Is The Service Down Sprint Cell Phone Outage Carson City

The iPhone 5S, left, and iPhone 5c are displayed in 2013. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

NEW YORK — As telecom companies rev up the newest generation of mobile service, called 5G, they're shutting down old networks — a costly, years-in-the-works process that'southward at present prompting calls for a delay considering many products still rely on the one-time standard, 3G.
AT&T is scheduled to be the starting time carrier to shut down its 3G network on February. 22. T-Mobile will shut down its 3G network past summer and Verizon in December.
The home-alarm industry has asked the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. regulator, to delay AT&T'due south network sunset until Dec. The FCC is monitoring the 3G phase-out and working to "implement safeguards" for older phones and other devices, spokesperson Paloma Perez said tardily Mon.
Verizon has already pushed back its shutdown — twice — from an original target date in 2019, saying customers needed more time to update their devices. T-Mobile has also delayed the shutdown of the Dart 3G network it acquired in 2020, to the end of March; it'll shut down the T-Mobile 3G network by July one.
WHY IS 3G SHUTTING DOWN?
Outset, some history. AT&T'due south 3G network launched in the U.S. in 2004; later that decade information technology was the sectional carrier for early on iPhones, helping usher in the starting time stage of the smartphone era. The networks nosotros currently rely on for video streaming, social apps, Uber and other must-haves of the mod era by and large utilise the subsequent 4G standard.
For the carriers, shutting down 3G is an efficiency move. As they upgrade to the latest engineering science, they shut off outdated networks and use the freed-up bandwidth for newer — and what they hope will be more assisting — services.
WHAT IF I HAVE AN OLDER PHONE?
People with older phones that aren't compatible with 4G will have to upgrade; in one case 3G shuts downward, those phones won't work for calls or texting. AT&T says information technology has reached out to offering its customers free replacements via letters, emails and texts. Spokesperson Jim Greer said fewer than 1% of AT&T's consumer devices, including phones, tablets and watches, volition lose cellular service, but declined to say how many devices that is. The company reported about 196 million phones and connected devices using its network in the near recent quarter.
WHAT Nigh OTHER DEVICES?
Manufacture groups have also raised concerns about other products that will need to be replaced or updated — everything from dwelling fire alarms to talocrural joint bracelets used past constabulary enforcement. It's non sure how many outdated products are out at that place, or how big a bargain information technology would exist if updates take place after Feb. 22.
The alarm manufacture and other companies say they accept had issues replacing devices fifty-fifty though they've known most the coming shutdown for years. Recent setbacks include both pandemic-triggered supply-chain issues and customers hesitant to let technicians into their homes during the pandemic.
HOW MANY OUTDATED PRODUCTS ARE OUT There?
It's not clear. An alarm-industry lobbying group estimates that 1.5 million customers still need to upgrade their fire or burglar alarms, while about half a million have medical alarm devices that run on 3G; information technology said most rely on AT&T service. While an unnetworked fire alarm volition still sound an warning if there's smoke, it won't be able to contact the burn down department. Likewise, burglar alarms won't route to emergency responders if triggered. Not all providers say at that place's an outcome. ADT said in November that information technology was on track to update its AT&T customers by February; a spokesperson declined to offer an update on Sunday.
AARP, the advocacy grouping for adults over 50, is likewise concerned that users of medical alarm systems — those necklaces and bracelets, similar Life Alert — that connect users to emergency call centers won't know their gadgets don't work anymore or won't be able to supplant them in fourth dimension.
HOW SHOULD I PREPARE?
Bank check your phone to make sure it will still work. Here's an AT&T listing of devices that the carrier says volition work unremarkably after Feb. 22. Phone call the companies that make or service your burglar and fire alarms and personal medical warning systems to run across if any need an update. If so, schedule a service visit immediately or get a new device shipped.
OK, DONE. Annihilation ELSE I SHOULD WORRY ABOUT?
A few. One manufacturer of ankle bracelets for people on probation, parole or pre-trial release said information technology hasn't been able to update many 3G-reliant devices. A premature shutdown could potentially allow tens of thousands of offenders similar child abusers, sex offenders and drunk drivers to go unmonitored while out of prison, Alcohol Monitoring Systems wrote in an Baronial FCC filing. The visitor did not respond to questions.
Zonar, which provides GPS and other services for buses and trucks, says tens of thousands of vehicles will be affected. Trucks that aren't upgraded may take to exist idled if drivers tin can't electronically log their hours as federal rules require. Zonar has a workaround for the trucking industry, but not all customers have placed orders for information technology, said Susan Corscadden, a visitor marketing executive.
Affected school districts could also lose their ability to track the location of school buses, while their drivers may not be able to use GPS systems for directions. The National Clan for Pupil Transportation seconded these concerns in a September filing, although Noelle Ellerson Ng, the group's legislative liaison, said in an interview that she hasn't heard schoolhouse superintendents raise the consequence.
SO DOES THE SHUTDOWN POSE A SERIOUS PUBLIC-SAFETY THREAT?
It's unclear. "At that place'due south a lot of dubiousness about the impact and about how many people are affected," said Tom Kamber, the executive manager of Older Adults Engineering Services, a nonprofit affiliated with AARP. The AARP has asked the FCC to delay the AT&T shutdown until December.
Public Knowledge, a public-interest grouping, also urged the FCC to block the February shutdown unless AT&T can show that it has fabricated certain that essential services won't be disrupted or that it can restore service immediately if bug arise.
SO WHY Not Delay?
AT&T says that delaying the shutdown would hurt its 5G rollout, degrading its customers' ability to use their service and causing more dropped calls. The company argues that the alarm companies have had years to upgrade their customers' devices. The company also says the FCC doesn't accept the authority to finish its shutdown.