According to internal T-Mobile documents obtained and verified by Android Police, The company plans to drop mobile network support for 19 devices on January 292021. Affected devices include smartphones from Google, Samsung, Sony, and others, as well as old home security cameras and wireless routers.
Here is the full summary, According to T-Mobile’s Internal list:
Phones:
- Google Nexus 9
- Huawei Mate 8
- Huawei P9
- HTC Desire 10 Lifestyle
- HTC Desire 650
- OnePlus 1
- Quanta Dragon IR7
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (both AT&T and Verizon models; T-Mobile version unaffected for Note 4)
- Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
- Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos
- Sony Xperia Z3
- Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
- Sony Xperia Z3 Aurion
- Sony D6616 Xperia Z3 Orion
- Soybean m02
- ZTE ZMax
Other devices:
- Mikrotikls SIA_R11e-LTE6 miniPCIe modem
- Netgear Arlo Security Camera System
The change affects T-Mobile, MetroPCS, and And Sprint customers, but the impact will depend on which carrier your device is originally using. T-Mobile and MetroPCS devices will lose all network support starting January 29, while Sprint devices will lose T-Mobile roaming connectivity but can still use Sprint’s legacy 3G network until it shuts down in 2023.
There are likely to be more unsupported devices, but T-Mobile has yet to make a public announcement at the time of writing so we can only get rid of Android Police information. However, T-Mobile will notify customers via SMS starting December 28, giving those who still use these old products just a few weeks to upgrade.
The short notice is inconvenient, but we recommend users to upgrade from any of the aforementioned smartphones even if T-Mobile isn’t dropping support. Not only are new phones faster and packed with better features and cameras, but they also receive regular security patches that aren’t available on older phones.
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If price is an issue, go for mid-range devices like the Pixel 4a and 5a or the Samsung Galaxy A51. As long as the phone is still supported by its manufacturer, that would be a huge jump in performance and security, and you can buy one for much less than the new flagship phone.
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