Most of the USA is VoLTE-only for a ~year already.
For other countries see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G#Phase-out" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G#Phase-out</a>
One often unexpected consequence for tourists visiting a country that has executed a complete 2G and 3G shutdown is that they won't be able to make voice calls, even if their phone and plan supports IMS (i.e. VoLTE) when at home.
> newer phones like the Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)<p>I know we are a more tech savvy crowd but is using a 7 year old feature phone really the best example to make this argument? I imagine that most people keep their phones closer to four years.
One change I noticed from LTE to VoLTE is that the line now goes silent when the coverage gets spotty. Before, you would hear bits and pieces. The benefit to that was that even if you were talking you could hear little bits coming through (including silence) and you would know that the other person probably couldn't hear you well. Now you just hear nothing, and have no idea.
My favourite thing is how they’re doing it all over again with VoNR (5G)!<p>Why was voice a mandatory feature for 3G but everything since has been such a mess?
I'm feeling this pain right now. I was forced to switch to my backup phone after my main one broke. Data is okay over LTE, but it doesn't support VoLTE, and calls over 2G is miserable. Connection is super spotty unless I take the call outdoors, and even then, quality isn't great. Couple that with T-Mobile shutting down 2G in April 2024, and guess who's forced to purchase a new phone just to keep up.
My main concern with these higher frequency connections is that they require a lot more power to run. So we can’t have phones that will last weeks without charging.