Some much needed context on sunset devices
All the major players in the USA are close to the shutting down all their 2G networks in order to provide better service to their customers and to reuse the 2G spectrum for LTE instead. As cellular carriers are moving away from legacy networks and customers delay upgrades, it makes the 2G/3G sunset (love the metaphor, don’t you?) a significant transition for many companies.
If when going through the Bring Your Own Device process, our website alerted you to the fact that you have one of these older phones, you may be able to still activate it with Tello, but there will be significant service limitations and it will eventually lose service permanently.
OTA Activation & Updates:
The phone will have to be manually programmed and you will no longer receive network and firmware or software updates. Although we can provide instructions to manually program the phone – see below – you will eventually experience a degradation of service due to not receiving network updates.
What do we recommend?
If this is a possibility, we recommend that you replace the phone with a newer model available with Tello. Keep an eye on our constant promotions and phones on sale and get a great deal on a new device.
However, if you are not able to purchase a different phone now, we would recommend trying to activate the phone and using it in the short term until you can upgrade. If you decide to try to use this phone with Tello, it will only be able to make and receive calls and basic text messages as detailed above.
After your order is processed, you will then need to continue with follow the activation steps:
- go into your Tello account and check if there is any action pending, and then follow through to activate the line
- power off the device
- insert SIM
- power back on and follow the onscreen instructions if any
- if your plan/service includes data or MMS and your service do not work you can try to Reset Network Settings on the phone and check the APN settings – here’s the APN settings you’ll need for both GSM and CDMA SIMSs:
- For GSM SIM:
- activate your mobile Data / APN: wholesale
- activate your phone as a modem / APN: wholesale
For CDMA SIM:
- activate your mobile Data / APN: n.mi.ispsn OR r.mi.ispsn
- active your phone as a modem / APN: mi.pamsn
- For GSM SIM:
If you have questions or need assistance, please go to our Contact page and email us with your inquiry & IMEI/MEID/ESN. We’ll tend to your every need, in no time!
I do love this article and how it starts off by stating that 2G/3G networks will be shut down to make room for more 4G and 5G service. But then it takes an interesting turn about the voice only service, which may have been a Sprint specific update last year.
The actual 2G sunset will require that all devices support VoLTE to be able to use the networks, and I do hope this feature comes to Tello soon.
I am scared because of the 3G shutdown. I have a 4G LTE supported phone yes, but because of the 3G shutdown, how will Tello users place phone calls? Tello doesn’t support VoLTE, so I am confused how we will call.
Dear Avery,
There’s no need to worry. We do support VoLTE, this is a requirement for devices to support it and that is how calls go through on GSM. In case you need further technical clarifications, do not hesitate to contact us.
Keep in touch!