Wireless Logic recently hosted a webinar on the subject of 2G/3G sunsets which have recently played out in the US, in a move to support and inform the IoT industry. Although shutdown dates varied, the closure of 2G and 3G networks in the US over the last few years has provided valuable food for thought on how this can be addressed.
Titled ‘Navigating 2G/3G sunsets: Essential lessons from the US’, Iain Davidson, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Wireless Logic and James Brehm, Founder and Technology Evangelist at James Brehm Associates discussed at length the insights and experience of US-based enterprises who have “made the transition”, divulging key lessons that can be applied to the UK and Europe; including the importance of taking time to prepare and not putting switching devices over off; communicating clearly the shutdown to customers and end users; and picking the right network technology.
Mobile network operators (MNOs) over the globe are retiring their 2G and 3G networks and making way for 4G and 5G, which have a multitude of benefits – key among them is their ability to deliver faster and more energy efficient services.
“The MNOs are freeing up the spectrum for more modern technologies that offer better costs, better energy efficiency, enhanced functionality, improved customer service and customer experience,” explained Davidson.
One major point made in the webinar is that the sunsets for the UK and Europe range depending on the operator – within Europe, 20 have already committed to closing 2G by December 2025, early 2026 – and time is of paramount importance. “Time is of the essence,” said Davidson. “The longer you wait, the steeper the challenge or the climb will be.”
Key lessons learned from the US’ experience of the shutdown of 2G/3G networks included the importance of clearly communicating this shutdown to not only customers, but end users. “In many instances, the message didn’t make it to the end user and that can happen for multiple reasons,” explained Brehm, “Maybe the person left the company, maybe they were promoted into a different role. I saw instances where a company was acquired and the email domains changed. Consequently, that communication didn’t reach them.”
Another lesson is to not put off switching devices over, as perceiving it to be far in the future will not serve you well, and drawing on examples of how MNOs operated in the US, most stuck to the dates they listed as the shutdown point. “This isn’t just about connectivity, when we talk about a network sunset, we’re talking about changing wholesale, the radio access network from a carrier standpoint, probably different billing, and associated databases with a MNO or MVNO or reseller and aligning that, different devices – those devices are addressed differently. There are a lot of moving parts in getting something like this correct,” stressed Brehm. “We haven’t even talked about design, module selection, for example do the modules have the same form factor? Do you have to completely redesign the board and solution?”
The unforeseen impact of closing these networks as observed in the US, reminds the UK and Europe to consider how services can be better addressed to minimise disruption. Failing to realise or acknowledge potential impact could result in reputational damage, such as companies that perform alarm monitoring or other security services that rely on a secure and steady network connection.
The final key lesson that can be gleaned from the US experience is considering and understanding what is the right network technology to adopt. “I know three of the four largest carriers in the US tested not only all cellular technologies, but they also tested non cellular technologies for low power wide area,” said Brahm. “They looked at ingenue, they looked at Sigfox, they looked at LoRaWAN, they looked at Narrowband, they looked at LTE-M.”
The conclusion for bigger carriers in the US was to pick LTE-M and Narrowband at the same time. For instance, T Mobile chose Narrowband first and AT&T and Verizon chose LTE-M first. The reason for this being that owing to the infrastructure both carriers used, it was easier to pick LTE-M; they only needed to upgrade their software to make the switch – as opposed to having to upgrade hardware.
There was some scepticism about whether Narrowband would be enough, Brahm explained, as it has some limitations. “A lot of the IoT devices that have traction in the United States are security alarm panels, cars from a safety and security standpoint, and also personal emergency response devices. All of these required voice capability and Verizon and AT&T had a large number of those types of customers and both went with LTE-M first,” explained Brahm.
However there was a shifting in viewpoints after seeing the explosion of Narrowband in China. “They had discussions from a roaming standpoint with European carriers that were going with Narrowband, and went ahead and deployed Narrowband IoT as well. But the end point ecosystem in the US has centered around LTE-M from a module standpoint.” These questions about whether Narrowband is the right network technology is still going on, particularly among hardware manufacturers.
“We’ve seen the whole market in the USA go through this and it’s pretty clear some of the lessons that we can learn from this,” emphasised Davidson, demonstrating the value of providing information and clarification not only on the shutdown date for 2G and 3G networks, but how to approach these sunsets and mitigate potential disruption.
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