AT&T is sending emails to customers warning that their phones will stop working soon and that they should purchase a new phone to continue receiving voice and data service. But the email is misleading because these older phones will continue to work on the AT&T network until 2022, or another 18 months. Worse yet, AT&T email goes to some customers whose phones have the modern technology necessary to continue working after the cut of 2022.
“We will soon update our network to use the latest technology,” said the AT&T email, as shown in an article released today by Android Police. “But your device … is not compatible with the new network and you must continue to replace it to continue receiving service. Our team is here to help you find a compatible device that meets your needs.” The email advertises “free same day delivery” for new phones.
The email links to an AT&T support page titled “Get ready, 3G will disappear in 2022.” The support page says AT&T is phased out of its 3G network by February 2022 and that “once we do, 3G devices and 4G wireless devices that don’t support HD Voice will no longer work on our network.”
While email to customers links to that page, email itself sounds as if the phones will stop working in the near future rather than 18 months from now. People who receive the email and don’t click the link may think they have to buy a new phone now.
In addition, some customers receive email even though they already have phones that support 4G and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology that enables AT&T HD Voice service. A customer who suspected that the AT&T email was a scam wrote yesterday on an AT&T support forum:
I just received an email from AT&T saying that your network is no longer supported by my device and that I need to update. First of all, this email seemed suspicious to me. There were strange letters and numbers in the email address line. Unfortunately, with this ongoing pandemic, you have to be very careful what is real and not a scam. Is this legitimate or not? My phone is over a year old, an Android S10E.
The Samsung Galaxy S10E mentioned by that customer was released in March 2019 and is capable of HD Voice support, as confirmed by the AT&T website itself. Another person who received the email wrote in the support forum that “I confirmed that my phone supports 4G and HD voice, which is what AT&T said was necessary. There are far more phones than they list that support 4G and HD voice. Someone is either lazy or a liar. “
It looks like a scam, but an AT&T employee says it’s real
A forum poster thought email is a “safe scam” because “no one-year-old phone will suddenly be incompatible.” But the email was legitimate. In another AT&T support thread where a customer asked today if the email was a scam, an AT&T employee replied, “It is not a scam. AT&T is shutting down 3G so phones that are not compatible with VoLTE are no longer. work. “
We contacted AT&T today and will update this article if the company answers our questions.
Apparently, the problem doesn’t come down to whether the phone has the technology to support HD Voice, but whether AT&T has “whitelisted” it. Android Police wrote that “AT&T only whitelists a small number of phones that it sells directly to customers for 4G voice calls, and it appears that even identical non-carrier phones do not necessarily work with the carrier’s HD Voice service. Like the Galaxy S10E mentioned earlier “Depending on how many phones are incompatible, this email could have been sent to a significant number of subscribers.”
On the AT&T support forum, a customer wrote: “It is rather dull to urge people to buy a new phone during an economic crisis. It is also worth noting that many of the affected phones (such as my Nokia 6.1) are compatible with HD Voice; AT&T just hasn’t bothered to whitelist them. ” The Nokia 6.1 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 630 processor, which supports Voice over LTE.
This AT&T website has a list of “HD Voice compatible devices that work on our network.” The Galaxy S10E is one of those devices, but the Nokia 6.1 is not. The AT&T website also has a list of unlocked phones that support HD Voice, which again includes the Samsung Galaxy S10E but not the Nokia 6.1.
“Get better or die!”
Another support thread was started by a customer who asked why AT&T “told me that my phone [a Google Pixel 3A Plus] is no longer supported by AT&T. “AT & T’s list of HD Voice compatible devices includes Pixel 3A and 3A XL, so it appears to be a customer that received an incorrect notification.
In addition to the AT&T email apparently directed at people who shouldn’t have received it, the email itself seemed confusing to customers. One customer complained that “the ‘Improve or die!’ the email was literally badly formatted “and” essentially free of content: links had to be followed for more information. When I foolishly tried to follow a link it broke anyway, reinforcing the idea that the email was fake “
The customer who called AT&T “deaf to tone” said the change “has been communicated very poorly” and offered some common sense suggestions to the operator, writing:
I hope AT&T improves things by:
- Clarifying that the affected devices will continue to work until February 2022.
- Allow all devices that support HD Voice to use those features on the AT&T network.
- Updating the “Bring your own device” page to clarify these restrictions.
