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Comment by osamagirl69 | Hacker News Reader

It is not just "old" or 3G-only phones, it is any phone that is not explicitly on their whitelist.

I have been using a f(x)tec pro1 for years on 4G+VoLTE on their network, and got the same text message saying they would terminate my account if I did not get a different phone. I decided to lay low and moved my sim into a supported phone with the intention of letting the dust settle white I prepare to port my number to t-mobile (they have by far the worse service in my area, but seem to be the only US provider allowing the pro1 to be activated).

I still have an inkling of hope that I will be able to move my sim back to the pro1 after whoever is responsible for the 3G shutdown gets their bonus and they stop going after unsupported devices aggressively.

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What do you mean by the "only US provider allowing" ? Blacklisting old phones is a thing every US telcom is doing ? I'm european, I know the US is really NOT into consumer rights, but still, this is a massive FU to phones users who want to keep their phone for a good 2-3 years, and pushes for a massive electronic waste.

It's not blacklisting, it's WHITElisting which is much worse - all the phones not explicitly sold by AT&T or otherwise approved will not work. So you pretty much don't have a free market choice of your device despite it being compatible with the network.

Kickbacks from the "approved" manufacturers to the phone co in return for exclusive access to their market. Yet another revenue stream...

All supporting my growing conviction that phone co's are constitutionally incapable of delivering good internet connectivity and should be forced out of that game as soon as, and by any means possible.

It is almost like we should break them up for such practices.

After they just spent 15 years consolidating into a handful of providers?

This.

Was in the same boat over a year ago when AT&T started SMS spamming about 3G sundown plans on one of my prepaid phones (Blackberry Key2) flagged as "incompatible"; to be sure, the older KEYone and Priv models are apparently whitelisted because AT&T had sold and directly supported those models at some time in the past.

Got so annoyed by the recurring, persistent warnings and no reasonable explanation why this 4G VoLTE phone would be sucking hind tit on their network in the near future that I ported the number to T-Mobile on a random Sunday afternoon (reduced monthly bill too) and never looked back.

If the UX leading up to disconnect was anything like mine, I'm honestly not sure why this event is catching so many AT&T customers off guard.

I am using a OnePlus 6, still working perfectly fine, supports 4G and VoLTE ("HD Voice")[+]. AT&T kicked it off their network because it is not on their whitelist (The OnePlus 6T is). They sent me a branded LG Prime 2 as a replacement of a "equivalent" phone. It is actually a budget phone, not supporting 5G, and not even on AT&T's approved devices list (it seems they added it now, but last year it wasn't).

Forum users reported that customer service can whitelist an IMEI. They did not for me. So I switched to the T-Mobile network. From my international SIM now I get a message from their roaming partner AT&T saying that voice calls will not work.

T-Mobile is sunsetting 3G as well in July 2022, they sent me a text saying that they "think" that my phone is compatible. The decision of AT&T to not support my phone is not technical.

[+] It has 2 SIM card slots, something that seems to be impossible to get in the US. I think only one of the 2 slots fully supports LTE.

>[+] It has 2 SIM card slots, something that seems to be impossible to get in the US.

The 6T and 8T has 2 SIM slots in their retail unlocked versions. T-Mobile 6T and 8T versions can be flashed to this config (but you will need to buy a new sim tray to hold both cards).

It's also pretty common now to see phones that have esim and a single sim slot in the US.

> I think only one of the 2 slots fully supports LTE.

Both of the slots support LTE; OnePlus has made some frustrating power saving decisions though, which force the secondary (non-active) SIM to 3G when it's not in use.

This can be disabled (at least on my 7 Pro running Android 10) via logkit following these steps[0]. Once disabled, the phone will fully support VoLTE on both SIMs.

[0] https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/dual-4g-networks-setting....

There must be some sound technical justifications for what AT&T has done, but this extremely hostile to the customer base.

They also retain metadata on users for seven years, longer than any other carrier.

I really should have left long before I did.

https://www.nbcnews.com/technolog/how-long-do-wireless-carri...

ATT, the company with the Death Star as their logo, is hostile to their customer base? Say it is not so...

ATT is the worst company, even worse than comcast. Doing something to just be hostile to their customer base is in their DNA, they are used to their monopoly status from the say of Bell Telephone, that company will never change and will never be customer friendly

> It is not just "old" or 3G-only phones, it is any phone that is not explicitly on their whitelist.

This is correct. The whitelist that they're using specifically is here[0].

Some phone representatives will claim to people that they need a "5G Phone" - this is misleading, either on purpose (because the rep wants to increase their sales figures), or accidentally (because the rep isn't well trained on how to handle this situation).

AT&T will provide alternative phones for free, but they usually aren't great. Last I heard it was an iPhone SE (2020) for existing iPhone users and a low-to-mid range Android phone for existing Android users.

[0] https://www.att.com/idpassets/images/support/pdf/Devices-Wor...

>I still have an inkling of hope that I will be able to move my sim back to the pro1 after whoever is responsible for the 3G shutdown gets their bonus and they stop going after unsupported devices aggressively.

ATT is just about one of worst telco company around. It doesn't surprise me they are doing stuff like this for bonus or whatever reasons. They have in the past selectively blocked email, calls before (for their customers without notices) and now phones. If you can do NOT use ATT as a telco provider.

> I still have an inkling of hope that I will be able to move my sim back to the pro1 after whoever is responsible for the 3G shutdown gets their bonus

you're missing the point

at&t is shutting down 3g towers because pretty soon they won't be legal anymore

no cell company can service you whether they want to or not. that spectrum is being turned over to 5g devices mid next year.

https://www.wired.com/story/3g-service-sunset-what-it-means/

Also the entire Europe is sunsetting 3G, some networks have already done so and many have announced their planned dates up to 2025. They're calling 4G LTE the much better alternative - from phones to IoT and whatnot.

Really, the strong point there seems that the provider has whitelisted a number of devices that they will accept on their network, and cease contracts when they see different devices around. The OP mentions a «pro1 ... on 4G+VoLTE», another post a «LG V30 (2017)», nearby you will read of a «OnePlus 6... support[ing] 4G and VoLTE»...

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