T-Mobile is giving some Sprint 3G users even more time to upgrade to 5G
UPDATE: Shortly after publishing our original story, a T-Mobile spokesperson reached out with a statement clarifying that we're indeed looking at a gradual and "orderly" shutdown rather than yet another delay. Still, the fact of the matter is that some legacy Sprint customers will be getting a little more time to migrate to T-Mo's modern networks than previously believed. Here's the official statement in full:
"We are proceeding as planned with the orderly shutdown of our CDMA network beginning on March 31. As part of our shutdown process, we are migrating customers in some areas over the following 60 days to ensure they are supported and not left without connectivity, and the network will be completely turned off by no later than May 31. This is a normal network transition process. We look forward to sunsetting this outdated technology so every customer will have access to the best connectivity and best experience in wireless."
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Of course, 4G LTE remains a perfectly acceptable option too (for now), while 3G is... somehow not dead yet. For legacy Sprint customers, the end of 3G service was originally scheduled for December 31, 2021, then March 31, 2022, and now sometime between March 31 and May 31.
That's right, those affected by the impending network shutdown might be happy to know they're looking at yet another postponement, although the inevitable could still happen before May 31.
The entire situation is a little confusing, with a dedicated "T-Mobile Network Evolution" webpage still listing March 31 as the firm Sprint 3G (CDMA) technology retirement date and Softbank over in Japan suggesting a delay to May 31 has been decided "due to the circumstance of Sprint" and even that an additional delay is "possible" in the future.
Softbank, which used to own Sprint before T-Mobile completed its mammoth $26 billion acquisition back in 2020, also seems to suggest this shutdown will take place "gradually towards Thursday, May 31, 2022." That would definitely explain the two dates and the distance between them, which may or may not give you a little extra time to continue using your ancient non-4G or 5G-capable devices.
Basically, it's possible now that some users will be allowed to make and receive voice calls, send text messages, and surf the web (albeit very slowly) on said phones for a few days, weeks, or up to two months after tomorrow.
At the same time, if the 3G network retirement is set to happen gradually, you could be among the first few groups of customers blocked from obtaining said signal early on in the shutdown operation. Whenever that will be the case, expect T-Mobile's customer support reps to contact you (once again) and try to help you with your migration.
Long story short, if you're still using a 3G-only Sprint device, you should definitely upgrade to something from... this century, whether or not T-Mobile will go through with its previously planned March 31 network shutdown.
T-Mo's own 3G UMTS network is scheduled (at least for the time being) for a July 1, 2022 retirement, preceded by a Sprint LTE shutdown on June 30 and likely to be followed by Magenta pulling the plug on its even older GSM 2G signal at a still-unspecified date.
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