T-Mobile Prepares to Decommission Its Legacy 2G Wireless Infrastructure

T-Mobile’s 2G network is still functional, at least in some parts of the United States, while most other carriers shut down their 2G and 3G networks years ago. That might change soon, as T-Mobile has announced a cutoff date for 2G service.

T-Mobile revealed in a support article that T-Mobile’s 2G (GSM) network “is expected to change starting as early as September 1, 2024,” as spotted by The Mobile Report. That sounds like T-Mobile will start turning off the network on September 1st, but some areas might continue to have coverage for a while until everything is fully shut down.

AT&T turned off its 2G network back in 2017 , making T-Mobile the last major mobile carrier with a functional 2G GSM network. T-Mobile already retired its 3G UMTS network in 2022, as well as the old LTE and 3G CDMA networks it acquired from Sprint. AT&T shut down its 3G network in early 2022 , and Verizon turned off its 3G CDMA network at the end of 2022 .

Mobile phones, hotspots, computers, and other devices with LTE have been available for over a decade now, so most of the remaining devices on T-Mobile’s 2G network are legacy Internet-of-Things equipment and other embedded devices. For example, some cars lost their ability to directly connect to cell towers when most 3G networks were shut down.

T-Mobile started notifying customers with 2G or 3G phones about the shutdown years ago, and offered affected customers a free replacement device—it’s not clear if that offer is still available. If you’re still hanging on to a BlackBerry Bold, original Moto Razr, or any other incredibly old phone that doesn’t support LTE, you have a month to find a new phone.

The 2G shutdown isn’t entirely a cost-cutting measure. T-Mobile will likely use the bandwidth and frequencies currently dedicated to 2G for improving LTE and 5G coverage, as it did when shutting down its 3G network and Sprint’s old infrastructure. The company is currently using Band 2 (1900 Mhz) for both 2G and 4G LTE.

Source: The Mobile Report