AT&T 3G network shut down

[OTCHRussell]

I have an Asus Z6 with 4G. AT&T told me my phone won't work after Feb 1, and sent me a useless phone with 16gb memory!! When I called them to complain, they said to send it back and they would send me an iPhone SE. They didn't! When I called again, they said I would have to pay for the SE (which I don't even want)!
So now I'm waiting for my Asus to stop working with no replacement!!
What would you do?

 

[anon(40376)]

What would I do? Cancel their service and go to another provider! Get the cheapest phone they have and move on. I had ATT for five months and it was the biggest mistake of my cellular phone life. Remind them there are two other cell phone providers and both have, generally, better ratings and prices usually are close. But no price is ok for a plan where you have no service.

If you want to remain with ATT; try a site like SWAPPA.com and purchase a good used phone that will work on an ATT network.

 

[Chuck Finley69]

I have an Asus Z6 with 4G. AT&T told me my phone won't work after Feb 1, and sent me a useless phone with 16gb memory!! When I called them to complain, they said to send it back and they would send me an iPhone SE. They didn't! When I called again, they said I would have to pay for the SE (which I don't even want)!
So now I'm waiting for my Asus to stop working with no replacement!!
What would you do?

I rely on AT&T for primary coverage since TMO coverage isn’t as good where I live and VZW doesn’t like devices it doesn’t sell either. As 3G is shutdown, I’ve been testing a couple of 5G devices and it does make a difference just like 10+ years ago when 2G was shutdown.

If TMO gives you reliable coverage, switch carriers as that’s most cost effective. If AT&T is the best option, buy the cheapest AT&T prepaid 5G phone and change out SIMs but don’t change your plan. I’m finding that paying extra for the 5G won’t really matter until 3G is shutdown and the bands are re-farmed between 4G and 5G networks. I purchased the Samsung A13 5G but there’s others to choose from

 

[joeldf]

What would I do? Cancel their service and go to another provider! Get the cheapest phone they have and move on. I had ATT for five months and it was the biggest mistake of my cellular phone life. Remind them there are two other cell phone providers and both have, generally, better ratings and prices usually are close. But no price is ok for a plan where you have no service.

If you want to remain with ATT; try a site like SWAPPA.com and purchase a good used phone that will work on an ATT network.

Don't worry, AT&T knows good and well that there are other carriers.

In fact, they'd prefer to lose the few customers who want to hang on to those fringe devices. The ones whose manufacturers don't want to pay to have certified to use on AT&T's VoLTE networks.

 

[gray2018]

They actually ended up sending her a S10e. She hates it lol

 

[OTCHRussell]

Thanks for your replies. I've been with AT&T for at least 25 years and have had decent service where I live. I'm going to try again to get them to give me a phone with more than 16 GB

 

[blueyestm]

So my work phone is on AT&T and it's still running on 3G. It's a business phone so maybe they place those in a different category.

 

[Laura Knotek]

They actually ended up sending her a S10e. She hates it lol

What does she dislike about the S10e? Did she actually like TouchWiz?

 

[gray2018]

I have no idea. She said it doesn't work right due to it being refurbished. I told her my device is refurbished too and never had any issues.

 

[joeldf]

I have no idea. She said it doesn't work right due to it being refurbished. I told her my device is refurbished too and never had any issues.

I think it's just different enough that she's not used to it. The UI on the S10e is different than her original S7.

Although the S7 did get Android 8, who knows if her phone ever got it since it's a T-Mobile device switched to AT&T. It could still have Android 7 on it, which is a different enough animal from Android 11 on the AT&T S10e to be confusing without knowing the differences.

 

[gray2018]

Very true. I think it was still on Android 8 when I sold it. Touchwiz was so meh. One UI is so much better, especially on Android 11 or newer.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Very true. I think it was still on Android 8 when I sold it. Touchwiz was so meh. One UI is so much better, especially on Android 11 or newer.

TouchWiz is the reason I never considered Samsung at the time.

 

[anon(40376)]

Just found out this will affect the Onstar systems used by GM and other vehicle related installed communications' systems. Guess I'll keep my Iridium phone and account for a while longer.

 

[J Dubbs]

Just found out this will affect the Onstar systems used by GM and other vehicle related installed communications' systems. Guess I'll keep my Iridium phone and account for a while longer.

We never used OnStar anyway, it was just a money grab that smartphones and other tech quickly made obsolete.

 

[anon(40376)]

Except for the fact Onstar signal was at 3Watts (or was) with a larger antenna sitting on top of the roof and living out here in the west, there were plenty of places I could make a call with Onstar while my 0.6 watt cell phone sat in the console.

It definitely wasn't for everyone for sure. And if I lived in a populated area and didn't travel into areas where cell phone coverage is minimal or non-existent; I would never have paid for the service. In fact, I almost dropped the service when they went from Verizon to ATT, but even as poor as ATT is out here, many times, it was better than my phone.

Only reason I kept it and only option I kept was the phone; never opted for the expensive internet service.

However I just posted in case someone who has it didn't realize it would be going away; not to debate the usefulness of the service; since like I said; definitely not for everyone.

 

[J Dubbs]

You bring up a good point... OnStar definitely had a use case for some folks. Like you said we were never in a location where it served a purpose for us, but I'm sure there will be folks that are going to miss it

 

[joeldf]

Re: AT&T 3G network shut down

Just found out this will affect the Onstar systems used by GM and other vehicle related installed communications' systems. Guess I'll keep my Iridium phone and account for a while longer.

AT&T's 3G shutdown should not have any affect on OnStar, because OnStar does not use AT&T's 3G network. They originally were on the old analog networks, then moved to Verizon CDMA in the early 2000s.

OnStar changed from Verizon to AT&T 4G-LTE in 2014. The cars that were to old to get a module swap were stuck on CDMA, and those are the ones that get cut off at the end of THIS year when Verizon shuts that down.

But the ones that use AT&T today should not be affected.

Edit - The comments above need to be amended. Apparently, OnStar does use 3G for voice calls over the service, like using "Adviser", and that is affected. But, there is an update that can be pushed to change out the service (maybe to switch it to VoLTE).

https://www.onstar.com/us/en/support/3g-network-sunset

 

[OTCHRussell]

I rely on AT&T for primary coverage since TMO coverage isn’t as good where I live and VZW doesn’t like devices it doesn’t sell either. As 3G is shutdown, I’ve been testing a couple of 5G devices and it does make a difference just like 10+ years ago when 2G was shutdown.

If TMO gives you reliable coverage, switch carriers as that’s most cost effective. If AT&T is the best option, buy the cheapest AT&T prepaid 5G phone and change out SIMs but don’t change your plan. I’m finding that paying extra for the 5G won’t really matter until 3G is shutdown and the bands are re-farmed between 4G and 5G networks. I purchased the Samsung A13 5G but there’s others to choose from

OK, so it happened today. AT&T shut down my 4G Asus Z6. Can't make or receive calls. It still does everything else. Spent 4 hours on the phone with AT&T. Everyone I spoke to had a different answer. "We can make your phone work, your phone was locked because you switched your SIM, your phone will work because you switched your SIM back, (made 2 calls, then stopped working), you need to buy a new phone, you don't need to buy a new phone, you will get a call when it is fixed, etc etc etc!!

Later I got this text:
Hi, it's AT&T. Great news! You can now use your cell phone on our upgraded network. We hope you enjoy doing all the things you love - even faster. Thank you for choosing AT&T.

I made 2 calls, then it stopped again!!
My ancient S7 Active still works!! (Refurbished from Amazon )
I prefer not to switch AT&T, even though I'm furious with them, but I guess I need a new phone. I agree with your idea of buying a cheap one, but don't know which one. Does anything have expandable memory? I don't want to give up my SD card. I love my Z6 and will probably replace it at a later date. Right now it's an emergency!!

Thanks for any advice!!

 

[Laura Knotek]

OK, so it happened today. AT&T shut down my 4G Asus Z6. Can't make or receive calls. It still does everything else. Spent 4 hours on the phone with AT&T. Everyone I spoke to had a different answer. "We can make your phone work, your phone was locked because you switched your SIM, your phone will work because you switched your SIM back, (made 2 calls, then stopped working), you need to buy a new phone, you don't need to buy a new phone, you will get a call when it is fixed, etc etc etc!!

Later I got this text:
Hi, it's AT&T. Great news! You can now use your cell phone on our upgraded network. We hope you enjoy doing all the things you love - even faster. Thank you for choosing AT&T.

I made 2 calls, then it stopped again!!
My ancient S7 Active still works!! (Refurbished from Amazon )
I prefer not to switch AT&T, even though I'm furious with them, but I guess I need a new phone. I agree with your idea of buying a cheap one, but don't know which one. Does anything have expandable memory? I don't want to give up my SD card. I love my Z6 and will probably replace it at a later date. Right now it's an emergency!!

Thanks for any advice!!

What price range are you looking for?

 

[OTCHRussell]

What price range are you looking for?

Probably around $200 if it's an emergency phone. Unless I just break down and get the Asus Z8, which has great reviews but no SD.