There are countless examples of carriers trying to convince people that they need a new phone, but this latest example from AT&T is especially troubling. Through an email sent to thousands of customers, AT&T warns that those users need to update their phones to avoid losing the ability to make voice calls. The problem? That will not happen for almost two years.
As first reported by Android PoliceThe email shown below is sent to customers with a bold statement saying “Your device is not compatible with the new network.” This refers to AT & T’s plan to close its 3G network, which some devices still use for voice and data calls. When that happens, only phones that support VoLTE (voice over LTE) will be allowed on the network.
Update 7/23: AT&T apologized for its lack of clarity with this email. The carrier explained to Gizmodo that this email was “one of many” planned to inform customers of the 3G network shutdown and that the lack of a date in the email was an oversight.
This email was one of many planned to keep customers informed about the closure of our 3G network in early 2022. It should have included the date that certain devices would no longer be compatible. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused and will become clearer in future updates.
It’s good that AT&T is admitting its deficiency here, but obviously more steps could have been taken. The operator could have issued a new email to all customers who sent the original (I bet the vast majority aren’t reading this news) and / or announced plans to better manage unlocked devices. In this statement, the operator did not mention the possibility of opening the door to more unlocked devices to get VoLTE support on the network.
AT&T email lets customers know that their current phone doesn’t support VoLTE, but without explaining that explicitly or, more importantly, mentioning that their phone will continue to work until February 2022!
In addition to the critical point of this email, AT&T only supports a limited number of VoLTE phones. Specifically, it mostly officially supports “HDVoice” only on devices it sells directly. A user on the AT&T forums was using the recent Galaxy S10e and received this email simply because it was a model that was not being sold directly through the operator. Understandably, the lack of context provided in the email made that user and many others think it was a scam.
It is possible that AT&T may whitelist more VoLTE devices in the future, but in the meantime the operator clearly wants to lead, and would argue that this email is misleading, to customers simply upgrading to a new phone.
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