South African 2G network to shutdown

Chris

Chris

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South African 2G network to shutdown

Shutting down South Africa’s 2G networks to make way for newer technology is no small task as many businesses with legacy machine-to-machine and Internet of Things systems rely on it.

However, because of how starved they are for spectrum, Vodacom and MTN have told MyBroadband that they are looking at ways to turn off old 2G and 3G networks to focus on 4G and 5G technologies.

Radio frequency spectrum is raw capacity for the wireless portion of a cellular network that connects mobile devices to base stations.
 
The networks need to set a date for switch off and publish it and make it very well known. Basically, "We switching off 2G by 2023. Please ensure you have a 4G capable device or you will lose service"
 
Ockie said:
The networks need to set a date for switch off and publish it and make it very well known. Basically, "We switching off 2G by 2023. Please ensure you have a 4G capable device or you will lose service"
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As long as there are some ~R250 feature phones (preferably Nokia) that have whatever G available on the market for me as work phone.
 
I cant even get 4g signal inside buildings with telkom in most places, they will have to run 2g for now.
 
Ockie said:
If spectrum that is used for 2G gets switched to 4G you should have better coverage, but not sure if Telkom has got 900mhz spectrum.
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Yeah true, Im switching to mtn anyway next month. 4G+ everywhere I go!
 
Who cares about dinosaurs who refuse to switch from old outdated technologies. I suppose they're also still using some 80486's. Meanwhile the rest of the population is struggling with poor signal and high costs.
 
“In the absence of new spectrum, and having to use existing spectrum for legacy 2G technology, operators such as Vodacom need to build more base stations to cope with the continued growth in data traffic,” Vodacom stated.
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Oh No! They need to spend money and invest in their network infrastructure! The horror! Nah, just blame spectrum allocation and raise the prices some more.

I wouldn't be surprised if in 15 years mobile operators are going to be whining about how unfair the landscape is because Fibre Providers have eaten their lunch by investing in infrastructure and having aggressive pricing on data, while Vodacom and MTN just whined about "spectrum allocation" and pushing up their prices.

With more and more people switching to streaming services, they are going to be switching away from mobile data as well unless the providers actually make their products and prices competitive with fibre providers.
 
Swa said:
Who cares about dinosaurs who refuse to switch from old outdated technologies. I suppose they're also still using some 80486's. Meanwhile the rest of the population is struggling with poor signal and high costs.
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Many out there. Most cheap smartphones are 2G/3G only and those that are 4G are most likely network locked.
 
I do not think that is smart, so many GPS systems (IoT and tracking) uses GSM, not 3G or LTE.

Even my Arduino and ESP32 projects are all GSM-based, they do not work on 4G or 3G
 
What! NOOOO! What will my trusted Nokia 5110 from 1999 do?
OK, so I just use it as an ESKOM proof alarm clock...
 
backstreetboy said:
Many out there. Most cheap smartphones are 2G/3G only and those that are 4G are most likely network locked.
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When's the last time a 2G ONLY device was launched? I can't remember seeing one in the last 10 years. And if operators were selling those it's their own fault as 3G is now just as cheap. You can trade them in and probably get more for the scrap. Interesting that you lump 3G with 2G to say it's not feasible. 3G is a whole technology up to 42Mbps that's still widely in use and won't be replaced for a while.

That's also only for phones. I don't know when's the last time I've used a 2G only banking terminal. Most shops seem to have upgraded to 3G at least. We can't stay with old technology because of a few that choose to stay stuck.
 
Gtx Gaming said:
Yeah true, Im switching to mtn anyway next month. 4G+ everywhere I go!
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If you have an iPhone 12 - that's 5G in a lot of places on MTN. (I don't know what Android phones have 5g, but the latest one probably does or last years model)
 
So you are struggling to maintain 2G. Does this mean you are back to GPRS or worse?
 
Swa said:
When's the last time a 2G ONLY device was launched? I can't remember seeing one in the last 10 years. And if operators were selling those it's their own fault as 3G is now just as cheap. You can trade them in and probably get more for the scrap. Interesting that you lump 3G with 2G to say it's not feasible. 3G is a whole technology up to 42Mbps that's still widely in use and won't be replaced for a while.

That's also only for phones. I don't know when's the last time I've used a 2G only banking terminal. Most shops seem to have upgraded to 3G at least. We can't stay with old technology because of a few that choose to stay stuck.
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My Nokia 105 was launched Sep 2019:

Nokia 105 (2019) - Full phone specifications

www.gsmarena.com www.gsmarena.com
 
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