On Sat, Aug 20, 2022 at 05:18:35AM +0200, Marco Moock wrote:
Am Fri, 19 Aug 2022 18:15:57 +0000
schrieb Bill Horne <malaQRMssimilation@gmail.com>:
A few weeks ago, Someone commented that some phones are labelled "4G"
but only have "4G" data capabilities, and only "3G" voice capabil-
ities. My wife's phone, IIRC, is an LG 930 AT - what Verizon calls an
"LG Spectrum 2" in the lists of devices I own that are going to stop working at the end of this year, right after the elections in the U.S.
That is a really old device: Android(tm) 2.3 OS is out of support for
years. It also didn't receive any security updates for years. It
should be also impossible to install any recent apps or browse the
web.
If all my wife wants to do is use it to make phone calls, why would I care?
Many people already threw away such a device, so the amount of affected customers is very low.
My wife hasn't thrown her device away. Although I didn't buy it myself
- it was a gift from one of my relaties - I think that if it says "4G
LTE" on it, it should continue to work until the "4G LTE" network is
turned off.
Additionally, it would be interesting how they find out that a device
is incompatible: I know 2 ways: By the device model number By the
technology it uses to connect (3G, 4G...). Have you checked which
protocol it uses? If it already uses 4G for data transmissions, it
should sill work.
Verizon says that only "non-Volte" 4G phones will work. I assume that
my wife's phone doesn't meet that requirement, and can't be adapted
for it. I'd be delighted to find out I'm wrong.
As for "network externders" stopping, well, that's kind of weird: you
see, I own a network extender, which is a tiny cell site sitting on my
shelf next to my Internet cable modem and my router, and it converts
whatever kind of cell signal my wife's phone puts out into IP packets
that are routed to Verizon over the Internet connection that I pay
for, so it seems really odd to me that the network extender would stop
working at the same time Verizon's cell towers stop offering "3G"
service. After all, the network extender is still working, at least
within a few feet of my home, and my wife's phone could stil use it if
both were left alone. I assume is has something to do with generating
more income for Verizon.
I don't know which protocol they use to bring the data into their
network, but there exist many IP tunneling protocols. Additionally,
such connections are sometimes encrypted, think about how many
algorithms and ciphers exist here. If the device doesn't receive any
software updates, it might be impossible to connect to their server
in future. Verizon won't care about this, they said it is discontinued.
Verizon won't care that I'm out the ~$270 the network extender cost me, either.
Often it is necessary to cut off old things, because operating the infrastructure becomes more complex. I can understand why they do
that, and it it also about money.
There used to be Gamewell fire alarm boxes on most street corners in
the U.S. They were reliable, easy to use, and didn't require much
maintenance. They were replaced so that everyone had to have a
telephone and be able to call the 911 centers where a new group of
civil servants sat at consoles that cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars, an expenditure which the politicians said would save lives
and make everybody safer and increase efficiency, since callers could
say what was wrong and therefore could be sent "only the resource that
is needed." The fire departments were able to lay off their alarm
operators and Morse Code operators (Each Gamewell box has a Morse Code
key and sounder in it), and therefore justify spending millions of
dollars on new and improved and more sexy radio systems that increased
the profits of the companies which made massive campaign contributions
to the politicians in the first place.
The actuaries at the companies which underwrite home insurance were
less impressed with the change: they raised the insurance rates of the
areas that removed the Gamewell boxes, since the 911 system couldn't
deal with immigrants whom did not have enough proficiency in English
to describe the precise needs of a victim who was being robbed of air
by a heart attack, as opposed to one whom had been robbed of money by
a thief. The 911 dispatchers were told they would be taught Spanish to
"cure" the problem, but not Kurdish or Urdu or Hebrew, so volunteer
ambulance companies sprang up to address the needs of various ethnic
groups - but they were not, for the most part, allowed to have 911
calls routed to their sites instead of to the 911 Public Safety Access
Points where the "professional" operators had to guess at the
languages they were hearing and try to add a linguist to the call to
figure out precisely which resource was needed.
Be happy that it still works, but I don't recommend relying on that, it
might break in future.
The last time it broke, I was able to get a used replacement on Ebay
for about $35. Of course that's not good for the profits of the
companies which sell the new and improved and more sexy sooper-dooper
Wiz-Bang 10006se9x replacement models, but I was happy to have a basic
phone that could be used without paying a thousand dollars extra.
I think our public servants too often confuse the word "newer" with
the word "better." I'll leave it to the readers to think about the
reasons why.
Bill
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