AT&T 3g shutdown Feb 2021 - tmobile unlocked phones no longer supported

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Gabe3

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I just learned about this. basically if your phone is unlocked but from a carrier besides ATT, you will lose service between now and feb. its already happening for receiving calls for people on tmobile unlocked phones. What I'm curious about is if older ATT phones will work like my dads LG v20, its not on the list.

https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1324171/
list of devices that will work after feb: https://www.att.com/idpassets/images/support/wireless/Devices-Working-on-ATT-Network.pdf
 
The LG V20 is actually on the list of phones that will work after the 3G shutdown.

And the reason for the already happening is that many of those unlocked TMobile phones tend to be older, cheaper phones that do not support HD Voice (VoLTE) in hardware even if they support 4G LTE for data.

So, if mobile customers continue to use their old devices for years and years, and refuse to upgrade them in the first place, then the phone carriers might as well bring back the subsidized two-year contracts.
 
E4g1e said:
The LG V20 is actually on the list of phones that will work after the 3G shutdown.

And the reason for the already happening is that many of those unlocked TMobile phones tend to be older, cheaper phones that do not support HD Voice (VoLTE) in hardware even if they support 4G LTE for data.

So, if mobile customers continue to use their old devices for years and years, and refuse to upgrade them in the first place, then the phone carriers might as well bring back the subsidized two-year contracts.
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The V20 wasn't on the list when I made this thread but thats good its there now.

How old are we talking cause many unlocked tmobile phone that are 2 years old are losing ability to receive calls and text messages from ATT saying their device is no longer supported. If you call ATT and beg them to restore service they usually will but they will tell you its going away by Feb. I know this cause I bought a oneplus phone recently and the one I bought people are complaining about already losing service on reddit, and its 2 years old. It was a oneplus 7 pro, which I returned for condition reasons then I learned it wasn't going to be compatible. Another example is the oneplus 9 pro 5G LE2120. its the global unlocked model and its not on the list. maybe it hasn't been added yet or maybe it never will cause its not a ATT branded phone. Whats interesting is the oneplus 8 model# IN2017 is on the list and its a tmobile branded phone.
 
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This is burger land only eh? I have a few old mobile handsets etc here.
 
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More infuriating is that my wife's Nokia 6.1 will not survive the transition, and that reportedly HAS VoLTE... but my understanding is that Nokia did not pay AT&T to certify it, so AT&T deliberately disallow it from using the VoLTE feature. So now she has a Moto G Stylus that she frankly does not like as much. :(

Interestingly, they list the Microsoft Lumia 950 as supported... I have the 950XL so I assume it will work as well.
 
WTF...my unlocked 2020 Moto G Power (XT2041-4) is not but but the G8 is. Fuck them if that is the case, I will switch carriers. My work use to require ATT in order to cover personal phones used as work phones. We get up to $75 per month paid for. Now we can use any carrier.
 
Bowman15 said:
WTF...my unlocked 2020 Moto G Power (XT2041-4) is not but but the G8 is. Fuck them if that is the case, I will switch carriers. My work use to require ATT in order to cover personal phones used as work phones. We get up to $75 per month paid for. Now we can use any carrier.
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I'm gonna say its not on the list yet. I think phones that are unlocked and were never tied to a carrier will work. But I don't really know.
 
mvmiller12 said:
More infuriating is that my wife's Nokia 6.1 will not survive the transition, and that reportedly HAS VoLTE... but my understanding is that Nokia did not pay AT&T to certify it, so AT&T deliberately disallow it from using the VoLTE feature. So now she has a Moto G Stylus that she frankly does not like as much. :(

Interestingly, they list the Microsoft Lumia 950 as supported... I have the 950XL so I assume it will work as well.
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Same with the Huawei phones I had. They both work fine with volte with t-mobile but not with att Sim card thus we got the same messages about our phones getting no more support.
By the same token, I am stopping my support of att and moving to a different company
 
We are on Cricket which is ATT's bitch underling. All our phones support VoLTE yet only my OnePlus 8 has been activated for VoLTE. If my wife's Pixel 3a which supports it, loses voice service it's over. So tired of ATT and their shenanigans.
 
OFaceSIG said:
We are on Cricket which is ATT's bitch underling. All our phones support VoLTE yet only my OnePlus 8 has been activated for VoLTE. If my wife's Pixel 3a which supports it, loses voice service it's over. So tired of ATT and their shenanigans.
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I was about to try US Mobile soon and other options to see.
 
Just a way to force people to upgrade to devices they don't need to keep the profit machine rolling.
 
Bowman15 said:
WTF...my unlocked 2020 Moto G Power (XT2041-4) is not but but the G8 is. Fuck them if that is the case, I will switch carriers. My work use to require ATT in order to cover personal phones used as work phones. We get up to $75 per month paid for. Now we can use any carrier.
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It's on the list now Bowman listed as: • G Power (XT2041-4, XT2117-4, XT2117-1)
 
Pixel phones are on the list. But for some reason, ATT wrote that the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL may require a software update to enable HD Voice, Wi-Fi Calling, Video Call, Advanced Messaging or 5G.
 
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Bowman15 said:
WTF...my unlocked 2020 Moto G Power (XT2041-4) is not but but the G8 is. Fuck them if that is the case, I will switch carriers. My work use to require ATT in order to cover personal phones used as work phones. We get up to $75 per month paid for. Now we can use any carrier.
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Your work needs to talk with my work!! Damn
 
Rocking an unlocked LG V30 here and I am getting the boot soon too but they are sending me a new phone automatically maybe because I am a loyal customer so they are sending me a $30 phone. Guess I'll be getting a pixel 5a or a zenfone 8 to upgrade finally.

email.PNG


newPhoneYay.PNG
 
legcramp said:
Rocking an unlocked LG V30 here and I am getting the boot soon too but they are sending me a new phone automatically maybe because I am a loyal customer so they are sending me a $30 phone. Guess I'll be getting a pixel 5a or a zenfone 8 to upgrade finally.

View attachment 381010

View attachment 381009
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Well, I must have won the AT&T lottery or something.

I got a notification last week that my "order" had shipped from when I accepted the free phone to replace the Nokia 6.1 some time ago. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found they'd shipped me a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 128G. . .
 
mvmiller12 said:
Well, I must have won the AT&T lottery or something.

I got a notification last week that my "order" had shipped from when I accepted the free phone to replace the Nokia 6.1 some time ago. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found they'd shipped me a Samsung Galaxy Note 9 128G. . .
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Wow! Can't believe they didn't send you a Note 20 5G or something, no worries I will trade you and also cover shipping hahah.

20210818_162544_HDR.jpg
 
Hi thank you for starting this thread Gabe3 ...

So I just learned this the hard way... I started my day and I couldn't make calls nor send SMS messages because, my phone was - all of a sudden,
“Not registered on network” ...

So I called 611 and AT&T rep told me, “sorry your phone isn't on the list”...

I bought/invested in an unlocked SamSung Note20 Ultra 5G off eBay, less than a year ago...

I told rep “well, I guess I have to find a new carrier.”
She quickly offered to reactive my SIM but warned me that if I don't change to an AT&T phone that, my Ultra will shutdown Feb 2022...

1. Anyone know what other carriers I can go to... I'm guessing T-Mobile is one.
Any other carriers who are not switching to HD Voice VoLTE or that will support my phone regardless? (AT&T rep said “I wouldn't be surprised if the other carriers switch at some point too” - their famous line for everything)

I walked into a Verizon store and the sales person was saying my Ultra has a digital SIM that I can activate...

2. what's that about? Can I activate my digital SIM and keep AT&T?

Sorry for the long post. Had a lot on my mind, and this thread looks to be the right place to ask...
 
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U1tra said:
Hi thank you for starting this thread Gabe3 ...

So I just learned this the hard way... I started my day and I couldn't make calls nor send SMS messages because, my phone was - all of a sudden,
“Not registered on network” ...

So I called 611 and AT&T rep told me, “sorry your phone isn't on the list”...

I bought/invested in an unlocked SamSung Note20 Ultra 5G off eBay, less than a year ago...

I told rep “well, I guess I have to find a new carrier.”
She quickly offered to reactive my SIM but warned me that if I don't change to an AT&T phone that, my Ultra will shutdown Feb 2022...

1. Anyone know what other carriers I can go to... I'm guessing T-Mobile is one.
Any other carriers who are not switching to HD Voice VoLTE or that will support my phone regardless? (AT&T rep said “I wouldn't be surprised if the other carriers switch at some point too” - their famous line for everything)

I walked into a Verizon store and the sales person was saying my Ultra has a digital SIM that I can activate...

2. what's that about? Can I activate my digital SIM and keep AT&T?

Sorry for the long post. Had a lot on my mind, and this thread looks to be the right place to ask...
Click to expand...

The dick move by AT&T here is that the VoLTE feature is available on many of the phones they are discontinuing support for (such as my wife's Nokia 6.1), but since they aren't "AT&T certified" they won't let them on their network. Getting rid of 3G - I understand that. Deliberately forcing people to buy new phones despite having VoLTE - that's a load of shit that puts me in the mind of Carterphone...
 
U1tra said:
Hi thank you for starting this thread Gabe3 ...

So I just learned this the hard way... I started my day and I couldn't make calls nor send SMS messages because, my phone was - all of a sudden,
“Not registered on network” ...

So I called 611 and AT&T rep told me, “sorry your phone isn't on the list”...

I bought/invested in an unlocked SamSung Note20 Ultra 5G off eBay, less than a year ago...

I told rep “well, I guess I have to find a new carrier.”
She quickly offered to reactive my SIM but warned me that if I don't change to an AT&T phone that, my Ultra will shutdown Feb 2022...

1. Anyone know what other carriers I can go to... I'm guessing T-Mobile is one.
Any other carriers who are not switching to HD Voice VoLTE or that will support my phone regardless? (AT&T rep said “I wouldn't be surprised if the other carriers switch at some point too” - their famous line for everything)

I walked into a Verizon store and the sales person was saying my Ultra has a digital SIM that I can activate...

2. what's that about? Can I activate my digital SIM and keep AT&T?

Sorry for the long post. Had a lot on my mind, and this thread looks to be the right place to ask...
Click to expand...
is SM-N986B your model?
 
T-Mobile Network Evolution

As of January 1, 2022 Sprint’s older 3G (CDMA) network will be retired
As of June 30, 2022 Sprint’s LTE network will be retired
As of July 1, 2022 T-Mobile’s older 3G UMTS network will be retired
 
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Gabe3 said:
is SM-N986B your model?
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Gabe3 my model number: SM-N9860

Supersnake that was helpful to know different carriers and when they're retiring their respective networks...ty!

Anyone know what's good with Verizon?

And even though T-Mobile is retiring 3G UMTS, what's the consensus here... do you think they will have list of phones that will stop working?
 
U1tra said:
Gabe3 my model number: SM-N9860

Supersnake that was helpful to know different carriers and when they're retiring their respective networks...ty!

Anyone know what's good with Verizon?

And even though T-Mobile is retiring 3G UMTS, what's the consensus here... do you think they will have list of phones that will stop working?
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hm, I'm really not sure, would take a bit of research and probably calling the carriers. it is the chinese version though.

looking at this its 2/4 on ATT LTE so it wasn't completely compatible to begin with
https://www.frequencycheck.com/comp...e-cn-512gb-samsung-canvas-c2-5g/united-states
 
T-Mobile is good, especially with a new compatible 5g phone. It's not especially fast, but I have signal in my house, and in the mountains/valleys of Colorado, surprisingly where my dad did not (think he's on ATT).

Their lowest price prepaid plan is $15, so couldn't hurt to try. ;)

Edit: didn't have signal in Ouray, but probably because it's a small town surrounded by steep mountain with one provider, and I have roaming off.
 
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Gabe3 said:
hm, I'm really not sure, would take a bit of research and probably calling the carriers. it is the chinese version though.

looking at this its 2/4 on ATT LTE so it wasn't completely compatible to begin with
https://www.frequencycheck.com/comp...e-cn-512gb-samsung-canvas-c2-5g/united-states
Click to expand...
It being the Chinese version puts a new spin on the issue. It's good that you looked up his phone on FrequencyCheck.
In addition to having band deficits with AT&T, it is also missing two LTE bands for T-Mobile 👉 Link
The Details section also shows it doesn't support 4th Generation LTE.

1.jpg


👉 If U1tra wishes, he can also go here and enter his IMIE in the field box.
T-Mobile also published their band frequencies 👉T-Mobile Network Frequencies
 
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Gabe3 gave a good recommendation to also call the carriers. If you speak to T-Mobile Customer Service, be prepared to have them tell you an unlocked SamSung Note20 Ultra 5G will be compatible with their network after they retire 3G UMTS. But also be prepared, that the rep is likely not going to give you a definitive answer for the SM-N9860 China/Hong Kong version. For that you will have to speak with a Tier 1 (or higher) Tech Support person.
 
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mvmiller12 said:
More infuriating is that my wife's Nokia 6.1 will not survive the transition, and that reportedly HAS VoLTE... but my understanding is that Nokia did not pay AT&T to certify it, so AT&T deliberately disallow it from using the VoLTE feature. So now she has a Moto G Stylus that she frankly does not like as much. :(

Interestingly, they list the Microsoft Lumia 950 as supported... I have the 950XL so I assume it will work as well.
Click to expand...

Yea, at least I got a samsung s9 out of it. *I had a nokia 7.1*
 
Apparently there is a good chance the Lumia 950XL will NOT be supported after the change over. That is super confusing because the XL just had a larger screen and a little more RAM than the Lumia 950 non-XL (which IS supported).
 
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