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Last Call: The End of iPhone Cellular Voice Call Support

Lots of tech things have come to an end, but some things still live on even though they feel like they should have come to an end.

Our classic analog broadcast TV system here in the US ended about 10 years ago after a 70 year run, although many US cable TV companies embarrassingly still use it to transfer video to millions of customers despite its poor quality and inefficiency.  After all, US cable TV companies don't want to replace their profitable-but-obsolete systems.

FAX machines seem dead, but due to the poor security of software services, coupled with a lack of legal privacy protections, FAX machines are still a staple within the medical and legal businesses.

But mobile phone tech?  Yeah, that's dying on a schedule, as cell phone tech in the US is centrally controlled by the telecom oligarchy of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.  So given industry clout, some old and not-so-old iPhones are going to be unusable on US phone networks.

The Retiring iPhones

Apple made a bunch of cellular-capable models that aren't all necessarily clear.  Here is the list of devices at short-term risk:

iPhone (Original) 2007 - 2008.  Last call: 31-December-2020 on T-Mobile.

The original iPhone uses what is known as 2G technology, and came to market just as 3G technology was emerging.  The original iPhone is a GSM-only phone, so in the US it is only compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile.

2G phones will work on T-Mobile until the end of 2020.  AT&T stopped supporting them in early 2017. 

Middle Aged iPhones: 2008 - 2016.  Last call: 31-December-2022 on Sprint.

iPhone 3G (AT&T, Feb 2022)
iPhone 3GS (AT&T, Feb 2022)
iPhone 4 (GSM) (AT&T, Feb 2022)
iPhone 4 (CDMA) (Sprint, 31-Dec-2022)
iPhone 4S (Sprint, 31-Dec-2022)
iPhone 5 (Sprint, 31-Dec-2022)
iPhone 5C (Sprint, 31-Dec-2022)
iPhone 5S (Sprint, 31-Dec-2022)

Yep, lots of phones in there all in one big block.  All of these phones support 3G voice phone call technology, and 3G tech is very close to sunset.

Verizon ended their 3G service on 31-Dec-2019.  T-Mobile ends 3G on 31-Dec-2020.  AT&T ends in Feb-2022, and finally, T-Mobile subsidiary Sprint ends on 31-Dec-2022.

What about the LTE of iPhone 5/5C/5S?  They're LTE!

These three iPhones do support LTE, which is 4G tech, but these phones were released well before there was a standard for using 4G for making voice phone calls.  So these phones can use 4G for data, but revert to 3G for making voice phone calls.

Therefore, these phones are effectively 3G in the voice phone call sense.

No End In Sight: Modern iPhones (2014 to now)

Anything from the iPhone 6 and beyond supports voice calling over 4G/LTE technology, so these will be able to be used for years more.  That includes the iPhone SE, 6, 6S, 7, 8, X, XS, and 11 series.  Since all these devices support 4G VoLTE, we can see them all making their last call on the same day.

Considering that 5G has very little deployment, we can expect 4G to remain around for at least another 10 years, unless, of course, something unexpectedly crazy happens first.


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