Original iPhone Loses Its Last Cellular Network as T-Mobile Kills 2G - MacRumors

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Original iPhone Loses Its Last Cellular Network as T-Mobile Kills 2G

Thursday August 6, 2026 4:19 pm PDT by Juli Clover<br>T-Mobile retired its 2G GSM network on Monday, August 3, which means all three major carriers in the United States have now ended 2G service.

T-Mobile kept its 2G network active because it still had some legacy customers who were using it. Some customers visiting the United States and using international roaming carrier agreements for connectivity also needed 2G for voice calling, but T-Mobile worked with carriers globally to prepare for the end of its 2G network.

Customers who were still on T-Mobile's 2G network were warned well ahead of time about the shutdown and given time to transition. Smartphones, alarm panels, payment terminals, and other IoT accessories that used 2G will no longer function.

AT&T ended support for 2G almost a decade ago in 2017, and Verizon stopped supporting 2G in 2020. Now that no carriers in the U.S. support 2G, legacy devices like the original iPhone will not be able to connect to any cellular network. The iPhone technically lost cellular support in 2017 when AT&T sunset its 2G network, and now the last workaround is gone.

All three carriers also ended support for 3G back in 2022, and have also abandoned early LTE iPhones without VoLTE support.

Tag: T-Mobile

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Top Rated Comments

dannys1<br>12 hours ago at 04:35 pm

Typical Apple and their planned obsolescence.<br>Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)

gmnygts<br>12 hours ago at 04:39 pm

Goddammit! Now I have to upgrade<br>Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Hajj.david<br>12 hours ago at 04:26 pm

Wasn't the original iPhone locked to AT&T? I thought unlocking didn't come along until later.

Jailbreaking was initially created specifically for this. Also it was cingular at the time. My cousin would always buy iphones then unlock them and sell them to other people for money in college.<br>Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

LegendaryTechnician<br>11 hours ago at 05:41 pm

This isn’t true. I had an iPhone since the 3G, the second iPhone, and that was with Verizon.

How could you have? The first iPhone Verizon got was a CDMA version of the iPhone 4.<br>Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

B4U<br>12 hours ago at 04:40 pm

This affects literally no one but thanks for making me laugh 👏👌

"T-Mobile kept its 2G network active because it still had some legacy customers who were using it."

This was literally in the article though?<br>Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Mrkevinfinnerty<br>12 hours ago at 04:49 pm

Been struggling to get my Airpods Max to pair with it anyway<br>Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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