Why most countries are struggling to shut down 2G
restofworld.org
Global leap to 4G and 5G would cut off phone access for millions of vulnerable people.

Global leap to 4G and 5G would cut off phone access for millions of vulnerable people.

  • Telecom companies aim to profit from the 2G-to-5G transition as governments worldwide face pressure to free up mobile spectrum.
  • Vietnam is the latest country to shut down 2G by offering free 4G phones to the poor.
  • India and South Africa have expressed concern that the strategy would cut off phone access for millions of vulnerable people.
  • @[email protected]English
    4•13 days ago

    Really really difficult to do that at scale. You don’t want random companies making cell signal transceivers.

    You’d be better off just replacing the 2g transceivers entirely.

    • @[email protected]English
      2•13 days ago

      While I agree with you in principle, that’s a hard sell to somebody with an embedded 2G medical device.

      You don’t want random companies making cell signal transceivers.

      Setting “companies” aside, I don’t see why it couldn’t be some sort of DIY project. Like, a small computer with a both a 2G and 5G modem, a set of antennas for each, and some middleware…

      In fact, there are some phones that support both networks… So why couldn’t a spare phone be used? They technically already have all the hardware to make it work.