I hope you have prepared your iPhone 3G for the end of its era. As of February 22, AT&T's two-decade-old high-speed mobile broadband network is dead.
The company has been working to turn off aging equipment for some time (the costs are even listed in a recent earnings report) and has gone to great lengths to prepare for the millions of people who still use or have active devices that use relatively at least Compared to Today's blazing-fast 5G speeds: small network.
Even as we bury 3G (Verizon and other carriers are shutting them down, too), it's worth pausing to remember all that 3G (which funnily stands for "third generation"), especially on AT&T, made possible.
First launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan, 3G promised to transform our mobile experiences with download speeds of up to 7,2 Mbps (actual usage was 3 Mbps), though I think few believed it. As CNN reported shortly after Verizon launched the first 3G network in the United States,
"However, critics caution that potential users may want to avoid 3G phones as most of these services are not yet widely available. Also, it is unclear how many customers will be interested in viewing streaming content on the small LCD screen of a cordless phone".
I know, it's hard to believe that people can barely imagine us watching YouTube videos, let alone consuming hours and hours of TikTok videos and feature films on our cell phones. It was an innocent time.
3G made its way into our mobile technology landscape for the better part of a decade before we found a reason for it to matter.
When the original iPhone launched in 2007, it was on AT&T's 2G GSM network (Verizon is CDMA). Yes, we all loved the phone for its big screen and strange lack of a keyboard. However, no one really liked it as a phone. Call quality was poor. In major metropolitan areas, AT&T's 2G coverage could be dismal. Verizon has always been the safest bet. The iPhone only shipped on the Verizon network in 2011.
When Apple introduced the iPhone 3G in 2008, it was obviously on AT&T's 3G network. 2007 - to 2009 ushered in the golden age of 3G mobile devices.
The net has fixed some of the iPhone's most frustrating "phone" problems; Better call quality and connectivity. However, it was arguably the introduction of the App Store that best showcased the possibilities of the iPhone.
A rapidly growing library of diverse mobile apps that can do everything from gaming to virtually drinking a glass of beer on your iPhone. The App Store launched with the iPhone 3G and transformed the mobile industry. The developers weren't just impatient, they were bursting with ideas for the brilliant device. It was remarkable how quickly the conversation turned from "Is this a good phone?" to "What is your favorite app?"
The first truly fast mobile network transformed the iPhone from an all-touch calling device into a mobile computer with limitless potential.
Without AT&T's 3G network, it's hard to imagine that the iPhone would have become the still dominant mobile device that it is today.
The use of 3G spread to a variety of phones, but rabid excitement and interest in the iPhone grew like no other in the years that followed, especially as Verizon 3G customers inquired quarter after quarter and Apple event after Apple event. : when will the iPhone arrive? on Verizon?
When it arrived in 2011, we had already been testing WiMax and LTE for a few years, which would eventually become our now-dominant 4G network.
However, the combination of 3G and the iPhone changed our understanding of what a mobile network and device could be: a touch screen and a mobile fleet opened up and connected our world and transformed society forever.
Yes, it is worth taking a moment to remember and thank 3G.