Team Partners Telecommunications

Say goodbye to 2G and 3G...

Posted on Nov 26, 2025  | Tags: mobile

What follows may not affect you. If you’re a customer of TP Tele, it really shouldn’t, at least not if we’ve been doing our job right. But it might affect someone you know, especially if it’s someone who has a resentment against technology and a quiet determination to make all their tech, if they have any, last until the last drop of usefulness has been wrung out of it. Yes, them.

So, what is this thing? Well, it’s 2G and 3G. Most of us will be pushed to recall 2G, you may even have either forgotten or never known that it existed, but 3G, well most of us have used that in the not-too-distant past, and they’re both about to go. So what, I hear you cry, well the problem is that the older devices some of us may have been grimly holding on to (or even older SIM cards) will only work on 2G or 3G.

You may wonder why the networks are bothering to shut down these old Gs rather than allowing them to keep going in the background. There’s a good reason, and it’s not just to try and sell new devices. Apparently, shutting down old technology will result in less energy being used, and allow the networks to invest in more efficient and sustainable technology, resulting in better performance, better coverage and fewer service issues, and who are we to argue with that?

So, when is all this going to happen? Those of you who have been recently attempting to buy a device of any sort that would use 2G or 3G may have found that you haven’t been able to.  O2 and the others stopped selling these over a year ago, and right through this year they’ve been closing down 3G. From October next year 2G will only be available for emergency calls unless you’re in an area where 4G isn’t available, in which case it will still be available for a short time.

Now would be a good time to check your tech to make sure all your devices, anything that links to the internet is 4G and 5G compatible; check and replace old SIMs too, as these will be affected, and, as a top tip, enable WiFi calling on your mobiles, it can be a life saver when there’s a weak signal. And don’t forget those devices that are using a mobile SIM that you don’t hold in your hand, such as lift and alarm lines.