# 5g phone works on 2g/3g network? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407 "2021-08-11T00:19:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/1 "2021-08-11T00:19:17Z")
going to Alaska and Tmobile only has 2g/3g in most areas outside anchorage. We are going to national parks so they are in remote areas. Denali and Wrangel St elias. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/2 "2021-08-11T00:22:25Z")
5G phones are backward compatible and would certainly work on 4G, and would likely work on 3G. I’m not positive about 2G–are you sure Alaska is that far back? This could be settled with greater certainty with a quick call to T-Mobile customer service. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/3 "2021-08-11T00:29:38Z")
Look up what radio is in your phone and what frequencies it supports. eg, the [iPhone 11](https://www.apple.com/iphone-11/specs/) supports GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) which is 3G & 2G respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/4 "2021-08-11T00:56:11Z")
AK is 99% wilderness 2x size of texas but 500k people and half of those are in Anchorage area. Not a high priority state for cell companies I assume ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/5 "2021-08-11T03:13:56Z")
I have a 5G phone, and yes, mine will work on 2G if that’s the only signal it can get. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/6 "2021-08-11T13:39:57Z")
looks like Verizon only has 3G there I assume the same for AT&T My phone should be OK ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/7 "2021-08-11T15:49:11Z")
I haven’t been to Alaska so I can’t speak to there specifically but I tend to play in remote areas; I know lots of places where phones don’t work. While there might be a cell tower near the visitor’s center of a national park expect to not have coverage if you’re driving to a remote area. If you’re doing stuff on your own, as opposed to being on a tour, do it the old-fashioned way & plan out your route & (gas & lunch) stops the night before while in the hotel & on wi-fi. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/8 "2021-08-11T15:58:33Z")
So, speaking as a (former) tech support guy for one of the big Cell Carriers, I’ll throw up some info, and some cautions. First, most modern phones are indeed backward compatible with the 2g/3g/4g/LTE networks, BUT different carriers use different bands and different definitions of expectations for all of the above. @Shalmanese is absolutely correct in that you should check your phone’s supported bands and compare them with what is supported in the areas you intend to visit. Because, while there could be 2g/3g available, if it’s not a band supported by your phone, it might as well not be there. Second, a lot of towers in rural Alaska are local carrier owned, so outside the limited areas of the cities, it’s often on ‘partner’ networks. Which means that what you get is often up to them - regardless of what you carrier may normally offer. Which brings me to the last point, expectations. If you’re getting 2G/3G signal, --do not _expect_ anything depended on data to work–. It _may_ on 3G, but will likely time out for anything other than [lite.cnn.com](http://lite.cnn.com). Your phone is going to expect a faster connection and give up and timeout on those speeds. If you’re using an iPhone, make sure to turn off iMessage, which is data-based. Straight old fashioned all alphanumeric texts are likely to work, but if you put a GIF or image, do not expect it to go through. And that’s on top of the fact that a lot of local ‘partner’ carriers will only allow a microscopic amount of data through (in a case from years ago, it was 100 Meg max while on the partner network. If you want to post your phone and park info, we could give more details, but you can get those from T-Mobile’s site, just dig in to check if it’s own network, roaming, or partner. I would definitely pre-download anything you can ahead of time (maps, music, entertainment), and if your navigation is data based (which it frequently is), plan accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/9 "2021-08-11T16:13:18Z")
I don’t know what you want to use your phone for up there, Do you want to YouInstaBook live from the parks, or use the maps to get you there? If you are driving, I just looked on ebay; there’s a page full of Garmin Nuvi’s that you can get (shipped) for \< $15. Sure, they may be older models with smaller screens & no bluetooth but they work where phone’s don’t if you are driving. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5g-phone-works-on-2g-3g-network/948407/10 "2021-08-11T17:10:09Z")
I have a really nice Garvin GPS which allows me to send texts from anywhere. , mainly if I run into trouble which I don’t think will happen Going to stay on roads