3G Sunset Updates and Information

@sampofinn 

have you checked the list?   
https://www.att.com/idpassets/images/support/wireless/Service-Capabilities-Unlocked-Devices-ATT-Network.pdf

If it’s not on the list, it’s not certified.  Some may never be certified.  

@sampofinn 

Not all carriers use "whitelists" like AT&T does now. A whitelist is where a phone manufacturer has to pay the carrier for the privilege of having their phones be allowed to function on the carrier's network. AT&T would prefer it be called "carrier certification". T-Mobile, for example, does not use whitelists. Most carriers do require VoLTE functionality now, so that is becoming a necessity. But there are lots of phones that support VoLTE that aren't on a "whitelist". The manufacturer builds and certifies to FCC and and other international regulatory agency standards. They simply aren't willing to pay additional money to every whitelisting carrier in the world for the right to have their phones allowed on those networks. You might consider running your phone's IMEI through the T-Mobile IMEI checker, and that will tell you if it is compatible or not.

Unlike the people here with an axe to grind -- siding with AT&T that we should be happy for what little crumbs we get -- I am really (Edited per community guidelines). In retrospect, I guess I was aware that 3G was going the way of the dinosaur. What I did not understand whas that I had a 3G phone (having purchased it at a computer superstore in 2020 when it was considered a "new"model...not from some 3rd party seller on Amazon). It was advertised as a Samsung A51. It was only when I got it home that I realized it was giving me the weather in celsius and had a spanish language keyboard which did not seem like a big deal.

Okay, so I did not attend MIT and was unaware of the difference until I activated (an sure 99 people out of a hundred would not have questioned it). It matched the specs I was looking for as it was not too low end, and not too high end either. So shoot me!

And, there was no mention of it being a 3G phone. I even chatted with Samsung customer support and they did not even think it was a 3G phone. They even thought it would work. So, if it is in fact a 4G phone, why I am being discontinued when it is identical to the other phones and even has an option to turn on VoLTE "when available."

I don't care if I get flamed for this comment. It's the people spend every minute of their day on this who are totally mistaken if they think the rest of us can spend all day, every day keeping up with these very arbitrary changes which are motivated by pure greed. And as another poster said, the first I heard of this was when I went to buy a new yearly service plan back in November. My phone is not old, and I don't see why an F Series cannot be whitelisted too?

Instead of screaming at me and calling me an (Edited per community guidelines), maybe you could answer the question (You know who you are).

The phone was not made for the use market that is why it won't work.  Samsung did not build the software into the phone to make it work on Att.  

@Mothra67 

Phone must be on AT&T's approved whitelist to support Voice over LTE (VoLTE). It depends on your phone's exact model if it will work (perhaps with a software update) or not. The phone can have 4G for data, but only 3G for voice, which is one of the main issues. Even if the phone appears to have the right specs, it has to be certified to specifically work on AT&T's VoLTE. Lots of manufacturers are not going to do such certification for a provider it wasn't directly built for.

Locations in other stores are 3rd party retailers, so you did not get the phone from AT&T itself. There were some indications of an issue (i.e., Spanish keyboard by default) that you noticed, but chose to deal with and keep the phone.

I would not say anyone is yelling at you or calling you anything. Just some are (perhaps bluntly) pointing out there were signs that something was amiss when you bought the phone that you observed, but you chose to continue with it anyway. In the end, the phone was not made for the U.S. market so is a "unlocked" model. No carrier guarantees that they will support or allow an unlocked phone forever on their service, or even at all, since it was not made for them.

If that phone is not specifically on the whitelist, then you must prepare to replace the phone. Preferably this is done before it stops working as the shutdown is supposed to complete by February 2022, so within the next month or so (not sure if they have a hard date or this was just the earliest targeted time).

There are about 750 cell phone carriers in the world that are members of the GSM Association (Google it). It quite frankly isn't practical for every cell phone manufacturer to go to every carrier and pay for their blessing. AT&T feels that they are special, and that manufacturers should happily be willing to pay for the privilege of their products to be "approved" for AT&T. To be practical, if you have a modern VoLTE capable cell phone, and the manufacturer didn't pay AT&T, then it may be most economic to shop carriers that aren't quite as full of themselves.

Ok that answers it. But there were no red flags until I set it up. It would have been too late to return it anyway.

You set it up after it was too late to return it? Normally you should setup the phone the day you receive it, if not within a day or so. Those buyer's remorse periods (14 or 30 days depending) are there for your protection.

So if you did wait a couple weeks or longer before setting up the phone, letting the return period run out, then that unfortunately is on you. I highly suggest with any product to use it within a short time of purchase to make sure it will work for what you need and also to check for any defects or other issues so that you are not stuck with a sub-par or poorly matching product for the long term.

Everyone that comments here saying "AT&T isn't obligated to give you a phone, so be happy they are giving you something" can shut their trash.
Sure, that's true for 3G phones.. but hear me out.
I have a 4G phone, WITH VOLTE calling and I kept getting denied outgoing calls(incoming still worked) for last month or so, and it would redirect me to customer care where they'd offer me a free phone.
On denying, they'd go ahead and re-activate the phone and it'll work after a reboot.
SO IT EFFING WORKS.
This "problem" exists on AT&T side who has certified only certain models numbers (even of the same phone) and their software just checks the specific model and marks outgoing barred.
Legally, if your phone has 4G & VOLTE, it should work. And ATT is just getting away with not fixing that by sending out cheap phones.

Imagine you bought 5G capable UNLOCKED S10 plus / Note 10 with 512GB (which costs more than their base),  ATT offers you an S10e instead 128GB (or worse yet, some shittier phone)
Which is blasphemy.. If your can't fix your software to whitelist a perfectly working VOLTE capable phone for which customer has already paid a full price..  now you force customers into handicap with cheaper/lowerspec models.

This should be a lawsuit.

@krish

When you BYOD, it's your responsibility to bring a compatible phone.  Not the Network's responsibility to change for you, or provide a phone.