3g Shutdown

[rusty69]

Just wondering what the imminent shutdown of most of the 3g network will have on making phone calls using inclusive minutes via a Huawei b525 router. 

 

I assume this function will be lost. 

 

Anyone know for sure? 

 

ETA. Ofcom PDF here :

 

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/252592/3G-and-2G-switch-off.pdf

Edited February 28, 2023 by rusty69

[mrsmelly]

10 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Just wondering what the imminent shutdown of most of the 3g network will have on making phone calls using inclusive minutes via a Huawei b525 router. 

 

I assume this function will be lost. 

 

Anyone know for sure? 

Just been ont news about this. Apparently those so called smart meters that are crap anyway will have to be upgraded in many cases, as they have 2 or 3 g sims lol.

[rusty69]

7 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Just been ont news about this. Apparently those so called smart meters that are crap anyway will have to be upgraded in many cases, as they have 2 or 3 g sims lol.

Shirley the roll out of smart meters was to allow consumers to make an informed choice about their energy usage;and on the strength of that reduce their consumption to save the planet. 

 

Shirley making millions of devices obsolete prior to their natural life expectancy would negate some of that gain.

 

Shirley our policy makers are no that short sighted.

 

Shirley, therefore, you must be mistaken.🙃

[MoominPapa]

23 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Just been ont news about this. Apparently those so called smart meters that are crap anyway will have to be upgraded in many cases, as they have 2 or 3 g sims lol.

I read somewhere that the 2G network is being retained for such telematics, it's the 3G network that's going.

 

I wonder what network my robot lawnmower uses?

 

MP.

 

[GUMPY]

2g is not going for a while yet.

3g will be gone very soon

That's why the control systems on my boat are 2g not 3g

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, MoominPapa said:

I read somewhere that the 2G network is being retained for such telematics, it's the 3G network that's going.

 

I wonder what network my robot lawnmower uses?

 

MP.

 

They are shutting down 3g b4 2g a chap was explaining why, and it nearly made sense lol. I fink he said 2g is around until 2033. 3g is going soon.

[Mike Tee]

2 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Just wondering what the imminent shutdown of most of the 3g network will have on making phone calls using inclusive minutes via a Huawei b525 router. 

 

I assume this function will be lost. 

 

Anyone know for sure? 

 

ETA. Ofcom PDF here :

 

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/252592/3G-and-2G-switch-off.pdf

So back to the original question, we use our phones through our router, so will the 3G ending have an impact on this?

[rusty69]

7 minutes ago, Mike Tee said:

So back to the original question, we use our phones through our router, so will the 3G ending have an impact on this?

From the limited reading I have done of the ofgem pdf, I think it may depend on what network you are on. 02 appear to have the longest shutdown date, probably because they are mainly the most used in smart meters. 

 

It will also likely depend on if your router uses Voip (3g) or Volte (4g) to make calls. 

 

Interestingly, I just tried switching mine to 2g (Vodafone), and could still make calls. Switching to 4g only, and I could not. I don't know if that is a function of my hardware or my sim supplier, or both. 

 

Eta. If you use your phones WiFi to connect to a 4g sim in your router, I can't see how it will affect you. 

Edited February 28, 2023 by rusty69

[Mac of Cygnet]

Well I've never graduated to 3G, having only dumbphones (3, actually) so I presume they will continue to work (but not here, where nothing does).

[Mike Tee]

OK thanks - we actually get quite good 5G through the router, so as our phones are not 5G I guess it must be 4G when on a WIFI call - can't get my head round a lot of the (to me) new tech so will do as usual, muddle through while it works and start to panic and ask questions when it doesn't!

[George and Dragon]

I used to see my phone drop back to 3G on occasion and sometimes even E (2G). Not noticed this recently so I suspect either switching network or better coverage is responsible. 

Entirely as an aside I'm about to switch to Lebara from Virgin Mobile but they both use the Vodafone infrastructure so I hope not to see any difference.

[jonathanA]

one of the main drivers for switching off 3G is power consumption at all those base stations..  for some reason all the mobile operators are suddenly very keen to switch it off as quickly as possible... 

[Slim]

11 hours ago, rusty69 said:

Shirley the roll out of smart meters was to allow consumers to make an informed choice about their energy usage;and on the strength of that reduce their consumption to save the planet. 

 

Shirley making millions of devices obsolete prior to their natural life expectancy would negate some of that gain.

 

Shirley our policy makers are no that short sighted.

 

Shirley, therefore, you must be mistaken.🙃

No, your first paragraph is (in my opinion) wrong. The rollout of smart meters was firstly to reduce the long term cost of meter reading / billing for the utility companies and secondly to permit the introduction at a later stage of flexible charging.

[GUMPY]

19 minutes ago, Slim said:

No, your first paragraph is (in my opinion) wrong. The rollout of smart meters was firstly to reduce the long term cost of meter reading / billing for the utility companies and secondly to permit the introduction at a later stage of flexible charging.

Ive been on "flexible charging" for just under a year. The rate changes every half hour sometimes they pay me to use electricity

Its a great system, it along with the solar and battery has changed how we use electricity, we rarely use any at peak times preferring to run from the battery which has been charged earlier at a lower rate or by solar.  I do find myself looking at the published rates for the nest day and the weather forecast to see when and how to charge the batteries, run the dishwasher etc.  Managed to cut my peak time electric use, in one of the savings events last week, by 90% it was by the  grand amount of 0.38kWh

Edited February 28, 2023 by Loddon

[Ronaldo47]

Last year I had a text from Vodafone telling me my phone uses 2g and 3g for calls, and 2g,  3g and 4g for data. It confirmed that,  when 3g goes in my area later this year, it will work on 4g data  and will continue to work on 2g for calls. 

 

At home indoors I use my smart phone  on wifi anyway as we have poor to non-existent mobile signal on Vodafone.  EE on our 2g unsmart phones can vary between almost full strength and emergency calls only, and back again, in the course of a minute. The last time I checked the EE web site, the service quality map indicated that we are in an area   with good service outdoors, but service not guaranteed indoors, for all 'g' services.

Edited February 28, 2023 by Ronaldo47
typos

[nb Innisfree]

Not only phones, some cars connect via 3G,

I believe our BMW i3 is 3G, so app will be useless. Later models are 4G, not 100% sure with ours but will find out for certain soon enough.

Not too much of a prob as we can get info via bluetooth (state of charge etc) 

[magnetman]

I use Sim card containing CCTV cameras for my wifi on the boats. They are good actually as are remotely viewable by app and they also create a MiFi hotspot which is nice as it gives a second network in addition to the sim in the phone. £10 a month sim with some data. Works well as the device is outdoors IP68 so you can get a really good signal and it sends it into the boat to be picked up by whatever you are using.  

 

Fortunately these cameras are 4G devices not that I considered the 3G problem. 

 

I didn't even notice they do a hotspot access point when I bought the cameras - that was an unexpected bonus. Also the Smarty sim one is good for the kids to use their laptop because it has safe search filter on the network by default. 

Not that they look anything rude up but its good to have that anyway. 

 

 

 

 

[rusty69]

44 minutes ago, magnetman said:

I use Sim card containing CCTV cameras for my wifi on the boats. They are good actually as are remotely viewable by app and they also create a MiFi hotspot which is nice as it gives a second network in addition to the sim in the phone. £10 a month sim with some data. Works well as the device is outdoors IP68 so you can get a really good signal and it sends it into the boat to be picked up by whatever you are using.  

 

Fortunately these cameras are 4G devices not that I considered the 3G problem. 

 

I didn't even notice they do a hotspot access point when I bought the cameras - that was an unexpected bonus. Also the Smarty sim one is good for the kids to use their laptop because it has safe search filter on the network by default. 

Not that they look anything rude up but its good to have that anyway. 

 

 

 

 

I didn't know they made cameras so small they could fit in a sim card. Ain't tech amazing. 

[magnetman]

It is a very large SIM. I had it specially made by Sims4ME. 

I am not sure if there us a Sims4U. 

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

It is a very large SIM. I had it specially made by Sims4ME. 

I am not sure if there us a Sims4U. 

So, what you are saying is that your camera works like an outdoor router? 

What model is it please. Sounds ingenious. 

[magnetman]

Yes it creates a "MiFi" network. Girls are watching a youtube thing on it at the moment while I use the phone. 

 

Camera is this one: 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313471752716

 

Often used on farms for monitoring lambing etc. 

Brilliant devices these are. 

 

 

I didn't even realise it was going to set up its own MiFi network.

 

And you can use Camhi App for viewing remotely although I have not got this on the current phone. Dropped the fully set up phone in the River !

 

I've tried Giffgaff(Voda) and Smarty (3) £10 a month sims and they are brilliant. 

 

You can also set them up for humanoid sensing and will email you images or recording. I did this once and it massively overloaded my hotmail account as was sending too many images. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by magnetman

[rusty69]

Can you connect it to an existing WiFi network, or must it connect via the sim card in the device? 

 

What prevents someone from stealing the camera/sim/sd card?

[magnetman]

Anyone could nick it. The idea is to put it somewhere it won't be seen or will be tricky to take off. A long pole with a polystyrene head on it with lipstick and makeup is one possibility. One could strategically build the camera in and make the pole rotate randomly. 

 

It is a risk yes. 

 

I don't think these work on an existing network as they are standalone. You can get much cheaper ones which go on the existing WiFi and some of them do 360 rotation. 

[Chewbacka]

18 hours ago, George and Dragon said:

I used to see my phone drop back to 3G on occasion and sometimes even E (2G). Not noticed this recently so I suspect either switching network or better coverage is responsible. 

Entirely as an aside I'm about to switch to Lebara from Virgin Mobile but they both use the Vodafone infrastructure so I hope not to see any difference.

I think Virgin is in the process of moving onto O2 so you may see a change.

[George and Dragon]

On 01/03/2023 at 08:25, Chewbacka said:

I think Virgin is in the process of moving onto O2 so you may see a change.

Looks like I'm moving at the right time then: O2 doesn't work at the marina. Neither does 3.