On February 22, the American telecommunications company AT&T announced the shutdown of 3G networks. It is the first company in the US to abandon its aging network as it repurposes for 5G. From March 31 to July 1, 2022, T-Mobile will start turning off 3G. By December 31, Verizon will also decommission this network.

AT&T has published a list of devices that will work after the 3G shutdown. All users were asked to check their devices against this list, then reboot them and check the VoLTE status. Some gadgets will only need to install an update to continue working. If the user's phone model is not in this list, then the company no longer supports it (including not being able to dial 911).

According to American portals, AT&T has already begun contacting users whose phone models will not be supported after 3G is turned off. Some of them received free Galaxy Note smartphones as replacements for older phones. In general, almost any Android smartphone costing $100-200 meets the minimum requirements of AT&T.

In addition to smartphones, 3G devices are used by other devices, such as tablets, car on-board computers, e-readers (such as the Amazon Kindle), medical devices and other similar gadgets. Even if they are not on the AT&T list, they will be able to use Wi-Fi instead of 3G, VoIP services for calls. Probably, the company will develop special adapters for such gadgets, which will be offered separately.

Telecommunications companies in the US point out that at the moment only a small part of subscribers still use 3G. For example, Verizion has only 1% of its traffic on this network. The rest of the customers have already switched to 4G or 5G. Almost all emergency communications in the United States have already been transferred to 4G modules.

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