Technicians are working on cellular antennas: The changeover may briefly cause disruptions
Photo: Daniel Reinhardt / dpa
6G is already being researched, 5G is being rolled out, 4G is widespread - then 3G can go away now, right?
In any case, Deutsche Telekom deactivated its 3G radio stations on Thursday night, and the other providers will do the same.
The most important questions and answers:
What is the 3G network anyway?
»3G« stands for the third generation of cellular technology.
In Germany it was introduced after the spectacular auction of UMTS frequencies for 98.8 billion euros in 2000.
But what was considered a data turbo back then is outdated and inefficient today.
That is why the mobile operators switch off the old transmitting antennas.
Instead, they use the frequencies and cell phone locations for their faster and more efficient LTE and 5G networks.
When will it be switched off?
Deutsche Telekom deactivated its 3G antennas on the night of July 1st.
Vodafone has also started to switch it off, but it will take a few days for every transmission mast to be converted.
O2 plans to follow suit in the coming months.
After that there will be no more UMTS data transmission in Germany.
Do I have to switch my mobile phone?
Usually: no.
Smartphones independently search for the best available network.
Only with very old smartphones or SIM cards can the 4G technology not work.
Cellular providers usually replace outdated SIM cards free of charge.
Most contracts were also automatically expanded to include 4G reception.
The vast majority of smartphones support LTE.
The iPhone, for example, has been able to access the faster networks since the 5th generation from 2012.
Telekom offers an online form to test your own smartphone for 4G reception.
However, if the problem is with the device, data reception becomes painfully slow.
UMTS achieved speeds of up to 42 megabits per second with HSDPA +.
In the 2G network, however, it is a maximum of 256 kilobits per second.
Telephony is not affected by the changeover.
I no longer have any reception - what happened?
As a rule, wherever 3G mobile communications were available, at least the previous EDGE or GPRS technology should be available.
According to the Federal Network Agency, the 4G network is also much better developed than the old UMTS network.
But the consumer advice centers warn that the transmission masts can be switched off completely for a short time during the changeover.
Will my car's cell phone reception be affected?
More and more cars have their own mobile phone reception.
As the ADAC explains, the change will rarely have an impact here either: functions such as an automatic emergency call will continue to run over the 2G network.
Other online services that were dependent on the 3G network have already been discontinued by the manufacturers.
Anyone who owns an old navigation device that receives extensive data and updates via cellular network should think about purchasing a new one or upload the data via WLAN.
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