What will actually happen to my phone on Feb 22,2020?

February 17, 2022 7:00 PM

Can someone with inside information tell me what will happen? Four year old Hauwei phone with all the bells and whistles. I selected it because it would function with the upcoming switch to voLTE systems.

It works on 3G,4G and 5G. It has HD voice which multiple sites have equated with voLTE and say that it should work with the new system. My less than ideal carrier, Net10, says it will no longer work. I tried to switch to AT&T, but they said that since it will work on 3/4/5G that it will default to 3G, which will no longer exist, after 2/22. But everything I read is vague. Like it MAY not work. I only text and make occasional calls, other than that, it is just my camera. I selected it for the great camera. I want to keep it. Is it really going to be toast?

posted by woman to Technology (5 answers total)

This looks like a good explanation of the issue that also gives your options if you phone is not on the approved list.

The issue isn't Huawei, per se, but that AT&T is requiring phones with VoLTE after Feb 2022-- and they're only allowing a specific subset of phones that are capable of VoLTE. If your phone isn't on their approved list, your service will go away.

Here is the list of phones that will work after the change. If your phone is not listed there it will not work on the AT&T network.

Two Huawei phones are listed as "will work", XT and XT2. However note that specific XT/XT2 model numbers are listed there and your device must also match that model number or no dice.
posted by flug at 8:13 PM on February 17, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: But the site said that these are the models they tested. Can they possibly test ALL phones? Is it possible that some may work, but have not been tested?
posted by woman at 8:36 PM on February 17, 2022

Best answer: Apparently AT&T have decided to block all phones not on their approved list from their network, including some VoLTE capable phones that should technically work. See the summary at the top of this reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/ATT/comments/p8d9wl/3g_sunset_megathread/
posted by joeyh at 8:47 PM on February 17, 2022

Yeah, I switched to T-Mobile a while ago. Are they better? I don't know, I think so? Just...couldn't bear it anymore.
posted by amtho at 10:26 PM on February 17, 2022

Best answer: I'm on a new Pixel 6 because of this exact issue. My OnePlus 5t supported volte but the setting was greyed out ever since I got it. I thought about driving it off the cliff to see what happened, but decided to just upgrade.
posted by All Out of Lulz at 4:20 AM on February 18, 2022 [1 favorite]