I generally find 3G more reliable and just as fast as 4G in pretty much all locations. I've assumed that is because the great unwashed masses of downloaders all use 4G leaving 3G pretty much clear for me to use.

I do think I have detected some lowering of service in the past 12-18 months, so wasn't sure whether EE was already cutting back on 3G, or whether it was all down to WFH and that virus thing.

The UK operators have been refarming 3G spectrum to 4G, so where you used to get 10 MHz bandwidth (assuming a DC cat 24 handset) you probably only get 5 now.

We still don't really get anyG here. Can sometimes get 3G, less often 4G. Not expecting to get 5G any time soon...

I get 1 bar of 4G that disappears when I try to do anything. Instead, I have a little box that gives me 3G at full signal and routes over broadband.

Guess which service the phone connects to if I forget to turn off 4G.

BT expect to cover another 4500 square miles with 4G in the next four years, sounds a lot but that is an area of 67X67 so about 15 towers.

Put that into 5G terms though and it translates to over 50 times as many transmitters, 5 G won't be getting into a lot of rural areas any time soon.

I know that is simplified but so is BT's BS.

The problem with turning off 2G & 3G isn't the consumer phones but all the industrial/bespoke kit that's out there.

Like the so-called "smart" meters?

We did the sensible thing for Gen 2 meters in the north of England and Scotland... It's just the rest of Britain that for some reason has a network based on 2/3G...

"We did the sensible thing"

And what was that?

Covered the "smart" meter with a Faraday cage? Refused to allow them in your home at all?

I think (but I'm happy to be corrected) that smart meters run on the Vodafone network.

That's more of a problem for 2G than 3G which is why 3G is getting decommissioned before 2G! Telecoms looked at the mess that happened in the US when they decommissioned 2G and decided to put it out into the long grass.

" The lack of 3G shouldn't be too much of a pain because by that point, most people will have a 4G or 5G-capable handheld "

I know several people with arthritis who can't use a "gesture controlled" smart phone, so we'd better hope some vendors will provide 4G "feature phones". Otherwise, pseudo-Darwinian unnatural selection will "phase out" the elderly. Not forgetting of course that the currently young and agile will themselves one day become "elderly". Unless of course we adopt the principle of Logan's Run City.

I don't have arthritis but I did not jump on the 'smartphone' bandwagon.

There are few 4G phones out there. I tried the Nokia 8110 4G and I would not recommend it to my worst enemy. The 4G part was working fine, but the keyboard was barely usable and the software clunky A.F.

Sold it because I couldn't stand it anymore and no more firmware updated in sight after they fixed some of

the major issues.

Hopefully we'll get more phones (instead of pocket-computers) when 2g/3g will be shut down.

Will be interesting to see if phones and 'smart'phones sold in EU will lose the 2G/3G capabilities in the future, because in some countries that's all you have when you get out of the urban areas, unprepared tourists might be surprised.

There are a decent range already. You won't find many in operator stores, but they frequently appear in the Sunday supplements. Doro seem to be the market leader in the UK.

But what about my Kindle Keyboard with its worldwide, free, Edge connection?!?!

well, it remains free. And, if you live in the land of the free, you can join a class action and your grand, grand, grand... offspring might get a few cents' compensation.

The Yorkshire Dales have seen a huge increase in visitors since lockdown. Many areas (and not just the tops, but roads down valleys) have no coverage at all.

Visit [1]The Ofcom map and look at the area around Hubberholme (BD23 5JE). Even "Outdoor", "No 4G" there are huge areas of white.

Indoors some towns have areas with no coverage at all. Even text messages don't get through, making the new two factor authentication for online purchases a pain, Settle for instance (BD24 9DJ).

[1] https://checker.ofcom.org.uk/en-gb/mobile-coverage#vw=map

Got 4G BB here with a large aerial stuck high up on the wall. In the house NADA - well unless I dig out the Nokia of course.

Just used that and it says I can get 4G(nope) inside the house but not outside!

Perhaps there's a spot in the very top of the attic,

Maybe they will just fly some drones over the national parks during visiting hours?

It's not just rural coverage that's a problem. Walk away from windows in some buildings and wave goodbye to a signal.

so, from 2023 I will not be able to get 3G/4G reception, same as I'm not able to get 3G/4G experience now? I wonder... given that I live within 'Greater London', will I get even more of the 'no 3G/4G reception' in areas with even more or less of the 3G/4G reception'?

Yay! 2G beats 3G! I told you so....

A lot of the earlier Kindles are 3G enabled. Oh goody more landfill full of working equipment.

One day, we'll ask ourselves why we have to spend £300 on a new smartphone every year (which will then break on day 366), in order to be able to do anything at all.

Getting shot of 3G I can just about understand, but getting shot of 2G with its comprehensive network, superior coverage and compatibility with every handset seems to be a bad idea, and seems to me to be the industry putting all their eggs in one basket.

I've wondered if there's an opportunity to run a 2G-only network, once the current operators lose interest. It could be called something snappy, like "a mobile network for people who just want to call people".