The 5G era has arrived. Are the elderly who have switched off 2G/3G networks no longer able to use their mobile phones?

      The withdrawal of 2G/3G networks itself is not a new topic, but recently due to an incident, it has once again become the focus of everyone's attention.

　　On July 3, Mr. Luan from Beijing used a senior phone with a China Unicom phone card, but two days later he found that the phone showed no signal and he could not make calls. Upon checking, there was no problem with the balance of phone bills, SIM card, or the phone itself. Later, he went to the local China Unicom business hall and was told that China Unicom had shut down the 2G and 3G signals and recommended changing to a 4G phone. That afternoon, @China Unicom said that the reason why users could not use the phone normally was because the phone format did not support China Unicom's 3G format, not the so-called "shutdown" of the 2G or 3G network.

　　Although this was a "misunderstanding", @China Unicom later mentioned that 4G networks have been fully popularized, 5G licenses have been issued, and the withdrawal of 2G networks from service is an inevitable trend. Many operators have shut down 2G networks and will help 2G users upgrade to 3G and 4G networks.

　　For the industry, the communications industry generally believes that the withdrawal of 2G and even 3G networks is "a matter of sooner or later", but due to the huge number of users at present, withdrawal requires a process; but for users, once the 2G or 3G network is withdrawn, they may have to face the problem of whether the old mobile phones in their hands can no longer be used and whether they need to replace the mobile phone.

　　The number of 2G/3G users is still huge

　　Even in 2019, the first year of 5G, the number of 2G and 3G users in my country is still large. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, by the end of 2018, the total number of mobile phone users in my country reached 1.57 billion. Minus 1.17 billion 4G users, the total number of 2G and 3G mobile phone users is still around 400 million.

　　In fact, as far as the 2G network itself is concerned, because it uses a lower frequency band, the signal decays slowly and covers a wide area. This is why in many areas where 4G cannot fully cover, such as mountainous areas with complex terrain, 2G can play a good supplementary role to ensure basic call communications. However, it is undeniable that the 2G network base station technology is relatively old, the transmission rate is slow, the energy consumption is high, and the utilization rate of 2G and 3G in some areas is extremely low, which has become a heavy economic burden for operators. It is reasonable to reduce the frequency and even withdraw from the network.

　　Xiang Ligang, a well-known observer of China's communications industry, said in an interview with the International Financial News that the so-called network withdrawal refers to the complete withdrawal from the network, but as of now, the three major operators have not taken similar measures. At most, they will shut down some 2G and 3G base stations that are no longer in use or are rarely used. It may be too early to talk about network withdrawal. Moreover, with such a large number of users, it means that user migration will take time, and the withdrawal of 2G and 3G networks will therefore be a slow process.

　　There is no exact timetable for withdrawal from the network

　　China Unicom said in April 2018 that it would orderly promote the work of reducing the frequency of 2G networks and comprehensively promote the consumption upgrade of 2G customers to 4G networks. In addition to China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom have also taken similar actions.

Fuzhou Mobile 3G network withdrawal

　　In March 2019, China Mobile Fuzhou Branch stopped using 6,535 mobile 3G base stations, sealed the base station data and revoked the original radio station license. This move was also seen as the beginning of China Mobile's large-scale TD-SCDMA, or mobile 3G network withdrawal. China Telecom has been promoting 4G-based VoLTE call services to prepare for CDMA network withdrawal. Despite this. The three major operators still do not have a complete and specific timetable for the withdrawal of 2G or 3G networks, and the reason behind this has a lot to do with our daily call problems.

　　No matter how mobile phones evolve, calling is still the most core function, but the 4G network itself does not support voice and can only connect to the data network. Therefore, if you want to make a call, you must switch to the 2G/3G network to make a call. This is why most mobile phones cannot access the Internet normally when making a call. If you want to rely on the 4G network for voice calls, you must use the VoLTE service, but the current service quality is average and cannot reach the call quality level of 2G. Therefore, if you rashly withdraw the 2G/3G network, you may not even be able to guarantee normal calls for a period of time. Therefore, if operators want to completely withdraw from the network, they must vigorously build 4G and 5G base stations.

　　In addition, each operator faces different situations. For China Unicom, its 3G format is WCDMA, which can ensure normal calls and uninterrupted calls, so China Unicom chose to cancel its 2G network; for China Telecom, it has two formats, CDMA 2G and CDMA 3G, which can ensure normal calls, and it is likely to cancel its older 2G network; for China Mobile, it will retain the 2G network with the widest coverage, that is, the GSM network, and fully build 4G and 5G networks with high network speeds, and will cancel the 3G network, which is in a slightly embarrassing position.

　　Why are the three major operators in a hurry to withdraw from the network?

　　However, from the perspective of technological iteration, the withdrawal of 2G and 3G networks is the established strategy of operators, and upgrading to high-level and high-quality network standards is also the general trend.

Comparison of coverage and network speed

　　Yield high-quality frequency bands to 5G networks. In our traditional impression, although the 2G network has a slow transmission rate, it covers a wide area, and 2G signals can be received even in remote mountainous areas. This major feature is related to the 900-1800MHz low-frequency high-quality resources it occupies. Subsequent 4G and 5G networks occupy high-frequency bands, with fast network speeds, but relatively small coverage areas, and signal propagation is easily weakened. Therefore, the reason why 2G covers a wide area is not because of mature technology, but because it occupies high-quality low-frequency bands. If the low-frequency bands are ceded to 4G or 5G networks, large-area coverage and high network quality can also be achieved.

　　Reduce operating costs. On the one hand, if operators want to maintain 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks at the same time, it will cost extremely high daily operating costs. At present, 2G equipment has high energy consumption and failure rates, and the maintenance pressure is high, which makes operators "painful". On the other hand, in some areas, there are very few 2G base stations on the Internet, and they cannot bring in high enough revenue. For operators, it is not cost-effective to maintain a very costly 2G network for a very small number of users.

　　Operators should provide good "aftercare" services

　　After the "oolong" incident mentioned at the beginning of this article, Li Zhen, a senior analyst at CCID Consulting's Communication Industry Research Center, said that shutting down the 2G network would have no impact on most users, as 3G and 4G networks currently cover a wide area and have signals even in remote areas. However, shutting down 2G may prevent some elderly mobile phone users from making calls normally.

　　Telecom expert Fu Liang suggested that China Unicom should announce the timetable for 2G network withdrawal as soon as possible, which also applies to China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network withdrawal. At the same time, relevant departments should also study the suspension of communication service agreements as soon as possible, and improve the utilization rate of network resources under the premise of protecting the interests of users and operators. Operators should also consider users in details, especially elderly mobile phone users, and launch corresponding packages to help users transition and upgrade the network.

　　In summary, at this stage, most mobile phones for the elderly can still be used normally, but next time you change the phone for the elderly at home, you can consider a full-network smartphone. To some extent, mobile phones for the elderly may not be better than smartphones. If you are keen on mobile phones for the elderly, you should pay attention to the network format supported by the phone when purchasing. It is best to support China Unicom 3G or China Mobile 2G.