandwidth issue with multiple networks.

I've had my current phone since 2019. I don't have the disposable income to splurge on new phones like tech normies.

[Lurking]

41 minutes ago, MC.Morrado said:

I've had my current phone since 2019. I don't have the disposable income to splurge on new phones like tech normies.

What phone? A cursory googling tells me even Samsung mid range phones in 2019 had 4G. 

 

Even in 2015 it seems Samsung mid range phones offered 4G. I'm just picking Samsung as an example for other name brands. 

 

Maybe a really cheap phone in 2019 didn't have 4G. But then you also can't expect the same usefulness as from a more expensive phone.

 

Edit: to add to confusion, it seems your phone has 4G? Why are you worried then? Google tells me 4G will be around till 2030-2035. Not sure if that is true. But do you really think you keep your 2019 phone that long?

[Donut417]

On 11/30/2025 at 1:06 PM, MC.Morrado said:

was wondering when 4G will be phased out by carriers (United States).

T Mobile is starting to phase it out in 2026 to make more room for its 5G service. The other two haven't made a peep, so likely 4G will be around for a while longer. 

 

Also I think a lot of cars and IOT devices still use 4G. So it's likely we wont be shutting that down for a while. Most of these devices use AT&T or Verizon, which is probably why T Mobile is taking about phasing out 4G. 

 

On 12/1/2025 at 8:34 PM, Lurking said:

Why are you worried then? Google tells me 4G will be around till 2030-2035.

Probably heard about the T Mobile phase out and was concerned. 

[Donut417]

On 12/1/2025 at 8:06 PM, MC.Morrado said:

've had my current phone since 2019. I don't have the disposable income to splurge on new phones like tech normies.

Nothing wrong with running with 6 year old phone. I like to use my Phones for at least 5 years if I can before I upgrade. Because if Im going to upgrade, I want to really "Upgrade".