In January 2022, Vodafone announced plans to switch off their 3G network in 2023. The 3G switch off started in February across small areas of the UK, and Vodafone will be switching off 3G across the rest of the UK region by region, starting in June and continuing throughout the rest of this year.

For our customers (or even if you are not) on Vodafone, we want to make sure you’re clear on how you could be impacted as they switch off their 3G network this year and that you are taking steps to ensure you are ready.

What you need to know

Vodafone’s 3G network is being used less and less. Today, less than 4% of the data used on Vodafone’s network travels on 3G, in comparison to more than 30% in 2016. Vodafone states that retiring 3G will allow them to create more 4G and 5G capacity and bring better and faster coverage to more places across the UK.

When 3G is switched off, customers with 3G-only mobile devices will still be able to make and receive calls and texts through Vodafone’s 2G network but in most cases data won’t be available. Many 3G-only IoT and M2M devices will still be able to connect using the 2G network with reduced speed, however those devices that require faster data speeds than 2G can provide will no longer work and so should be upgraded.

To mitigate this, Vodafone are boosting the coverage and capacity on their 2G and 4G networks so that customers still get a great experience. For customers with 4G capable devices, they are enabling 4G Calling (sometimes called VoLTE) and WiFi Calling on business mobile voice services and they can provide instructions on how you can check and update your device settings to use these features.

What happens next

We hope that this information gives you some guidance as to how this might affect you. However, If you have any questions or want to discuss the impact of these changes on your mobile account, please contact Complete Voice & Data on 0333 772 9544 or email sales@completevoiceanddata.com.