Some operators have begun to reduce the frequency of 2G networks. What should users who still use 2G phones do?

Recently, there was news that China Unicom will shut down its 2G network. China Unicom issued a statement in response, saying that it is orderly promoting the work of reducing the frequency of the 2G network. What is the 2G network frequency reduction, will it have an impact on consumers, and why is it doing this?

Many operators have started reducing network bandwidth

Regarding the frequency reduction of 2G networks, the reporter consulted the three major operators. China Unicom said that the frequency reduction of 2G networks cannot be called shutting down the 2G network, because users are still on the 2G network, it is just a gradual frequency reduction and slimming process.

An industry insider who wishes to remain anonymous said that the gradual reduction in 2G frequency actually means the gradual withdrawal of 2G from the network, and the complete disappearance of 2G base stations means the complete withdrawal of 2G from the network. At present, the three major operators are still in a state where 2G, 3G, and 4G networks coexist.

An insider at China Mobile said that China Mobile has no plans to withdraw from the 2G network. As of press time, China Telecom has not responded.

However, independent telecom analyst Fu Liang revealed in an interview with China News Service that, in fact, the three major operators are all working on network frequency reduction, and China Unicom is the last to take action; among them, China Mobile is working on 3G network frequency reduction.

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Will consumers be affected?

According to data released by China Unicom, as of the end of February, China Unicom had 289 million users, of which 187 million were 4G users. It is reported that China Unicom's 2G users account for about 2% of its total users, which means that China Unicom still has more than 5 million 2G users.

Will these users be affected by the frequency reduction of the 2G network? China Unicom said that it will take a variety of preferential measures such as free replacement of mobile phone cards, free trial traffic, and discounted purchase of mobile phones to assist existing 2G customers in upgrading to the 4G network. During this process, the services of existing 2G customers will not be affected in any way.

Communications industry expert Xiang Ligang believes that China Unicom's 2G network frequency reduction will have no impact on the vast majority of consumers.

Fu Liang believes that it is impossible for 2G users to have no impact at all. They can only be affected less. After the frequency reduction, 2G network coverage may be insufficient in some places. "But frequency reduction does not mean that 2G network cannot be used, because there are still 2G base stations."

The reporter noticed that although it is the 4G era, 2G or 3G networks are still in use. One user said in an interview with China News Service, "I still feel that the 2G network is better, because some places are not covered by 4G networks. When passing through these places, the phone will automatically switch to 3G or 2G networks, and there is a connection process when using it, or it will be disconnected."

Why do we need network frequency reduction?

Since there are still users using it, why do we need to reduce the frequency of the 2G network?

Fu Liang said that the original 2G network occupied some frequency bands, some of which are scarce and can be said to be valuable resources. After reuse, they can be used in 4G network construction, which is conducive to improving network quality and wide-area network coverage.

China Unicom also stated that the bandwidth resources will be freed up for higher-level 4G networks and deployments.

"In addition, with the decrease in 2G and 3G users, the network capacity is becoming more and more surplus, and the investment in operation and maintenance of base stations and other facilities is becoming increasingly uneconomical. This is another reason," said Fu Liang.

This is true. The latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that as of the end of February, the number of mobile phone users of the three major operators reached 1.44 billion, of which the total number of 4G users reached 1.03 billion, and 4G users accounted for 71.6% of mobile phone users.

However, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also showed that as of the end of February, the total number of mobile broadband users (i.e. 3G and 4G users) reached 1.17 billion, which means that there are still 270 million 2G users, which is still a huge number.

In view of this, Fu Liang believes that it is impossible for the three major operators to shut down the 2G network all at once. Network frequency reduction is a gradual process, and 2G users do not need to worry too much.

"It should also be pointed out that if the devices used by 2G users support WCDMA, even if China Unicom shuts down the 2G network, it will have no impact on them," said Fu Liang.