After Vodafone, which shut down its 3G network almost a year ago, by next April also Tim it will progressively deactivate 3G connectivity to enhance 4G and especially 5G networks. There will be those who will have to change Sims, because they have one with less than 128K useless for the most recent networks, and some even smartphone: if you are using one that does not support 4G / LTE, or that supports first generation 4G, you should think about a new purchase. Even if these are devices dating back to about ten years ago, they are probably largely already replaced because they have been made obsolete by a large number of other applications and features otherwise inaccessible.
Let’s proceed in order. The best way to understand if you need to change your smartphone is to access the phone settings, search for the item on the “cellular network” and search, among the various modes listed, if the abbreviation 4G or LTE is displayed. If it is not among those in the list, it is likely that it is a device purchased precisely before the two-year period 2012-2013, when the current generation of networks, in the process of being replaced by 5G, made its debut on the market.
The operator will still warn the users both in case the problem is the smartphone and in what is the Sim. The first alert text message reads: “Dear customer, from April 2022, Tim will start the progressive shutdown of the 3G network, which will be replaced by 4G and 5G technologies”, reads the message, “Since your smartphone does not support calls with new technologies, in the absence of a 3G network, you will use the 2G network to make calls and send text messages, but you will no longer be able to surf the Internet on the 4G network at the same time. To make the most of the quality of the Tim network, we suggest you consider replacing your old smartphone ».
Who has a smartphone with a 3G-only modem it will therefore return to connect to the old 2G infrastructure of the nineties with which the navigation we are used to is impossible. On the other hand, those who have a first generation 4G phone, the situation becomes a bit more complicated: if that device, as likely, does not support VoLTE technology, Voice on LTE, it will be able to surf the internet in 4G but for calls and text messages it will have to switch from 2G. And therefore, having to hook up to two different networks, it will allow only one of these operations at a time.
As for the 128K Sim card, it goes instead replaced in a Tim shop: the operation will cost 15 euros which will however be returned within 24 hours as a credit that can be spent on your offer. While, as mentioned, Vodafone has already moved WindTre he is working on the same operation even though he has not yet communicated a specific date.
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Source: Vanity Fair
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