2G Sim?

[BikeBikeBIke]

I've bought a basic mobile phone for emergency use and to lend to a child.

Turns out it's 2G only.

What PAYG sim should I get, will sims that claim to support 2,3,4,5 G really work?

Is there a network thst has full coverage or are transmitters being turned off?

I need good coverage, is that still available?

[Evanivitch]

A 2G phone won't work on 3G networks. And 3G will be switched off soon too.

If it's just the Sim (not sure why you'd buy such a phone with a sim?), any modern sim will work provided it's the right physical Size.

[Defcon5]

An O2/Voda/EE or any of their MVNOs will be fine.

H3G or any MVNO that uses its infrastructure won’t work at all.

What is the phone, a Nokia 105? Get a Lycamobile SIM for a drug dealer vibe

[alangla]

Don’t buy anything that’s 3 underneath. Sims on Vodafone, O2 or EE should work. Asda is worth a look, especially if it’s for light use, they’re Vodafone underneath.

[FMOB]

alangla said:

Don’t buy anything that’s 3 underneath. Sims on Vodafone, O2 or EE should work. Asda is worth a look, especially if it’s for light use, they’re Vodafone underneath.

Indeed, 2g spectrum (900/1800MHz) was all sold off before 3 arrived as an operator.

UK operators have shut down their 3g networks and the 2g networks will be shut down sometime before 2033.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-inter...

[OutInTheShed]

2033 is a long way ahead.
2G is still a strong backbone for voice and texts. It works in the boondocks.

If you want internet, then you need 4G pretty much.

[Evanivitch]

OutInTheShed said:

2033 is a long way ahead.
2G is still a strong backbone for voice and texts. It works in the boondocks.

If you want internet, then you need 4G pretty much.

2033 is a hard stop, it's entirely possible 2G will be switched off where 4G and 5G coverage is acceptable, meaning you may have a better 2G signal in rural areas than you do in urban areas!

I'd expect a phone for kids would have some data capability. Sending location, even using apps with stronger parental controls.

[eliot]

I use a giffgaff sim in my 2g sms modem.

[babelfish]

or https://www.1pmobile.com/ uses EE network

[BikeBikeBIke]

Thanks all, that's massively helpful.

[camel_landy]

2G will be around for a while and longer than 3G, as 2G is used for a number of public services eg Smart Meters but as you can imagine, the investment is going to be in the more modern technologies.

Generally it's the phone which is the main limiting factor, rather than the sim. If you stick to one of the older network operators, you'll probably be fine (O2 & Voda). EE (formerly T-Mobile & Orange) shut down and reused a lot of their 2G frequency ranges when they rolled out 4G (that's how they got ahead of the game).

FWIW - The 'G' part is just a marketing term to simplify things... "Generation"... Without that, you'd be entering a world of pain, trying to understand the different technologies involved (UMTS, LTE, EDGE, HSDPA, etc...).

M

Edited by camel_landy on Thursday 25th April 10:11

[camel_landy]

Evanivitch said:

I'd expect a phone for kids would have some data capability. Sending location, even using apps with stronger parental controls.

Careful with making those assumptions again...

There's a difference between a phone "designed" for kids vs a basic phone you're going to let a kid use. I suspect we're talking about the latter but I'm not going to make any assumptions.

M

[FMOB]

camel_landy said:

2G will be around for a while and longer than 3G, as 2G is used for a number of public services eg Smart Meters but as you can imagine, the investment is going to be in the more modern technologies.

Generally it's the phone which is the main limiting factor, rather than the sim. If you stick to one of the older network operators, you'll probably be fine (O2 & Voda). EE (formerly T-Mobile & Orange) shut down and reused a lot of their 2G frequency ranges when they rolled out 4G (that's how they got ahead of the game).

FWIW - The 'G' part is just a marketing term to simplify things... "Generation"... Without that, you'd be entering a world of pain, trying to understand the different technologies involved (UMTS, LTE, EDGE, HSDPA, etc...).

M

Edited by camel_landy on Thursday 25th April 10:11

Don't forget LTE-Advanced, 5G-SA and 5G-NSA.

Otherwise known as Death by Acronym..

[smack]

FMOB said:

UK operators have shut down their 3g networks and the 2g networks will be shut down sometime before 2033.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-inter...

Not true o2 are still running their 3g network, at the moment it is scheduled to be turned off next year.

The turn off of 3g has been causing problems for calls in rural areas for phone calls, where the 4g signal isn't strong enough for an incoming phone call, some phones can't drop down to 2g fast enough, and the call doesn't connect/goes to voice mail.