3G cell phone service ending, includes alarm systems

[Wade Lippman]

The phone works on GSM and CDMA. I put the IMEI into Verizon's website and it confirms that I can use my phone there.

I have heard that ATT has stopped repairing their 3G equipment; perhaps that is why your friend's phone is having problems. Sadly, my phones only came out 3 years ago but don't have volte.

[Brian Elfert]

My friend could see work being done on the tower at the same time he lost his 3G calling. I would not be surprised if they removed the 3G equipment entirely during the work as my friend hasn't been able to make a call since. He went and bought a cell phone amplifier so he can make calls. I don't understand why he doesn't just take the couple of minutes to turn on LTE calling on his phone.

[Derek Meyer]

Jim, our current vendor has not been very responsive to our inquiries, and part of our search for new hardware is a change of vendor as well. There aren't a lot of providers in our area, so we are expanding our search to a larger area to see what is available.

From what I could find, there is no LTE module available for our panels, so we're stuck unless we want to bring landline service back, which comes with its own issues.

[Jim Becker]

Dec 31, 2022. An AT&T phone may very well not work with Verizon as Verizon and AT&T use competing standards. Some phone models work with both networks. You must really, really like your phones if you're willing to switch carriers to get an extra ten months.

One of the issues is 3G coverage is getting cut back as carriers add more 4G and 5G coverage. My friend has a phone that only does calls on AT&T 3G. They did upgrades on the local tower and now his phone can no longer make calls. His phone supports voice over LTE, but he has to turn it on and I have no idea why he has not done so. He also had to get a new SIM, but he got a new SIM back in August.

Pretty much any SIM equipped phone will work with any carrier (technically) and it's been that way for years. However, phones obtained from carriers, including the smaller resellers, are typically 'SIM locked" while under contract or dedicated to a pre-paid service. The proprietary networks (like the 3G we are talking about) were where VZ and "old" Sprint used CDMA which was different than the methods used by ATT and T-Mobile "back in the day", however.

[Jim Becker]

From what I could find, there is no LTE module available for our panels, so we're stuck unless we want to bring landline service back, which comes with its own issues.

I had a similar situation with the DSC system that was in our old home for a long time...there was no way to upgrade from "landline" to Ethernet without a full replacement. So that's what I did. I installed a RING alarm system myself for a fraction of the cost of a brand new setup from the alarm company we had been using. That's not a solution for your commercial business, but is a similar situation where I was stuck with buying new. I'm glad you are shopping options...it's a good time to do that since you must and since your current provider sounds like they have their heads stuck in the mud!

[Brian Elfert]

If a phone still depends on 3G for phone calls the technology used for 3G certainly matters. LTE not so much, but some LTE/5G phones won't work on certain carriers because the phone manufacturer doesn't care to make the phone compatible with all carriers. Not all carriers use the same frequencies for their LTE. 5G is just as bad as a number 5G phones can't use Verizon's millimeter wave 5G network.

There have certainly been SIM based phones in the past that had 4G data, but 3G calling.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, I mentioned that. But anyone with a 3G phone needs to move on at this point anyway...

That said, the majority of phones sold today are compatible with the majority of frequencies used in their country of destination. Phone makers do not want the extra cost that comes with producing different devices. Some still do it to make inexpensive devices, but it's not the industry direction. Along that line, it's true that there are currently "5G" phones that don't support wideband and because VZ (and ATT) made the decision to deploy wide-band in urban areas first, leaving mid-band and low-band for longer time deployment, those phones are not going to work in 5G on VZ/ATT in many areas. T-Mobile took the opposite approach deploying low-band first across its entire network followed by mid-band that was made easier by the sucking up Sprint's network and spectrum. ATT is now kicking up install of low- and mid-band outside of urban areas and I believe VZ is also starting to move along on that, too, because T-Mo really smacked them with competitive advantage by doing the entire network first with the low- and mid-band up front, leaving the super-high speed thing as an add-on.

[Kev Williams]

Déjà vu ...