Having considered closing down its 3G UMTS network by 2019, T-Mobile has taken some time to decide that the legacy network will be terminated by July 1st, 2022. As 5G continues its proliferation across the US, the use cases for 3G networks decrease although there is still a good number of folks using feature phones that don’t support 5G or even 4G for that matter.
Updated October 26: T-Mobile has issued an update on its plans to shutter Sprint’s 3G CDMA network which has now been delayed from January 1st to March 31st, 2022. According to the press release, T-Mobile is placing the blame squarely on its partners, emphasizing that there is “no more room for excuses.”
“Recently it’s become increasingly clear that some of those partners haven’t followed through on their responsibility to help their customers through this shift. So, we’re stepping up on their behalf. We have made the decision to extend our deadline for the CDMA sunset by three months to March 31, 2022.”
Basically, the delay is necessary because the Dish network that uses Sprint’s legacy CDMA network was unhappy upon learning of T-Mobile’s plans to close the network down and responded with angry letters to the DoJ and an alleged threat to switch to AT&T for 5G access. Is this the last reprieve for the legacy CDMA network? T-Mobile would like to think so but it wouldn’t be a surprise if the delay was extended further.
This means that T-Mobile joins AT&T and Verizon by shutting down its 3G network during 2022.
T-Mobile confirmed the July 1st, 2022 date on its website, saying that the decision to retire the 3G network is “part of a progression that will greatly enhance the performance of 4G and 5G” networks. Sprint’s legacy 3G networks are also part of the process.
Key Dates
- As of January 1, 2022 Sprint’s older 3G (CDMA) network will be retired
- As of June 30, 2022 Sprint’s LTE network will be retired
- As of July 1, 2022 T-Mobile’s older 3G UMTS network will be retired
T-Mobile says that broadband speeds will be 100-300 times fast on 4G/5G and that the move will enhance public safety and 911 location accuracy. There are also plans to retire the carrier’s older 2G GSM network but no date has been set as to when this will happen.
