Sprint's network has been officially retired

Sprint's network has been officially retired

The remnants of Sprint's network have been dumped in the pasture. As of yesterday, Sprint's LTE network has been retired by its new owner, T-Mobile. This aligns with Sprint's 3G CDMA network, which was discontinued earlier this year, and which remains T-Mobile's own 3G network, which is entering retirement today. T-Mobile spokesman Justin Paulson confirmed to The Verge that the network is shutting down.

It may come as a surprise that any part of Sprint's network was still operational until recently. In April 2020, T-Mobile officially took ownership of the company, including all of its spectrum and network towers, which would eventually be remodeled for 5G. Sprint's 3G CDMA network debuted when T-Mobile began discontinuing Sprint's system in March. It originally planned to sunset the network in late 2021, but after a heated debate over anti-competitive behavior during which Dish president Charlie Ergen called T-Mobile the Grinch, the date was pushed back. . ,

Sprint's LTE network followed suit and was set to be officially retired by tomorrow, June 30, 2022. Unlike the company's 3G network, which our former executive editor Dieter Bohn paid proper tribute to in his Sprint eulogy, there's no reason to. Mourn its loss. Sprint was late to LTE when it first bet on WiMAX, and as a result, its LTE network was far behind the competition by the time it was up and running. It was flat-out bad, actually.

If you're somehow still using a phone that runs on Sprint LTE or T-Mobile's 3G, it's very likely that you've already encountered problems with your service. Whatever the case, T-Mobile will be more than happy to have a 5G phone in your hand. "Customers who needed to take action as a result of these retirement efforts were notified ahead of time and received a free 5G replacement device offer," Paulson says.

If the shutdown of an old wireless network brings tears to your eyes, take heart: T-Mobile's 2G GSM network is still in some way or another. The company is planning to retire it but there is no fixed date yet.