In the 5G era, where will the 2G-based temperature and humidity sensors go?

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With the construction of 5G network base stations in full swing, rumors about the withdrawal of 2G networks are also "flying all over the sky". Many environmental monitoring users can't help but start to worry about the future of temperature and humidity sensors based on 2G signals and other newly purchased IoT devices.

China Unicom and China Telecom's 2G network signals had already started to be withdrawn before 2018, but China Mobile's withdrawal has been focused on 3G network withdrawal, and there has been no movement on 2G network. So why did the rumor of China Mobile's 2G withdrawal suddenly spread on the Internet?

In fact, this is related to a document that has been circulating online recently (see the picture below); this document, titled "Planning and Construction Department of China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd." (Notice), clearly states that China Mobile will stop adding new 2G IoT users by the end of 2020, and 2G IoT users will be taken over by NB-IoT and 4G Cat1/1bis technologies.

Since the circulated notice clearly pointed out that China Mobile will stop adding new 2G IoT users by the end of 2020, many people mistakenly believed that China Mobile would soon stop the maintenance and operation of the 2G network. In fact, this is a misunderstanding of the document. The main content of the notice in this document is: it is decided to stop adding new 2G IoT users by the end of 2020, rather than directly stopping the operation and maintenance of 2G network base stations.

People who are not in the IoT industry or are new to the industry may not have much idea about the coverage area of ​​2G IoT. In fact, there is a huge market for products based on 2G IoT, such as users in many remote areas of the country or the elderly who do not need smartphones; POS machines for monitoring IC cards in major shopping malls, restaurants and other retail industries; and the electricity cards we use to pay electricity bills in our daily lives are all based on 2G networks and are the target audience of 2G networks. Therefore, the withdrawal of 2G networks is by no means a one-time thing.

Having said that, since China Mobile has begun to consider withdrawing its 2G network, we must retain a "retreat". Currently, the better alternative is NB-loT narrowband Internet of Things.

Advantages of NB-loT

Made in China 2025, industrial intelligence, etc., the country's work on using informatization to drive industrialization focuses on three aspects: first, focusing on the application of electronic information technology, improving the automation, intelligent control and management informatization of traditional industries; second, focusing on the application of advanced manufacturing technology, promoting high-quality and efficient production in the manufacturing field, and revitalizing the equipment manufacturing industry; third, transforming and upgrading the key technologies, common technologies and related supporting technologies, processes and equipment levels of key industries. Narrowband Internet of Things is an application of industrial intelligence.

The cellular-based Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) has become an important branch of the Internet of Everything. NB-IoT is built on cellular networks, consumes only about 180KHz of bandwidth, and can be directly deployed on GSM networks, UMTS networks, or LTE networks to reduce deployment costs and achieve smooth upgrades.

Finally, regarding the future of 2G, China Mobile has only issued a notice, and the specific implementation depends on subsequent operations. However, regarding the network withdrawal, the editor still supports the following statement on the Internet: the first stage is to prevent the addition of new devices, and the second stage is to migrate users on the existing network. For example, operators send messages to 2G users, suggesting that they upgrade to 4G, and then there will be a series of preferential packages, so there is still a half-year or one-year lead time. In the third stage, when users are required to leave, there is still a half-year extension. So this is a continuous process, and only after all of them are gone, can the 2G network be truly shut down.