Farewell, 4g? T-mobile May Be The First Carrier To Phase Out Lte - What It Means For Your Phone

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• T-Mobile will reportedly discontinue its 4G LTE network.
• Mobile telephone users should person a gradual transition.
• The news comes arsenic T-Mobile is promoting T-Satellite pinch Starlink.

It appears that T-Mobile is preparing to discontinue its 4G LTE service. According to a leaked soul archive obtained by Android Authority, nan displacement will beryllium gradual, but it marks an end to nan LTE era for T-Mobile customers. At nan aforesaid time, T-Mobile keeps adding caller features to its outer telephone service: T-Satellite pinch Starlink.

As 1 work grows, 4G shrinks. The soul roadmap reveals that T-Mobile has scheduled nan re-framing of cardinal LTE bands, specifically bands 2, 4/66, 12, and 71, for exclusive usage by its expanding 5G service. While LTE won't vanish overnight, its sum and capacity will slow degrade arsenic bandwidth is reallocated. By 2028, astir LTE channels are expected to beryllium decommissioned. By 2035, LTE will beryllium afloat unopen down nationwide.

What to expect

Starting January 2026, T-Mobile will only let caller instrumentality activations if they support existent 5G Standalone (SA) mode. LTE and 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) devices will require objection requests for activation.

In 2 years, only a constrictive 5 MHz LTE transmission will remain, marking a important simplification successful nan LTE footprint.

Also: T-Mobile's Starlink outer work conscionable sewage a immense app upgrade - adding WhatsApp, Maps, and more

The bully news is smartphone owners are improbable to acquisition awesome work disruptions -- nan modulation should beryllium gradual. Future instrumentality upgrades are expected to support improved 5G scope and reliability. If, connected nan different hand, you're personification who uses aged phones until they yet springiness up nan ghost, you'll spot your work increasing ever slower. 

People who dangle connected 4G routers for Internet of Things (IoT), medical, manufacturing, aliases different business use, connected nan different hand, will look existent problems. They whitethorn want to see moving to different telecom if T-Mobile really ends up taking specified an fierce approach.

If this each sounds familiar, well, it should. In 2022, we saw 3G services disappear. What's different this clip is that T-Mobile is starring nan measurement to closing 4G. Both AT&T and Verizon, truthful acold astatine least, person not moreover hinted astatine shutting down their LTE services. The 5GStore, which is simply a reseller of 5G equipment, predicted location would beryllium nary 4G LTE shutdowns until nan mid-2030s. 

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As nan spectrum is repurposed, T-Mobile customers utilizing LTE-only devices will request to scheme for upgrades earlier their work degrades successful their region. The evolutionary attack intends that nan mostly of subscribers will modulation smoothly. However, nan extremity of LTE is now firmly group connected nan horizon. For T-Mobile, nan move heralds a caller era of 5G description , moreover arsenic galore users person yet to spot nan afloat effect of nan displacement from 4G to 5G.

T-Mobile besides offers caller outer information connectivity services. At first, T-Satellite only supported texting. Then, it added nan expertise to stock media. Now T-Satellite besides supports galore celebrated apps specified arsenic WhatsApp, X, Google Maps, and AccuWeather.

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