- T-Mobile revealed in an internal document to employees that 19 devices will no longer be able to connect to its network as of January 29, 2021.
- Some of the affected devices include the Galaxy Note 4, Nexus 9, Huawei Mate 8 and Xperia Z3.
- T-Mobile will send a text message to affected customers on December 28, 2020.
Whenever we write about new and unreleased phones, we are aware that not everyone gets a new phone every year, or even every two years. Some people use their old smartphones until they don’t turn on, but eventually everyone is forced to update. This may be the case for selected T-Mobile subscribers in 2021, as Android Police obtained internal documents this week detailing 19 devices that will stop connecting to the operator’s network in January.
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According to the documents, phones, tablets, cameras and more will be affected by this change. T-Mobile started notifying affected customers by email on December 18 and then will send SMS text messages on December 28 to those who have phones that will no longer be connected to the network.
This is the complete list of devices that will stop connecting to the T-Mobile network on January 29, 2021:
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (AT&T)
- Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (Verizon)
- Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
- Lifestyle HTC Desire 10
- HTC Desire 650
- Google Nexus 9
- Huawei Mate 8
- Huawei P9
- Mikrotikls SIA_R11e-LTE6
- Netgear Arlo security camera system
- OnePlus 1
- Quanta Dragon IR7
- Samsung Galaxy S5 Duos
- Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
- Sony Xperia Z3
- Sony Xperia Z3 Orion
- Sony D6616 Xperia Z3 Orion
- Soyea M02
- ZTE ZMax
Most of the phones on this list are from 2015 or earlier and, as impressive as anyone has been able to keep any of these phones as their daily driver for half a decade, it’s probably not very safe to use them since they all stopped receiving updates years ago. If for no other reason, anyone using these devices should update only because of security patches that can keep your private data safe from malicious agents.
That said, if you resisted so long, it may be worth waiting another week or two before updating, as a page of the document tells T-Mobile employees to “be on the lookout for additional offers that will be specifically targeted at affected customers. “No offer has been made public yet, but if T-Mobile is going to offer subscribers an incentive to stay on the network, it will likely happen before the January 29 shutdown date.
As for an explanation, Android Police assumed that it may have something to do with “T-Mobile’s requirement for all devices to be able to connect to our network” as of January 2021, but T-Mobile says this is not the case. It turns out that this is indeed the case, but there is also good news: affected customers will receive a new device for free. According to the report, options will include the Samsung Galaxy A21, Galaxy A11, Alcatel GO FLIP 3 and T-Mobile REVVL 4.
Finally, it is important to note that this will impact Metro and Sprint customers as well.
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Jacob started covering video games and technology in college as a hobby, but it quickly became clear to him that this was what he wanted to do for a living. He currently resides in New York writing for BGR. His previously published work can be found on TechHive, VentureBeat and Game Rant.