{"id":9827,"date":"2021-02-15T10:01:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T09:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/?p=9827"},"modified":"2021-02-15T10:01:14","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T09:01:14","slug":"3g-telematics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2021\/02\/15\/3g-telematics\/","title":{"rendered":"The sunset of 3G telematics is nearly complete"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major mobile carriers in the U.S. will stop offering fleet telematics services on the old generation of mobile data services next year. 4G LTE offers faster speeds, more data, and video services as cellular carriers roll out ultra-fast 5G for consumers.<\/p>\n

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The sun is still setting on 3G cellular service for fleet telematics \u2014 but it\u2019s taking longer than initially expected.<\/p>\n

The four major cellular carriers in the U.S. had old goals to retire the third generation of cellular connectivity as 4G LTE has become standard for voice and data connections on mobile phones late last decade. The carriers also need to make room for high-speed 5G antennae across the country.<\/p>\n

Those initial plans to sunset 3G \u2014 which effectively means carriers stop maintaining the antennae that connect the older technology \u2014 are still on the agenda. But it will be at least another year before 3G, which has been in use for about 20 years, is extinct. This gives fleets that are procrastinating the switch to 4G LTE telematics systems a little more time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween now and when the 3G networks are eventually decommissioned, the principal benefit of moving to 4G LTE will be more reliable data connections, especially in areas of heavily congested wireless networks,\u201d Bill Dussell, senior director of carrier relations for Trimble<\/a>, told FleetOwner<\/i>. \u201c4G LTE does offer higher data throughput speeds once in session.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest plans from the top U.S. carriers, show AT&T sunsetting 3G in February 2022 and Sprint shutting down in December 2022. T-Mobile, which merged with Sprint in 2020, has not announced a formal 3G sunset, the carrier has been more focused on 4G and 5G for years. Verizon, which only has 3G still up for its commercial and government fleet customers, now plans to shut down that network by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n

This will open up more space for 5G, which for now is designed for consumers and other businesses. Dussell said it\u2019s \u201cimpossible to predict\u201d when trucking will take advantage of 5G mobile speeds. \u201cSuffice it to say, however, current deployments of 5G have little relevance to trucking for the time being.\u201d<\/p>\n

While 3G mobile data could be transferred up to 384 kilobytes per second, 4G improved cellular data to up to 100 megabytes per second. Now, 5G promises data transfers up to 10 gigabytes per second.<\/p>\n

With 5G still rolling out, there isn\u2019t a direct trucking impact yet. But the improved latency of 5G could lead to the connected vehicles of the future, Sheila Nedelcu, senior director, automotive products HERE Technologies<\/a>, told FleetOwner<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201c5G would be able to broadcast to all the vehicles in the area that there is an accident ahead,\u201d Nedelcu said as an example of a future where all vehicles \u2014 passenger and commercial \u2014 communicate with each other to create safer roads. \u201cIf a car\u2019s traction control suddenly goes on because there is an oil spill, you could be communicating that information to all the cars in the area. I think it\u2019s going to be beneficial for trucking and regular passenger cars to be able to have the vehicles talk to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that connected vehicle future is still further down the road. For now, fleets can focus on the benefits of 4G, which Dussell anticipates will be around until at least 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, 4G LTE is expected to provide increasing better quality of service, thanks to more reliable data sessions, and higher data speeds,\u201d he said. \u201cHigher speed and more reliable data connections improve performance of media-rich solutions, such as video.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trimble started including 4G connectivity on its telematics devices in 2017. The company spent much of the following years educating and encouraging fleet customers with older devices to make plans to upgrade to the newer, faster technology.<\/p>\n

For fleets that are still using 3G technology, Lisa Park, assistant vice president of Internet of Things business development at AT&T, provided these tips to FleetOwner<\/i> <\/i>last summer<\/a>:<\/p>\n