When is 3G being shutdown?

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@warfase1 wrote:
we wouldn't expect them to come over here and drive their horse and buggy
on an interstate would we?

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  But when their horse and buggy has always worked in the past, and suddenly does not work, it is both an inconvenience and a shock.   And I would not put it past AT&T to sell these users a prepaid phone, which is then locked for six months.   Not cool

@lizdance40 wrote:

But when their horse and buggy has always worked in the past, and suddenly does not work, it is both an inconvenience and a shock.   And I would not put it past AT&T to sell these users a prepaid phone, which is then locked for six months.   Not cool

And unless we go to the US several times a year for business, buying a sub-$100 prepaid Android phone just for the short US trip doesn't make economic sense for many of us foreign travelers.  Most of these cheap phones are completely incompatible with 3G and LTE frequencies outside North America, rendering them completely useless for us upon returning to our home countries even when we have them unlocked (except perhaps for calls and text on any existing 2G networks in those countries).

@Delcat13Tay  FIRST CHOICE ➡️ Best Buy has about a dozen unlocked phones that are compatible with AT&T, and a few work on Verizon, and are also world phones.  
     AT&T does sell some dirt cheap, and occasionally free with activation, prepaid phones.  In general, I discourage buying phones from AT&T because of the 6 month lock policy.  (Truth be told, I discourage buying from AT&T no matter what)
    If a traveler does come to the USA with an incompatible phone and feels buying a phone they can use back home, Verizon has a much better policy if you buy from them, and most of their prepaid phones aren’t as limited, hardware wise (CHECK SPECS).  60 days after activation a Verizon prepaid phone is unlocked, even if you aren’t paying for a second month if service.  

"Verizon has a much better policy if you buy from them, and most of their prepaid phones aren’t as limited, hardware wise (CHECK SPECS).  60 days after activation a Verizon prepaid phone is unlocked, even if you aren’t paying for a second month if service."

If you buy a Verizon prepaid phone, check its requirements for unlocking.  Depending on the phone (especially if it is sold at a discount), it may take a few months worth of payments before it can be unlocked.  Not 6 months, but something a visitor for 2 weeks may not find out about until later.  

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@kevink wrote:

"Verizon has a much better policy if you buy from them, and most of their prepaid phones aren’t as limited, hardware wise (CHECK SPECS).  60 days after activation a Verizon prepaid phone is unlocked, even if you aren’t paying for a second month if service."

 

If you buy a Verizon prepaid phone, check its requirements for unlocking.  Depending on the phone (especially if it is sold at a discount), it may take a few months worth of payments before it can be unlocked.  Not 6 months, but something a visitor for 2 weeks may not find out about until later.  

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Verizon automatically unlocks postpaid phones 60 days after purchase.

Verizon prepaid phones are automatically unlocked 60 days after activation.  
    So unlike an AT&T phone,  if you purchase a Verizon prepaid phone. It isn’t going to be locked forever just because you didn’t use it on pre-paid for six months of paid service.  Verizon does not deep discount it’s prepaid phones like AT&T does.

As I specified, you would need to check the phone to verify unlock policies.

For instance, If you purchase a 4G Phone-in-a-Box from one of our authorized retailers, you should review the back of the box to determine the lock period applicable to that device.  Which was the applicable thing for the prepaid phone I bought a couple years ago for a discounted price.

It is only certain phones that are automatically unlocked 60 days after activation.  

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/device-unlocking-policy/

@kevink What's MORE IMPORTANT, at this point, is "knowing how to know" which non-branded AT&T devices will actually work, via VoLTE, given that "3G activations" end, at midnight, on 12/31/19...

This means that "if your phone isn't signed up", and won't connect/provision via VoLTE, that you'll have to "find a phone that will", put the SIM in it, and then "bring the SIM back to the other, non-provisioning phone", in order to get service, on that device.

Sound complicated?  Yep, it is, unfortunately...

@Delcat13Tay Yep, this is exactly the scenario I've been talking about, for a long time now (one of the resulting ones from the 3G slow-shutdown, anyway), I don't see how they're going to "manage this", unless they decide to just "open things up", like TMo (and now Verizon, mostly) has done.

@lizdance40 From what I can tell, the "ATT fix", is to sell you one of those "cheap branded-phones, that WILL provision".  It's a "very weird place right now", in ATT-land...

@warfase1 So you're saying that (for example) the Pixel 3a, is "just the cost of doing business", because ATT has chosen NOT to enable/provision it, after shutdown?  
Not saying they won't, just that right now it sure doesn't look like it.

I would hardly call this a "horse and buggy phone", by ANY measure (in fact it's really much more of a phone than most mid-range S-phones, which is potentially the real issue here).

I think I might be confused, by what *exactly* you're referring to here, in terms of the "cost item"?