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I stopped using AT&T while ago, and have no love for them, but let's be fair: the OP bought an unlocked phone elsewhere (not from them) and now complaining that

I stopped using AT&T while ago, and have no love for them, but let's be fair: the OP bought an unlocked phone elsewhere (not from them) and now complaining that they are not replacing it with comparable model. As sombody who always buys unlocked phones I have no expectations from my carrier to support or replace them. I can always sell them though. I can also always leave the carrier as having unlocked phone allows me to stay on month-to-month plan. It is sad they have to shut down their 3G network, but I am sure they have business pressure: support costs, bandwidth allocation, etc. This is the price for rapid progress of all phone technologies from good old GSM to 5G in recent just a couple decades. Old stuff needs to make space for new.

Arnavion 5y ago
>the OP bought an unlocked phone elsewhere (not from them) and now complaining that they are not replacing it with comparable model. No, I'm pretty sure they're complaining about it being replaced in the first place, with a 30d deadline at that, when AT&T claimed the original deadline was February 2022. I use AT&T too (prepaid plan, on a dumbphone) and I got a text about the February 2022 deadline back in March 2021. But the text said nothing about them sending me a new phone and forcing me to switch sooner, and I haven't got another text since then either. That said, I already have a new phone that I was planning to switch to when February 2022 got closer (not AT&T, because my new phone isn't supported by them lol) . So it won't be too much of a problem if they do force me to switch sooner.
donatj 5y ago
> As sombody who always buys unlocked phones I have no expectations from my carrier to support or replace them. As someone who buys unlocked phones, I wouldn’t use a carrier who didn’t support them. They’re a bad abusive carrier not worth your money if they do not. I don’t understand why anyone would be more ok with their cell provider dictating what device you can use than they would be with their internet provider dictating what computer they can use.
- lxgr 5y ago
  > their internet provider dictating what computer they can use A better analogy would probably be an ISP dictating what modems/CPEs are supported on their network – and isn't that common practice?
  - pantalaimon 5y ago
    Certainly not for DSL.
lxgr 5y ago
This seems like such a weird business practice of US carriers. Every single network I've ever used worked as plug-and-play with both Android and iPhones (except for frequency band and technology support, of course; a GSM 900/1800 phone won't work on UMTS 2100). I understand the carriers' desire to provide a consistent user experience, but the practice of allowlisting devices based on IMEI prefix or even exact IMEI seems like a real pain, especially when in 99% of all scenarios, it would just work anyway. Is this due to VoLTE/911 calling requirements, or is it really just a leftover from the time when US phones didn't really have SIM cards and the phone was (almost) inextricably linked to a given plan and vice versa?

Arnavion 5y ago

>the OP bought an unlocked phone elsewhere (not from them) and now complaining that they are not replacing it with comparable model. No, I'm pretty sure they're complaining about it being replaced in the first place, with a 30d deadline at that, when AT&T claimed the original deadline was February 2022. I use AT&T too (prepaid plan, on a dumbphone) and I got a text about the February 2022 deadline back in March 2021. But the text said nothing about them sending me a new phone and forcing me to switch sooner, and I haven't got another text since then either. That said, I already have a new phone that I was planning to switch to when February 2022 got closer (not AT&T, because my new phone isn't supported by them lol) . So it won't be too much of a problem if they do force me to switch sooner.

donatj 5y ago

> As sombody who always buys unlocked phones I have no expectations from my carrier to support or replace them. As someone who buys unlocked phones, I wouldn’t use a carrier who didn’t support them. They’re a bad abusive carrier not worth your money if they do not. I don’t understand why anyone would be more ok with their cell provider dictating what device you can use than they would be with their internet provider dictating what computer they can use.

lxgr 5y ago
> their internet provider dictating what computer they can use A better analogy would probably be an ISP dictating what modems/CPEs are supported on their network – and isn't that common practice?
- pantalaimon 5y ago
  Certainly not for DSL.

lxgr 5y ago

This seems like such a weird business practice of US carriers. Every single network I've ever used worked as plug-and-play with both Android and iPhones (except for frequency band and technology support, of course; a GSM 900/1800 phone won't work on UMTS 2100). I understand the carriers' desire to provide a consistent user experience, but the practice of allowlisting devices based on IMEI prefix or even exact IMEI seems like a real pain, especially when in 99% of all scenarios, it would just work anyway. Is this due to VoLTE/911 calling requirements, or is it really just a leftover from the time when US phones didn't really have SIM cards and the phone was (almost) inextricably linked to a given plan and vice versa?