Next phase of Canada’s 3G shutdown starts later this month

Next stage ongoing 3G outage in Canada will arrive at the end of the month.

Canadian carriers have been slowly shutting down their older 3G networks for more than a year and pushing customers to upgrade to newer devices that will run on 4G and 5G. the process was far from smooth. Now a lockdown is coming to Manitoba.

We It was previously reported that starting December 31Bell and Telus will shut down their 3G networks in Manitoba, but the impact isn't limited to those carriers. The closure will also impact the duo's respective flanker brands, including Virgin PlusLucky Mobile, CodeAnd Public mobile.

Freedom Mobile confirmed that the closure will also impact its customers in Manitoba in update on 3G disable support page.

If you haven't been following the 3G shutdown saga, there are a few things you need to know. First, the shutdown will result in people with some phones losing access to voice, messaging and/or data services. This will affect people with older devices that only support 3G, as well as some people with 4G phones.

The reason this will affect some 4G phones is because of Voice over LTE (VoLTE). 4G devices that don't support VoLTE, which provides voice services on 4G LTE networks, will fall back to 3G for voice services, but the shutdown means those devices won't have a network to fall back to.

Unfortunately, this also causes significant confusion among Canadians for several reasons. Most carriers offer tools to check phone compatibility, but unfortunately these tools are not the most reliable. Moreover, many Canadians have devices that support VoLTE but are not certified by Canadian carriers, leaving them in a gray area where a 3G shutdown could impact them despite having a technically compatible device. For example, many Canadians with OnePlus phonesAnd hundreds of other devices encountered problems during the Rogers shutdown earlier this year.

The best thing you can do right now is to check if your current phone is compatible with VoLTE and, in particular, Canadian carriers' VoLTE. To check, you can use the following tools and resources, depending on your carrier:

If your device is not compatible, there are a few things you can do. Some people have VoLTE-enabled devices that are not supported by Canadian carriers. lucky to enable VoLTEbut unfortunately, your results may vary based on this, and it is not a guaranteed long-term solution. The other option, unfortunately, is to buy a new compatible phone (the easiest way to determine what's compatible is to look at what phones Canadian carriers actually sell—they're all certified, even if you don't buy them directly from a Canadian carrier).

Now is a good time to buy a new phone as many providers are offering special offers. However, in many cases it's actually cheaper to buy the phone outright and get a cheap bring-your-own-device plan, so be sure to double-check the calculations before purchasing.