# Why does my cell phone show "no service" periodically for a few hours? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 10, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cell-phone-show-no-service-periodically-for-a-few-hours/967727 "2022-07-10T21:04:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 29
**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:** [July 12, 2022, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cell-phone-show-no-service-periodically-for-a-few-hours/967727/29 "2022-07-12T14:15:53Z")
For anyone else confused like @aceplace57, 2g technologies began sunsetting roughly 2017-2022, 3g sunsetting was delayed by COVID and other factors, sunsetting largely this year of 2022. Bandwidth for both are/were being repurposed for additional 4G LTE and 5G technologies as the demand for ever greater internet speeds became the driving factor in the phone market, rather than non VOLTE calling or texting. Most smartphones (flip phones are a different story) sold after around 2014 should be network compatible (not with all carriers however) for years yet, however as mentioned upthread, have almost certainly been out of service on software for years. But since this is more a tech support thread than a sunsetting thread I’ll leave it at that. I will link two prior threads that touch on this just in case - > [@AT&T shutting down 2G - will all the country's flip phones stop working?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-t-shutting-down-2g-will-all-the-countrys-flip-phones-stop-working/751293/12): > > Its confusing to say that GSM will be shut down, as many phones , and there SIM’s or inbuilt equivalent, are "GSM " or GSM compatible, but these phones and SIM’s are also 3G and 4G … which outside the USA , they all use the GSM sim … Some phone companies may have said that their are migrating from CDMA or other 2G, toward “GSM” when they mean toward 3g or 4g… The shutdown will be of the 2G on 850MHz, So in fact some places a 2g phone may still work because the base station for the a… > [@AT&T is sending me a phone unsoliticited, activating it, and disabling my current phone?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-t-is-sending-me-a-phone-unsoliticited-activating-it-and-disabling-my-current-phone/946406/2): > > Looks like you have the best deal that’s out there right now: “Of all the carriers, AT&T has made things the most clear to understand. Not only has it provided a cutoff date, but the list it made is extremely helpful. That’s more than we can say for Verizon or T-Mobile, which have repeatedly delayed 3G network shutdowns.” The second is the one in which we watched **ThelmaLou** battle the powers that be to keep her current phone. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-cell-phone-show-no-service-periodically-for-a-few-hours/967727)._