Published in News

Verizon to decommission 3G network

by on02 April 2021


Yep it is still there.

Verizon will shut down its 3G services on 31 December 2022, according to the VP of network engineering Mike Haberman.

According to Haberman, less than one percent of Verizon customers still access the 3G network, with 99 percent on 4G LTE or 5G. Verizon has roughly 94 million customers, so that means that more than 940,000 people are still using Verizon's 3G network.

"Customers who still have a 3G device will continue to be strongly encouraged to make a change now. As we move closer to the shut-off date customers still accessing the 3G network may experience degradation or complete loss of service, and our service centres will only be able to offer extremely limited troubleshooting help on these older devices."

Verizon has been teasing a shut-off of its 3G CDMA services for years. The company rolled out 4G LTE in 2012, and by 2014 it was playing around with the idea of dropping 3G in favour of the new tech.

 In 2016, Verizon formally announced plans to decommission its 3G network by 2019, but later pushed that date back to 2020. The delay to 2022 is final — there will be no more extensions, Haberman said.

He noted that this will be "months after our competitors have shut off their networks completely".

Last modified on 02 April 2021
Rate this item
(1 Vote)

Read more about: