The 2G & 3G sunset is on the horizon – is your business ready?

Vehicle emergency calling

In the UK, new vehicles are equipped with a mandated eCall system that connects those vehicles to the national emergency services system. This helps improve response times as a notification is sent to the emergency services when an airbag is deployed. This eCall system has been a mandatory feature in all cars produced since April 2018. Unfortunately, these systems utilise the 2G and 3G networks. Similarly to smart meters, the average life expectancy of a car is around 15 years. This means that the end of life (EOL) networks would need to remain active and be maintained until at the mid-2030s. Car manufacturers will need to address this obstacle and ensure that a more modern type of connectivity is used by eCall systems moving forward. It also poses a problem for existing vehicles as their eCall systems will cease to work after the sunset has reached completion in 2025.

Service downtime & disruption

The most obvious and problematic impact on IoT is service downtime and disruption. When the 2G and 3G networks get switched off, many devices are still going to be reliant on them. This is going to cause disruption to individuals and companies if they haven’t switched over to 4G, LTE and 5G-ready devices. Here’s a good example of how poor preparation for the switch-off can cause businesses to grind to a halt…

When AT&T sunsetted it’s 2G network in 2017, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency didn’t prepare even though they knew about it for five years beforehand. They didn’t implement an alternative solution to their 3G digital displays before the network was turned off and were caught short. As a result, they experienced huge disruption to their operations for two whole weeks before an alternative was sourced and implemented. This proved to be very financially damaging for the company.

Smart meters

One of the most common solutions that will be affected by the 2G and 3G sunset is smart meters. There’s been a big push in the roll out of smart meters across the UK over the past decade. In fact, energy providers are aiming to have smart meters in every house by 2024. They’re meant to have a life span of around 15 years, however, smart meters rely on the 2G and 3G network. In order for these smart meters to continue operating for the entirety of their proposed lifespan, the 2G and 3G networks would need to be maintained until 2039. With the switch off reaching completion in 2025, this simply will not happen.

End-user complications

End-users will be the biggest group of people affected by the 2G and 3G sunset. This is because any device that solely uses 2G and 3G will become obsolete. People spend a lot of money on technology, and many will have to replace their existing connected solutions at their personal expense. A good example of how end-users rely on IoT technology is with the elderly. Many end-users utilise IoT devices to keep a virtual eye on their elderly relatives every day. Solutions include medical monitoring and fall detection etc. When the 2G and 3G networks are fully sunsetted, some of these services will fail. This can have a big impact on families as they could be unable to track their relatives without investing in an alternative solution.