Telenor Norway projects 2020 switch-off for its 3G network

Norwegian telco Telenor has outlined plans for switching off 3G, which may be a model for other operators. Norweigians love 4G so much that the Telenor group is looking to ape America in the growth of 4G. CEO Berit Svendsen (pictured) says that the network will follow the raid adoption of 4G found in the US and Asia. Telenor’ …

[CCarl]

M2M needs 2G

Which is good for users, but as an M2M designer 4g chipsets/modules cost way more than 2G modules/chipsets do, mostly due to the patents that have to be paid for and consume more power. 2G should be kept for M2M or IOT (if you like buzz words)

[Crazy Operations Guy]

Re: M2M needs 2G

I'd think that by the time 2025 rolls around, I'd think that there'd be a purpose-built protocol / network for M2M. Although I'd like to see a sort of hybrid network developed that would run both consumer internet and cellular communications to replace both WiFi and 4G, preferably some kind of mesh-network to greatly improve available bandwidth.

[Henry Wertz 1]

VZW has simlar plans.

"Rapid? :)

Maybe it stands for Reluctant Adoption of Incompatible Devices :-)"

The band situation in the US is flatout stupid, but yes rapid. Verizon Wireless has nearly 100% 4G LTE coverage, and Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile probably have 90% of covered population covered by 4G LTE (although by area they have much less 4G than Verizon Wireless.) T-Mo plans to go straight from 2G to 4G LTE in the rural coverage areas. There are many MANY 4G devices, all 4 of the "big 4" see quite heavy 4G usage these days.

Anyway, this is more or less VZW's plan too.... they have 4G LTE. They plan to shut down 3G EVDO data around 2020 (this 3G technology is data-only...) but keep 2G CDMA 1X (voice, SMS, 144kbps data) up indefinitely, for use of whatever devices don't support VoLTE yet, a fallback if you are out of LTE range, and for M2M.

[xj25vm]

Cuttin the branch etc ...

What? Did I read the article correctly? They don't have anything yet in place that handles voice on 4G, but they are planning on phasing out 3G anyway? How about waiting to see how well VoLTE works in real life? What's with the hurry? How can you plan the phasing out of a technology before you have even started implementing its replacement?

And regarding Tesla, that is exactly why it is such a bad idea to stuff a car full of funky electronics and latest gadgetry. The natural lifespan of computer related tech might be only 3-5 years, but cars are meant to last much longer. Fast forward just 5 years after you've bought your swanky, shiny (and not cheap, mind you) state of the art pimpmobile (of whatever brand that might be) - and a bunch of random bits are simply phased out by various manufacturers and suppliers and you are looking at a dashboard full of non-functional electronic junk. No more updates for the GPS, no internet connectivity for the smart dashboard, no more routing and traffic information - what's next? At least if the gizmos are not integrated, you can throw them away and buy new ones.