given a 2033 deadline by the government<\/a>, with O2 to switch off its 3G network gradually in the coming weeks.<\/p>\nDavid McClelland said some older phones, along with burglar and care alarms, will not be able to receive 4G and 5G networks, while others may automatically switch over.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for O2 said it had written directly to its customers to inform them and had advised those with incompatible phones on upgrades “at a discounted price”.<\/p>\n
McClelland said the 4G and 5G networks “have had a shot in the arm” to make the 3G network switch-off work.<\/p>\n
He said of some users: “If they are still using the 3G network, then instead their phones will use the 4G or the 5G network.<\/p>\n
“It could be the phone no longer has coverage whatsoever, or it could be that the phone actually switched back to 2G.<\/p>\n
“2G is carrying on for a little bit longer, but they won’t be able really to use any data.”<\/p>\n
‘Rural areas affected’<\/p>\n
Daniel Gale of Gloucestershire Rural Community Council, which has been offering advice to residents on how to contact their suppliers, said the impact “can be a lot wider than people realise” due to the county’s rurality.<\/p>\n
“The personal alarms, for example… it’s not a difficult process,” Gale said.<\/p>\n
“It’s similar to the switchover with the landlines; it’s sometimes a simple add-on, but these processes need to be done to make sure they [users] stay online.”<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for O2 said the changes come following an agreement with the government in 2021, and added 4G and 5G networks are “faster, more reliable, and more energy-efficient” than their predecessors.<\/p>\n
“Our switch-off began last year, with 3G already withdrawn across a number of regions in the UK, and this older technology will be fully removed in the coming weeks,” they added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maisie LillywhiteGloucestershire BBC Older phones, such as these pictured in 2012, may not be able to switch over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-229776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/614ee360-ed72-11f0-8abc-8b61be694132.jpg.webp.webp\")
BBC<\/p>\n