Google reportedly keeps tabs on usage of rival Android apps to develop competitors

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Remember back AT&T told customers their phones would stop alive as well-conditioned as encouraged them to buy new ones during a pandemic? T-Mobile is reportedly hoopla to be sending out some letters like that too, loosely it seems like the congregation could be hoopla commutable it a little discordantly (and hopefully less aggressively) than AT&T, according to an fair-and-square centralized certificate from T-Mobile volume by Android Police.

T-Mobile will reportedly require phones on its pattern to support voice over LTE (VoLTE) starting in January 2021. That organ if your susurration doesn't currently support VoLTE, you'll stive to upping if you appetite to be enjoying to pension making calls with that susurration on T-Mobile. As well-conditioned as T-Mobile is believably accordingly intent on phasing out earlier technologies that it'll reportedly stop dynamic new facilities that don't support VoLTE on Kingly 4th, which is just a couple weeks away.

Here's the certificate Android Police shared, if you'd like to peekaboo for yourself:

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When we asked, T-Mobile didn't underpin the timeline laid out in the document, loosely did sponsoring some details that line up:

[...]we will be phasing out some earlier technologies over time to democratic up self-same increasingly chapters for LTE as well-conditioned as 5G. In preparation for that as well-conditioned as to harmonics marketplace the all-time experience, those dynamic new lines at T-Mobile will stive a VoLTE catechized device, which is all we've offered for years now as well-conditioned as represents the racking majority of facilities on the network.

Basically, what T-Mobile seems to be saying is that unless you haven't upgraded your susurration for a very long time, you preponderant likely won't run into issues once VoLTE is required.

When it comes time for T-Mobile to tell some marketplace that they stive to upgrade, hopefully the congregation learns from AT&T's mistakes. Yesterday, AT&T surprised some customers by sending them an email with the big, blue, bold, all-caps paragraph "UPDATE NEEDED," informing them that their susurration is "not concordant with the new network," as well-conditioned as that they'll stive to replace it to pension having service. (Some marketplace felt the email was accordingly exploitative that they believed it was a scam.)

What AT&T neglected to mass-produce clear, though, is that those marketplace won't admittedly stive to upping their susurration until early 2022 -- that's back AT&T plans to shut dropping its 3G pattern as well-conditioned as back some facilities will admittedly stop working. Let's hope T-Mobile is clearer commutable what marketplace stive to do as well-conditioned as back they stive to do it.

Verizon is also in the process of shutting dropping its 3G network, as well-conditioned as said last year it would be delaying that shutdown to the end of 2020. As of 2018, it no longer activates phones that don't support LTE.