are we about to lose another provoder?
Hi all, For whatever reason I cannot find the solid details. on 31 July though, everyone? will lose access to the 3d network? Or is it just that Chattr wireless will go away? I am a prepaid customer with them, but just before I joined they went non-human. Anyone know the story? Cheers, Karen
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 at 19:44, Karen Lewellen via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
will lose access to the 3d network?
I assume you mean the 3G network, not 3D.
Or is it just that Chattr wireless will go away?
I don't see any indication that Chatr Mobile is going away. On or about July 31, Rogers says they will be discontinuing their 3G cellular service. Since Rogers owns Chatr, this also applies to Chatr. At that time you will be required to use a phone or other device that supports something higher than 3G. I.e. LTE/4G/5G. if your device only goes as high as 3G, you will have to replace it in order to continue to use Chatr Mobile. -- Scott
On Jun 19, 2025, at 19:44, Karen Lewellen via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote: For whatever reason I cannot find the solid details.
I found a summary on their website: https://www.chatrwireless.com/support/3g-network-retirement-everything-you-n....
on 31 July though, everyone? will lose access to the 3d network?
Depends on whose towers they use. 3G cellular service is being decommissioned across Canada. Roger, Bell, and Telus state different retirement dates for this service, but they are all this year. Chatr is Rogers, Rogers is July 31st, 2025.
Or is it just that Chattr wireless will go away? I am a prepaid customer with them, but just before I joined they went non-human. Anyone know the story?
Chatr Mobile is not going away, just support for phones that rely upon 3G. Some early 4G phones do not support VoLTE (Voice over LTE), and they will also be affected by these changes. What they want you to do is switch your cellphone to newer one that supports 4G with VoLTE, which came online in Canada ten years ago, or an even newer 5G phone. Seneca
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three) with recent (6 months) SIM card from Freedom Mobile, and I can't find any indication if it's 3G, 4G, 5G, or what. On 2025-06-19 20:29, Seneca Cunningham via Talk wrote:
What they want you to do is switch your cellphone to newer one that supports 4G with VoLTE, which came online in Canada ten years ago, or an even newer 5G phone.
Seneca
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 at 21:21, William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three)
If you mean a Samsung Galaxy S III, gsmarena.com says it supports only GSM / HSPA, which I believe is only 3G. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php When I enter "Samsung Galaxy S III" in the "Find out if your phone works with chatr" section of the Chatr page Senica linked to, it returns: "Your device isn’t in our list of compatible devices. You must use a different device to use chatr." -- Scott
After many clicks, I ended up on Samsung site, and it still had official manual for my model. It says "HSPA+ Tri-band and GSM/EDGE/GPRS quad band network" which Google says it's not quite 4G. So, Freedom Mobile mighi follow suit, and I'll have to buy a new phone. :-( On 2025-06-19 21:35, Scott Allen wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 at 21:21, William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three)
If you mean a Samsung Galaxy S III, gsmarena.com says it supports only GSM / HSPA, which I believe is only 3G. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php
When I enter "Samsung Galaxy S III" in the "Find out if your phone works with chatr" section of the Chatr page Senica linked to, it returns: "Your device isn’t in our list of compatible devices. You must use a different device to use chatr."
On 6/19/25 22:41, William Park via Talk wrote:
So, Freedom Mobile mighi follow suit, and I'll have to buy a new phone. 🙁
Here's Freedom's page on this: https://www.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/support/3g-network-phase-out-in-canada I see they have a test you can try: #TEST (#8378)
Freedom Mobile site has compatibility test https://www.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/support/3g-network-phase-out-in-canada And, my phone is not compatible. :-(( On 2025-06-19 22:41, William Park via Talk wrote:
After many clicks, I ended up on Samsung site, and it still had official manual for my model. It says
"HSPA+ Tri-band and GSM/EDGE/GPRS quad band network"
which Google says it's not quite 4G.
So, Freedom Mobile mighi follow suit, and I'll have to buy a new phone. :-(
On 2025-06-19 21:35, Scott Allen wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 at 21:21, William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three)
If you mean a Samsung Galaxy S III, gsmarena.com says it supports only GSM / HSPA, which I believe is only 3G. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php
When I enter "Samsung Galaxy S III" in the "Find out if your phone works with chatr" section of the Chatr page Senica linked to, it returns: "Your device isn’t in our list of compatible devices. You must use a different device to use chatr."
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So, it seems I need to get a new phone. Where do you buy a phone nowadays? On 2025-06-19 23:08, William Park via Talk wrote:
Freedom Mobile site has compatibility test
https://www.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/support/3g-network-phase-out-in-canada
And, my phone is not compatible. :-((
On 2025-06-19 22:41, William Park via Talk wrote:
After many clicks, I ended up on Samsung site, and it still had official manual for my model. It says
"HSPA+ Tri-band and GSM/EDGE/GPRS quad band network"
which Google says it's not quite 4G.
So, Freedom Mobile mighi follow suit, and I'll have to buy a new phone. :-(
On 2025-06-19 21:35, Scott Allen wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 at 21:21, William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three)
If you mean a Samsung Galaxy S III, gsmarena.com says it supports only GSM / HSPA, which I believe is only 3G. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php
When I enter "Samsung Galaxy S III" in the "Find out if your phone works with chatr" section of the Chatr page Senica linked to, it returns: "Your device isn’t in our list of compatible devices. You must use a different device to use chatr."
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From: William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org>
So, it seems I need to get a new phone. Where do you buy a phone nowadays?
Many places. How much work do you want to put in the purchase? Looking for deals can take as much time as you give it. I'm guessing that you want to buy a phone outright rather than have a fee tacked onto a postpaid service plan. Your provider (Freedom) sells phones. My impression is that the price is OK but not a bargain (but I haven't done research). They have an online tool to check how compatible a phone is to their bands (which are uncommon). Some phones qualify for "Wi Fi calling" the phone tunnels voice traffic through the internet, solving some coverage problems. Best Buy has reasonable prices and occasional sales. Ditto Walmart. Beware: their online stores have a lot of listings from third party vendors. Telling which are sketchy can be difficult. There are second-tier resellers on ebay / kijiji / walmart marketplace / Best Buy marketplace / amazon. I tend to buy cheap phones -- in our household, we don't use the phones a lot and don't get much extra joy from a wonderful phone. Pixel phones from the 8 on have quite long software/firmware support. I value that. iPhones have long support life too. Most other phones have horribly short software support. - bought a Pixel 8 for a good price from a Red Flag Deals buy/sell/trade forum. I was naive: the phone stopped working after a few months because the vendor didn't keep paying his phone service contract. That was a painful lesson - I bought a replacement Pixel 8 from Best Buy, a Geek Squad certified open box. So far that has been good. I've purchased phones from the loblaws phone stores. Not recently.
D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk wrote on 2025-06-19 23:35:
- I bought a replacement Pixel 8 from Best Buy, a Geek Squad certified open box. So far that has been good.
I was going to recommend this option. There are open box, refurbished, etc. Third party sellers are the norm, so that's not great, but one's credit card should provide some amount of warranty enhancement in the fine print (that they hope we've forgotten about). Almost went with a Pixel8 Pro refurbished when Google updated my Pixel 4a to kill the battery. Installed LineageOS on the Pixel4a instead and it's been working perfectly (and upgraded it from Android 13 to Android 15). https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/search?search=pixel I see Pixel4a for less than $200 ("Excellent" condition) and Pixel8 line for < $500.
On Fri, 20 Jun 2025 at 02:42, D. Hugh Redelmeier via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
I bought a replacement Pixel 8 from Best Buy, a Geek Squad certified open box. So far that has been good.
I did the same for a Pixel 9. It was received "like new" and I've had no problems with it. -- Scott
On 6/20/25 00:46, William Park via Talk wrote:
So, it seems I need to get a new phone. Where do you buy a phone nowadays?
The carriers sell them and there are plenty of stores in the malls, etc.. Some also sell used/refurb phones, should cost be an issue.
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
So, it seems I need to get a new phone. Where do you buy a phone nowadays?
My most recent phone, a basic Android 4G Samsung unlocked smartphone, I got at Costco. Being a basic Android phone, will my phone run the latest / greatest mobile phone games? No. Do I care? No.
On 2025-06-19 23:08, William Park via Talk wrote:
Freedom Mobile site has compatibility test
https://www.freedommobile.ca/en-CA/support/3g-network-phase-out-in-canada
And, my phone is not compatible. :-((
On 2025-06-19 22:41, William Park via Talk wrote:
After many clicks, I ended up on Samsung site, and it still had official manual for my model. It says
"HSPA+ Tri-band and GSM/EDGE/GPRS quad band network"
which Google says it's not quite 4G.
So, Freedom Mobile mighi follow suit, and I'll have to buy a new phone. :-(
On 2025-06-19 21:35, Scott Allen wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 at 21:21, William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three)
If you mean a Samsung Galaxy S III, gsmarena.com says it supports only GSM / HSPA, which I believe is only 3G. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php
When I enter "Samsung Galaxy S III" in the "Find out if your phone works with chatr" section of the Chatr page Senica linked to, it returns: "Your device isn’t in our list of compatible devices. You must use a different device to use chatr."
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On 2025-06-20 11:49, Colin McGregor wrote:
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
So, it seems I need to get a new phone. Where do you buy a phone nowadays?
My most recent phone, a basic Android 4G Samsung unlocked smartphone, I got at Costco.
What model? Samsung Axx?
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 16:53 William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2025-06-20 11:49, Colin McGregor wrote:
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
So, it seems I need to get a new phone. Where do you buy a phone nowadays?
My most recent phone, a basic Android 4G Samsung unlocked smartphone, I got at Costco.
What model? Samsung Axx?
Costco has the A36 for ~450 They also carry TCL and Motorola in the 300 range.
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 4:53 PM William Park <opengeometry@yahoo.ca> wrote:
On 2025-06-20 11:49, Colin McGregor wrote:
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 12:46 AM William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
So, it seems I need to get a new phone. Where do you buy a phone nowadays?
My most recent phone, a basic Android 4G Samsung unlocked smartphone, I got at Costco.
What model? Samsung Axx?
A Samsung model A03s bought in 2023. As I noted, a quite basic model.
well..I am using an lg f4nr currently. If it does not clear the test..I have not gotten an email from chattr indicating I must change, I will need to perhaps learn the last Lg flip phone that makes the grade. On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, Scott Allen via Talk wrote:
On Thu, 19 Jun 2025 at 21:21, William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three)
If you mean a Samsung Galaxy S III, gsmarena.com says it supports only GSM / HSPA, which I believe is only 3G. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php
When I enter "Samsung Galaxy S III" in the "Find out if your phone works with chatr" section of the Chatr page Senica linked to, it returns: "Your device isn’t in our list of compatible devices. You must use a different device to use chatr."
-- Scott ------------------------------------ Description: GTALUG Talk Unsubscribe via Talk-unsubscribe@lists.gtalug.org Start a new thread: talk@lists.gtalug.org This message archived at https://lists.gtalug.org/archives/list/talk@lists.gtalug.org/message/6W27WH3...
On Fri, 20 Jun 2025 at 00:13, Karen Lewellen <klewellen@shellworld.net> wrote:
will need to perhaps learn the last Lg flip phone that makes the grade.
A quick search I did indicates that the last flip phone that LG made is probably the LG Folder 2, released in April 2020. It supports LTE. https://www.gsmarena.com/lg_folder_2-10186.php There are other LG flip phones that support LTE, such as the Wine 2 https://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-lmy120um0auclpl-us-cellular-wine-2 and the Exalt https://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-VN220-verizon-exalt I can't say if they all would support the Rogers wireless network. -- Scott
Thanks profoundly for providing this list. Interestingly enough I was going to ask if the exalt was ever sold up here. I am far from that attached to chattr. To be honest, I would return to PC mobile yesterday, for the optimum points alone. Kare On Fri, 20 Jun 2025, Scott Allen wrote:
On Fri, 20 Jun 2025 at 00:13, Karen Lewellen <klewellen@shellworld.net> wrote:
will need to perhaps learn the last Lg flip phone that makes the grade.
A quick search I did indicates that the last flip phone that LG made is probably the LG Folder 2, released in April 2020. It supports LTE.
https://www.gsmarena.com/lg_folder_2-10186.php
There are other LG flip phones that support LTE, such as the Wine 2
https://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-lmy120um0auclpl-us-cellular-wine-2
and the Exalt
https://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-VN220-verizon-exalt
I can't say if they all would support the Rogers wireless network.
-- Scott
On Jun 20, 2025, at 21:37, Karen Lewellen via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
Thanks profoundly for providing this list. Interestingly enough I was going to ask if the exalt was ever sold up here. I am far from that attached to chattr. To be honest, I would return to PC mobile yesterday, for the optimum points alone.
As far as your 3G longevity is concerned, you might buy yourself a few more months by returning to PC Mobile. PC Mobile operates on Bell’s network, which has scheduled their shutdown for later in 2025 than Rogers.
On 6/21/25 18:16, Seneca Cunningham via Talk wrote:
As far as your 3G longevity is concerned, you might buy yourself a few more months by returning to PC Mobile. PC Mobile operates on Bell’s network, which has scheduled their shutdown for later in 2025 than Rogers.
That's assuming they'd even let her sign up for 3G service. She'd need a 3G SIM from them and they probably aren't providing them now. Here's some Bell info: https://support.bell.ca/mobility/network_coverage/hspa_network?step=2#step2
On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 12:13:23AM -0400, Karen Lewellen via Talk wrote:
well..I am using an lg f4nr currently. If it does not clear the test..I have not gotten an email from chattr indicating I must change, I will need to perhaps learn the last Lg flip phone that makes the grade.
Certainly the specs I can find for the LG F4NR says it only does up to 3G, so a shutdown of 3G would be a problem. LG unfortunately stopped making any phones in 2021. -- Len Sorensen
On 6/19/25 21:20, William Park via Talk wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three) with recent (6 months) SIM card from Freedom Mobile, and I can't find any indication if it's 3G, 4G, 5G, or what.
Would this be it? If so, it's 3G and has to be replaced. https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i9300_galaxy_s_iii-4238.php
On Thu, Jun 19, 2025 at 09:20:55PM -0400, William Park via Talk wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three) with recent (6 months) SIM card from Freedom Mobile, and I can't find any indication if it's 3G, 4G, 5G, or what.
The specs I can find for the Samsung S III claims it does 2G, 3G and 4G LTE. Of course Samsung also has a tendancy to make variants of many of their phones, so it is possible some versions don't support all of those. You can check what network modes it has in settings. I suspect it will list LTE as an option. It is probably one of the oldest phones to have 4G LGE with VoLTE support. -- Len Sorensen
On Fri, 20 Jun 2025 at 12:34, Lennart Sorensen via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
The specs I can find for the Samsung S III claims it does 2G, 3G and 4G LTE. Of course Samsung also has a tendancy to make variants of many of their phones, so it is possible some versions don't support all of those.
Yes, it looks like it depends on the model number. The chart on Wikipedia may be useful., if it's correct. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_III#Variants -- Scott
To be sure, and its sad. Before I started using lg phones, it was Motorola..then google bought them and broke everything. Talkback, the tool Motorola created now is profoundly and reprehensible spotty. On some phones the volume control will not work. In others one cannot change voices or speech rate. On still others some of the features require you to access an icon that is not spoken, a slider for example. Even the Android phones with buttons have no solid assurances things will work talkback wise across the board. Kare On Fri, 20 Jun 2025, Lennart Sorensen via Talk wrote:
On Thu, Jun 19, 2025 at 09:20:55PM -0400, William Park via Talk wrote:
How do I find out what I'm using? I have an old Samsung S3 (yes, three) with recent (6 months) SIM card from Freedom Mobile, and I can't find any indication if it's 3G, 4G, 5G, or what.
The specs I can find for the Samsung S III claims it does 2G, 3G and 4G LTE. Of course Samsung also has a tendancy to make variants of many of their phones, so it is possible some versions don't support all of those.
You can check what network modes it has in settings. I suspect it will list LTE as an option. It is probably one of the oldest phones to have 4G LGE with VoLTE support.
-- Len Sorensen ------------------------------------ Description: GTALUG Talk Unsubscribe via Talk-unsubscribe@lists.gtalug.org Start a new thread: talk@lists.gtalug.org This message archived at https://lists.gtalug.org/archives/list/talk@lists.gtalug.org/message/SDQEB2D...
Sorry, yes 3g was what I referenced. For some reason that page only goes to the main site for me. Would freedom mobile be impacted? Changing my phone will be an interesting exploration. I have a doctor's note supporting the medical dangers of VOIP for me. Goodness but I wish lg still made phones. On Thu, 19 Jun 2025, Seneca Cunningham wrote:
On Jun 19, 2025, at 19:44, Karen Lewellen via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote: For whatever reason I cannot find the solid details.
I found a summary on their website: https://www.chatrwireless.com/support/3g-network-retirement-everything-you-n....
on 31 July though, everyone? will lose access to the 3d network?
Depends on whose towers they use. 3G cellular service is being decommissioned across Canada. Roger, Bell, and Telus state different retirement dates for this service, but they are all this year. Chatr is Rogers, Rogers is July 31st, 2025.
Or is it just that Chattr wireless will go away? I am a prepaid customer with them, but just before I joined they went non-human. Anyone know the story?
Chatr Mobile is not going away, just support for phones that rely upon 3G. Some early 4G phones do not support VoLTE (Voice over LTE), and they will also be affected by these changes.
What they want you to do is switch your cellphone to newer one that supports 4G with VoLTE, which came online in Canada ten years ago, or an even newer 5G phone.
Seneca
On 6/19/25 19:35, Karen Lewellen via Talk wrote:
Hi all, For whatever reason I cannot find the solid details. on 31 July though, everyone? will lose access to the 3d network? Or is it just that Chattr wireless will go away? I am a prepaid customer with them, but just before I joined they went non-human. Anyone know the story? Cheers, Karen
Rogers is shutting down 3g on their network. This includes Fido and Chatr brands. I don't know about Chatr customers, but Rogers customers are being given a free replacement phone. Here's some info from Rogers, but it would also apply to Fido and Chatr customers. https://www.rogers.com/support/mobility/3g-network-retirement-everything-you... Here's Chatr's info which is pretty much the same. https://www.chatrwireless.com/support/3g-network-retirement-everything-you-n...
participants (10)
-
Colin McGregor -
D. Hugh Redelmeier -
James Knott -
Karen Lewellen -
Lennart Sorensen -
Nick Accad -
Ron -
Scott Allen -
Seneca Cunningham -
William Park