Have you had problems with your cell phone since today? Is the network slower than usual and you no longer have reception in some places? Telekom, Vodafone & O2 started to shut down one of their networks overnight. So surfing is now slower with some cell phones.
Especially if you don’t have a cell phone that supports LTE yet, you will notice the 3G switch-off from today. Because from now on your cell phone only logs into the oldest cell phone network still in existence in Germany – the GSM network. You can see this on the display by the letter G or E next to the reception bar. With this network you can still make phone calls and, ideally, still transmit WhatsApp messages – but this network does not allow more in practice due to the low data rate. The shutdown will be completed at Telekom and Vodafone in the coming days, at O2 it will last until the end of the year.
The result for you: You will need a new cell phone. The users of certain popular cell phone models such as the iPhone 4S or iPhone, the Galaxy S3 Neo 3G or the S3 mini 3G and numerous other, once popular devices are particularly affected . Admittedly, these cell phones are several years old. But many users who do not deal with the matter regularly use their cell phone until it no longer works. Ideally, this is several years for infrequent users.
Now, however, the following applies: If you want to continue using the Internet and don’t have an LTE cell phone, you will have to buy a new cell phone.
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MOBILE INTERNET SLOWER: PROBLEMS WITH CARS TOO
Switching off the power supply can also cause problems elsewhere: in the car. Some cars have built-in on-board computers with a cellular interface that does not yet support LTE . They are also a few years old. For many drivers, however , these cars are not so old that they need to be replaced. These cars use UMTS, for example, to update the traffic information for the car’s navigation system. This data is now also transmitted much more slowly.
Did you notice any other things as part of the power shutdown that no longer work as well as of today? Do you no longer have cell phone reception in certain places? Does your mobile phone have problems switching between different transmission masts? Let us know your experiences – as a comment below this message.
