Article Attached - 3G Cellular Shutdown in 2022, and car make and models affected.

[Wrenchturner44]

Interesting article attached. Seems there are several makes and models that have current use features that will be affected.

Cliff notes version is that T-Mobile will be shutting down 3G network in January of 2022, and ATT will cease 3G operation in February of 2022.

https://jalopnik.com/here-are-the-ways-shutting-off-3g-is-going-to-suck-for-1848265836

 

[LazyDog]

Does the danger of having a car with fancy technology, I am Dunkey still prefer a basic car with less stuff!

 

[blupupher]

GM already went through this with onstar several years ago with the 2g shutdown, but the 3g shutdown will affect many more makes with a wider amount of vehicle options affected. Also some very recent vehicles (2019 model year for several makers) are affected.

edit: looks like even some 2022 Honda models are affected, but do have an update available.

 

[JohnnyG]

I find it strange that VAG, BMW, Porsce all made the list but Mercedes did not. Is this an oversight, or do you actually get what you pay for sometimes? Not that any of those others are inexpesive, but it makes me wonder.

 

[DirectRejection]

"No Yugo models...are affected by the 3G Sunset."

 

[mightymousetech]

Did an LTE retrofit on my car. Should be good for a while.

 

[LazyDog]

Did an LTE retrofit on my car. Should be good for a while.

Can you expand on how you got it done???

 

[mightymousetech]

Can you expand on how you got it done???

Luckily BMW offers an updated COMBOX with an LTE cellphone instead of the 3G one.

 

[Krieg]

I miss analog! It could go much further, but not always clear like digital. I have a 5 watt phone. A collector's item...

 

[Lubener]

Interesting article attached. Seems there are several makes and models that have current use features that will be affected.

Cliff notes version is that T-Mobile will be shutting down 3G network in January of 2022, and ATT will cease 3G operation in February of 2022.

https://jalopnik.com/here-are-the-ways-shutting-off-3g-is-going-to-suck-for-1848265836

Too bad. I keep an old 3G flip phone charged and kept in the glove compartment of each of my vehicles as backup. They will place a 911 call when needed if something unfortunate happens with my regular cell phone.

 

[wag123]

Luckily BMW offers an updated COMBOX with an LTE cellphone instead of the 3G one.

How many thousand dollars does this cost?

 

[mightymousetech]

How many thousand dollars does this cost?

It’s a very long story, but was able to get BMW to pay for it.

 

[PF52]

I assume if these features quit working, the car will still function as always? I don't use any of those features.

 

[nobb]

I assume if these features quit working, the car will still function as always? I don't use any of those features.

Having a bunch of features show up on the menu but not working would trigger my OCD! It's like the blank buttons on base model vehicles of the 90's.

 

[mk378]

Around 2015, all the major networks had announced plans to shut down 3G within the next 5 years. (Those dates were later pushed back.) The car makers knew in advance they shouldn't be making 2019 models 3G only.

 

[blupupher]

I assume if these features quit working, the car will still function as always? I don't use any of those features.

Yup, if you don't use it now, it will not affect your use after it shuts down.

Too bad. I keep an old 3G flip phone charged and kept in the glove compartment of each of my vehicles as backup. They will place a 911 call when needed if something unfortunate happens with my regular cell phone.

You can still find cheap LTE flip phones. I actually have an old iphone 6 in my truck that is my music player (download songs from spotify onto it when at home with wifi) that is my 911 backup.

 

[pezzy84]

My E-Golf is 3G only. I lost connectivity this past summer - not sure if the area I was in had the towers decommissioned/shut off before other areas but it just stopped working one day and VWoA and the CarNet folks could not give me any answers or any kind of ETA on a fix. I went ahead and just cancelled my CarNet subscription because I knew it would be going away after December and without any ETA on it ever coming back online I didn't want to keep paying for something that was not functional.

I do miss the remote climate control, especially days when the windshield is frosted over so I could start the windshield defrost grid and crank the heat and have a nice toasty car in about 5 minutes.

 

[wpod]

What a great excuse to buy a new car.

 

[mightymousetech]

Having a bunch of features show up on the menu but not working would trigger my OCD! It's like the blank buttons on base model vehicles of the 90's.

Ha ha! Ya. Although I use the features often. Remote lock/unlock, vehicle location, but the feature I use most is being able to send GPS locations to the sat nav. Going on a road trip, can send all the locations from the app to the car ahead of time, then just click on them as I need them. One feature to hope to never use is the car will automatically call emergency services if the airbags deploy.

 

[bdcardinal]

Ford has some sort of a not really a recall, but a customer service thing, where the customer buys the modem and Ford pays the labor. To say it is confusing is a giant understatement. The letter people receive looks just like a regular recall one so they, and a lot of people here, assume Ford pays the whole thing. Its been fun....