3G shutdown: check your phones

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#3418927 26-Sep-2025 09:39

2deg are already doing excatly that. They've refarmed 2G (G900/G1800) and 3G (U900/U2100) spectrum to 4G L900/L1800/L2100 already. The switch off end of this year means they can finally take the final two 3G U900/U2100 carriers offline allowing for more spectum in 4G L900/L2100. 5G NR is a possibility in the future too. One/Spark has done likewise -- they've both got rid of U2100 entirely repalcing with L2100; Spark has some 5G NR replacing U850 and One has some 4G LTE replacing U900.

boosacnoodle

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#3418933 26-Sep-2025 10:06

Does this mean that we might also see 5G SA around about the same time that 3G is shut down? From what I can see, NZ's operators were trialling this a number of years back - but then no announcements since then.

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#3418934 26-Sep-2025 10:09

MaxineN:

To be fair, given that "Good/Moderate/Limited" are shades of pink, and most of the map is purple, they're not actually telling you anything! Purple could mean "has a lower-than-usual proportion of kittens" for all we know.

yitz

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#3418966 26-Sep-2025 11:21

KiwiSurfer:

One/Spark has done likewise -- they've both got rid of U2100 entirely

When was the 3G shutdown for 900/2100 phones on Spark?

KiwiSurfer

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#3418968 26-Sep-2025 11:25

yitz:

KiwiSurfer:

One/Spark has done likewise -- they've both got rid of U2100 entirely

When was the 3G shutdown for 900/2100 phones on Spark?

U2100 has been gone for years.

U850 is going next year, approx March.

Spark never had 900.

yitz

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#3418972 26-Sep-2025 11:41

KiwiSurfer:

U2100 has been gone for years.

U850 is going next year, approx March.

Spark never had 900.

Yeah was just wondering about the time frame what years/months did it happen over. I know 900/2100 phones were never officially supported on Spark and 2100 was only infill capacity so the experience would have been variable even just over a decade ago when it was only 3G.

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Aucklandjafa

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#3418973 26-Sep-2025 11:45

yitz:

KiwiSurfer:

U2100 has been gone for years.

U850 is going next year, approx March.

Spark never had 900.

Yeah was just wondering about the time frame what years/months did it happen over. I know 900/2100 phones were never officially supported on Spark and 2100 was only infill capacity so the experience would have been variable even just over a decade ago when it was only 3G.

Arrrrh, yes, my Telecom retail days were filled of tourists saying their phones don’t get coverage/reception outside of main centres - if I had a dollar for every time I had to explain their phone didn’t support u850 - I’d be filthy rich!

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#3418975 26-Sep-2025 11:55

I remember years ago my dad was selling an old 900/2100 phone on Trade Me. He popped a Telecom SIM in it and it worked because his house is in a 2100 area, but I advised him not to say it was compatible with Telecom in the Trade Me listing. He did anyway, "because it'll make people more likely to buy it" or some such.

quickymart

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#3419001 26-Sep-2025 14:39

Aucklandjafa:

Arrrrh, yes, my Telecom retail days were filled of tourists saying their phones don’t get coverage/reception outside of main centres - if I had a dollar for every time I had to explain their phone didn’t support u850 - I’d be filthy rich!

That takes me back to my Telecom days too 😁

grantius

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#3419020 26-Sep-2025 15:25

boosacnoodle:

Does this mean that we might also see 5G SA around about the same time that 3G is shut down? From what I can see, NZ's operators were trialling this a number of years back - but then no announcements since then.

Yeah Spark in particular made a big hoo ha about it and since then it's radio silence.

How good a dream would it be at 12.01am on new years day One or 2degrees flipped a switch and all of a sudden we had 5G SA on 900mhz everywhere

MadEngineer

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#3419021 26-Sep-2025 15:34

MaxineN:

MadEngineer:

Does anyone have actual details on claims like the following from 2D?

In our quest to constantly improve our network, sometimes we need to wave goodbye to older technology. That’s why we, along with other mobile operators in NZ, are starting to switch off our 3G network service towards the end of 2025 to enhance our 4G services

For example, does anyone know if providers will re-use the bands used by 3G for 4G LTE, or skip that and use them for 5G only?

900 is already used in LTE and in 3G, so my imagination is that they will just increase the channel width of that space to cover up what was used when 3G is shut off.

It's not going to rock your world by any means, it will just enhance the capacity.

On the same tower?

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

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MaxineN

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#3419025 26-Sep-2025 15:36

MadEngineer:

MaxineN:

MadEngineer:

Does anyone have actual details on claims like the following from 2D?

In our quest to constantly improve our network, sometimes we need to wave goodbye to older technology. That’s why we, along with other mobile operators in NZ, are starting to switch off our 3G network service towards the end of 2025 to enhance our 4G services

For example, does anyone know if providers will re-use the bands used by 3G for 4G LTE, or skip that and use them for 5G only?

900 is already used in LTE and in 3G, so my imagination is that they will just increase the channel width of that space to cover up what was used when 3G is shut off.

It's not going to rock your world by any means, it will just enhance the capacity.

On the same tower?

Yep.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

boosacnoodle

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#3419320 28-Sep-2025 10:57

Spark's customer support are telling me to turn off 5G on my handset so that my upload speed will improve... by using (their overloaded and congested) 4G instead - ignoring the fact that all the speed test results I sent them were already on 4G and that 5G is still anchored by 4G. Wild.

After weeks of discussion, they've finally logged a ticket but I've already put my move in to go back to One NZ.

What went wrong with Spark? Can't see any way that this will be improving anytime soon. The Spark 5G rollout has been glacial compared with what they originally proposed a few years back and the issues that I am facing appears to be widespread.

ajw

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#3419322 28-Sep-2025 11:18

boosacnoodle:

Does this mean that we might also see 5G SA around about the same time that 3G is shut down? From what I can see, NZ's operators were trialling this a number of years back - but then no announcements since then.

Spark already is a SA network, one are in the process of switching their network to SA and 2 degrees is still a NSA network.

Linux

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#3419324 28-Sep-2025 11:24

ajw:

boosacnoodle:

Does this mean that we might also see 5G SA around about the same time that 3G is shut down? From what I can see, NZ's operators were trialling this a number of years back - but then no announcements since then.

Spark already is a SA network, one are in the process of switching their network to SA and 2 degrees is still a NSA network.

@ajw Pardon ne are you joking about SparkNZ already have a SA network??

Building one and having one in Production and live to customers are completely 2 different things

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