Mobile networks reveal progress with shutting down 2G and 3G in South Africa

Hanno Labuschagne

Hanno Labuschagne

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That would suck, we have load shedding, I only get 3G during it.
 
They keep on mentioning it every few months, following the ANC playbook, hoping eventually everybody will think it is OK, because we've grown used to hearing about it.
 
ArmatageShanks said:
Same, but my phone won't let me choose 3G manually on Vodacom so 1bar of 4G that barely works.
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Thats just because its a rubbish network these days.
Only good thing is the backup power seems better than MTN with loadshedding
 
My phone drains battery on vodacom network if I don't use 3G.
 
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I know of many a country that still offers phones on the 2G network. Its treated more like a landline. The US for an example used it too. It offers a better range, but is just good for sms and calls only, not for much else. And the price on 2G is dirt cheap. Literally a few cents a call. like 1c a message. Amazed they never brought it to here.
 
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It will not happen.

They will not shut it down.

This is Africa

We don't have the infrastructure, sure maybe in the next decade.

But right now IoT is built on 2G in SA we don't have Lora and Squid and and and, also we have a very large portion of the population that don't work.

That me as SMS and low end hardware, to I've to 4G/LTE only means people need better hardware, there's no jobs and no skills in SAA so how will they get money to buy it?
 
Will be nice if they enable 4G on lower frequencies to get better coverage and building penetration. Vodacom installed a Cel-Fi booster unit at the office, but does not seem to work with our new Samsung phones which is connected via 4G+
My personal Redmi 9C which connects to the standard 4G network seems to get benefit from it though.
 
Thor said:
It will not happen.

They will not shut it down.

This is Africa

We don't have the infrastructure, sure maybe in the next decade.

But right now IoT is built on 2G in SA we don't have Lora and Squid and and and, also we have a very large portion of the population that don't work.

That me as SMS and low end hardware, to I've to 4G/LTE only means people need better hardware, there's no jobs and no skills in SAA so how will they get money to buy it?
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You get cheap 4G phones now. As for telemetry devices, well, the operators of those devices cant expect the network to keep supporting their 2G devices indefinitely. Time to upgrade.

NOKIA 105 BLACK 4G DUAL SIM NETWORK LOCKED + POWER PACK @ R279 CASH


1653896142284.png
 
Cell C been running 2G signal were I live for years so wouldn't make a difference. Just awaiting contract to end to move away from them.
 
Ockie said:
You get cheap 4G phones now. As for telemetry devices, well, the operators of those devices cant expect the network to keep supporting their 2G devices indefinitely. Time to upgrade.

NOKIA 105 BLACK 4G DUAL SIM NETWORK LOCKED + POWER PACK @ R279 CASH


View attachment 1317650
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Still too many 3G only devices sold. If I were to buy one today I wouldn't want it to be obsolete in the next 5 years no matter how much a replacement costs. Then there's the issue that LTE doesn't have native calling or USSD. Sort out the technology first before moving on.
 
This is good news....

5G is coming Hotazel soon. I believe this to be true as much as I believe this article
 
Swa said:
Then there's the issue that LTE doesn't have native calling or USSD. Sort out the technology first before moving on.
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It is called Volte (Voice Over LTE)

Dont know about the USSD. I dont really use it.

Issue with Volte is that phones require firmware that has your network's settings in it. So Volte might not work on a Vodacom supplied phone if you put MTN sim in it for example. Unless this have changed since I read up on it long ago.
 
Lupus said:
That would suck, we have load shedding, I only get 3G during it.
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They'd refarm it to be 4G probably, wouldn't remove the tower, and you'd get better service as more spectrum efficient as long as backhaul is still fine.
Corelli said:
I know of many a country that still offers phones on the 2G network. Its treated more like a landline. The US for an example used it too. It offers a better range, but is just good for sms and calls only, not for much else. And the price on 2G is dirt cheap. Literally a few cents a call. like 1c a message. Amazed they never brought it to here.
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2G/GSM does not offer better range, if same spectrum it will be the same range. In terms of what is the usable range, 4G/LTE would be better as it can still work at a lower power requirement, this is without factoring in the higher spectrum efficiency so you'd get higher bandwidth.

Most of the time LTE currently has worse range as first upgrades were cities etc. where spectrum and tower congestion were happening, so you need to take into account cell breathing, etc.
 
Ockie said:
You get cheap 4G phones now. As for telemetry devices, well, the operators of those devices cant expect the network to keep supporting their 2G devices indefinitely. Time to upgrade.

NOKIA 105 BLACK 4G DUAL SIM NETWORK LOCKED + POWER PACK @ R279 CASH


View attachment 1317650
Click to expand...
No, the IoT stuff is still huge, car trackers, dams, etc., 3G will go before 2G does.
What I'd expect to happen is that e.g. Vodacom keeps 2G going and every other provider piggybacks off them with a roaming agreement.

(Picked Vodacom as I'd guess they have a majority of them due to most of these being 90's/2000's, NB-IoT only launched 2017, recent Vodacom coverage map for it:
1653901681676.png
flickswitch.freshdesk.com

What is NB-IoT? Current NB-IoT status and settings for South Africa

NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) is a type of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) used by mobile network operators. LPWAN is a special type of telecommunication network specifically designed for long range communications at a low bit rate of about 0.3 ...
flickswitch.freshdesk.com flickswitch.freshdesk.com

And as you can see, still lots of areas that are without coverage, Vodacom is planning to have most LTE capable towers use it by 2025: https://techcentral.co.za/nb-iot-ro...rease-narrowband-iot-adoption-fliprom/171084/

Map of current NB-IoT/LTE-M deployment countries:
1653901794721.png
www.gsma.com

Mobile IoT Deployment Map

This map illustrates the Mobile IoT commercial launches to-date. For a summary list of launches, please visit Mobile IoT Commercial Launches. Select the country and scroll down for details. Find out more: For any enquiries, please email GSMA IoT Marketing. Last Edit: May 2023
www.gsma.com www.gsma.com
With only Vodacom supporting it.

Hoping the state gives Vodacom a little bit of extra spectrum that's viable for 2G IoT with a requirement at pricing caps or something and that roaming is required with fixed prices, then all operators can refarm the rest).
 
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