Good news for Sprint customers that are still relying on 3G services comes from T-Mobile today. The 3G shutdown was actually scheduled for today, but it has since been pushed back to May 31, 2022. This comes after a delay they set back in January, when they said they would extend it for “partners.”
Only time can tell what the end result will be as according to SoftBank’s website, there’s a strong possibility of a third delay. Per the iPhone global services guide, the site says “there is a possibility that the date of May 31 will be rescheduled in the future”.
Claims from another source say that even though the shutdown date has been moved to May 31, the shutdown will still begin on March 31. Lines using 3G CDMA service will be disabled and rerouted to customer care.
T-Mobile is not stopping at CDMA however. The carrier also has plans to end its own 3G UMTS network by July 1st of this year. The original shutdown date was as far back as October 1st, 2021, so we will again wait and see what happens!
Surprisingly, T-Mobile’s 2G GSM network is still operating, but is also planned to be shut down. No date has been determined at this time.
Other news surrounding Sprint say the LTE network is set to be shut down on June 30th of this year.
And what about Verizon and AT&T? Verizon recently announced it would shut down its 3G network on December 31, 2022. Since this was already delayed back in 2019, the carrier states it will not delay this shutdown again. AT&T’s 3G network was shut down just last month.
In regards to the shutdown, a spokesperson from T-Mobile reached out to 9to5Mac with the following statement:
“We are proceeding as planned with the orderly shutdown of our CDMA network beginning on March 31. As part of our shutdown process, we are migrating customers in some areas over the following 60 days to ensure they are supported and not left without connectivity, and the network will be completely turned off by no later than May 31. This is a normal network transition process. We look forward to sunsetting this outdated technology so every customer will have access to the best connectivity and best experience in wireless.“