3G is already off and 2G is going — will your phone still work?

Two different things are happening to the UK’s mobile networks, and they are usually written about as though they were one. It matters which is which, because one has already finished and the other has not started.

3G is gone. Ofcom’s position, on a page last updated on 10 August 2026, is a single sentence: “3G mobile networks are now switched off.”

2G is going, slowly, and each network has its own date. The earliest is May 2029. The latest possible is 2033.

If you have a phone bought in the last decade and it shows 4G or 5G when you use mobile data, the handset side of this probably does not affect you — check that 4G calling is switched on, and then skip to the section on the other devices in the house, because those are a separate question and the one people miss.

When is 2G switching off?

The first three rows are the dates the network operators have supplied to government, published on GOV.UK’s connectivity timeline and last updated on 29 July 2026. The Three row is from Ofcom, which notes that Three does not have a 2G network at all.

Network	2G switch-off	What else the operator has said
EE (BT Group)	Nationwide retirement from May 2029, announced October 2025	Regional pilot closures first, to inform the UK-wide approach
Virgin Media O2	Starts summer 2029	Anticipates localised trials first, building on its 3G switch-off
VodafoneThree	Spring 2030	Service retired earlier in certain areas to test readiness
Three	No 2G network to switch off	Three customers are not affected by the 2G switch-off

All the operators have confirmed to government that they will switch off 2G by 2033 at the latest, and individual operators may go earlier than that backstop. Ofcom’s framing is the same, and the government’s own summary is that the switch-off happens “between 2029 and 2033”.

All three signed the 2G Switch-off Charter, whose point 3 commits the network operators to trial switching 2G off in different areas before going nationwide. What each has actually said differs in firmness: EE will conduct regional pilot closures, VMO2 anticipates localised trials, and VodafoneThree’s entry describes the service being retired earlier in certain areas to test readiness rather than using the word trial at all.

Am I actually affected? The thirty-second check

The government publishes two checks and they are both quick.

One: turn Wi-Fi off, use mobile data, and look at the symbol at the top of the screen. If it says 4G or 5G, your handset works on the networks that are staying. Doing this over Wi-Fi tells you nothing at all, because the indicator is not showing the mobile network.

Two: make sure 4G calling — sometimes labelled VoLTE — or 5G calling is turned on in your settings. Most modern phones have this on by default.

The second check catches the case the first one misses. A handset can be fully capable of 4G data while still being built to place calls on 2G or 3G. That phone looks fine today and quietly stops being able to ring anyone the day 2G goes. GOV.UK defines a VoLTE-capable phone in the plainest possible terms: one “able to make voice calls over the 4G network”.

Ofcom’s summary of where this leaves people: if you are already using a newer 4G or 5G device you should not need to do anything, though some 4G devices might still need a software or settings update so calls use the right network — and your provider will tell you if that is the case.

What 3G going has already done

This is the part people notice without knowing what caused it.

Ofcom describes the position for customers on EE, Vodafone and O2 with an older device: they are currently still able to make calls and send text messages using 2G, but 2G “was not designed to work for accessing data services”, so those customers can no longer access most of their mobile data services now that 3G is switched off. Data still works over Wi-Fi.

So the phone that makes calls fine but shows no internet outside the house is not broken and is not badly configured. It has simply run out of network.

Three is the exception, and the sharper one. Three has no 2G to fall back on, so Ofcom’s statement is that a Three customer with an older device that cannot do 4G or 5G needs to replace it “to make calls, send text messages and access mobile data now that 3G is switched off”.

Which network is my SIM really on?

The date that applies to you is the date for the network underneath your provider, not the brand on the bill. Ofcom publishes the mapping for the three networks that have 2G:

Your provider	Runs on
Lebara Mobile, Asda Mobile, Talk Mobile, VOXI	Vodafone
Your Co-op, 1p Mobile, Utility Warehouse, Ecotalk, Lycamobile, BT Mobile	EE
Tesco Mobile, giffgaff, Sky Mobile	O2

Ofcom’s own note on this is short and useful: 2G switch-off timings for these providers “will be the same as the network they are using”.

Separately — and from GOV.UK and the charter rather than from Ofcom’s table — Three, Superdrug Mobile and SMARTY are named as providers that do not operate a 2G network, so their customers are not affected by the 2G switch-off at all.

If your provider is not in that table, the question to ask it is simply which network it uses — and then read the row above.

Three, SMARTY and Superdrug customers

The government’s guidance is explicit: if you are a customer with a mobile provider that does not operate a 2G network — it names Three, Superdrug Mobile and SMARTY — you will not be impacted by the 2G switch-off. The charter puts it the same way, noting those providers do not need to sign it at all because their customers are not affected.

That is genuinely good news, with one caveat already spent: those same customers took the harder end of the 3G switch-off, because there was no older network underneath to catch a handset that could not do 4G.

What your provider has actually committed to

In March 2026 the government published a 2G Switch-off Charter — voluntary, but signed, and the signatories between them cover around 95% of mobile customers. The mobile network operators signed as VMO2, VodafoneThree (which covers VOXI and Talk Mobile) and EE; the MVNO signatories are Tesco Mobile, Sky Mobile, BT Mobile, giffgaff and Plan.com.

Read the technical notes alongside the list, because they narrow it: points 3, 4 and 9 — the trials, the coverage verification and the quarterly meetings — apply to the three network operators only, and points 7 and 8 are not applicable to all the MVNOs. The commitments worth knowing as a customer:

• Three years’ notice. Signatories will publicly announce the switch-off date of their 2G network and services “a minimum of 3 years before it begins”.
• Trials announced three months ahead. Operators will trial switching 2G off in different geographic areas first, and for each trial area will publicly announce it and inform affected customers directly at least three months beforehand.
• Coverage checked before switch-off. Operators will verify that existing, reliable 4G or 5G coverage is present before switching off 2G, taking all reasonable steps to avoid creating new coverage not-spots and maintaining access to all forms of emergency services.
• Direct contact, in more than one way. Signatories will contact affected customers well in advance using multiple and different means of communication where possible, stating the date and explaining what the customer must do, with accessible communications for vulnerable customers.
• Handsets kept available. Where applicable, signatories will “maintain a supply of VoLTE-enabled phones to purchase, for customers who need additional support”. Note the wording: available to buy, not free.
• Quarterly reporting to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, against indicators that include how many non-VoLTE phones and how many 2G devices remain on each network.

It is a voluntary charter, so none of that is enforceable in the way a General Condition is. But it is published, dated and specific, which makes it a reasonable thing to hold a provider to in a complaint.

It is not only phones

This is the part that catches households out, and it is worth doing before 2029 rather than during it. GOV.UK lists personal equipment that can rely on 2G:

• medical pendants (telecare alarms)
• lift alarms
• fire alarms

Ofcom adds care alarms, security alarms and payment terminals, and the charter’s own definitions note that many Internet of Things devices — smart meters, telecare alarms and other medical devices among them — rely on 2G.

The instruction from government is the same for all of them, and it is not a technical one: check with your service provider to make sure the device works with 4G or 5G, and if it does not, you will need to upgrade it. The organisation that supplies the alarm is the only one that can answer for a specific device — not your mobile network, and not this page.

If there is telecare equipment in the family, it is worth knowing that a second, separate change is happening to it at the same time: the analogue landline network is being retired, with all users of the Openreach PSTN due to be migrated by 31 January 2027. Those are two different deadlines on two different networks, and a device can be caught by either. Our guide to telecare alarms and the digital switchover covers the landline half.

The scam that comes with a deadline

A national switch-off with a real date, real letters and real urgency is an excellent cover story, and GOV.UK’s guidance on the 2G switch-off puts the warning right in the middle of the practical advice:

Your mobile network provider will always contact you directly if they need to get in touch with you. If you do not think it is your provider, hang up. Then call your provider back using a legitimate phone number.

The pattern is the one already familiar from the landline switch-off: a call about a genuine national change, an invented deadline, and a payment or a password at the end of it. The defence is the same too — end the call, find the number yourself, ring back. Our guide to checking whether a call is really from your provider walks through it in detail.

What to do, in order

1. Turn Wi-Fi off and look at the network indicator. 4G or 5G means you are fine.
2. Check 4G calling (VoLTE) is on in your settings. Different question from the first one.
3. Work out which network your SIM runs on, from the table above, so you know which date applies.
4. Ask your provider if the check was inconclusive. It is in your phone settings or on your bill if you are not sure who that is.
5. Say so if a replacement handset would be a problem. Ofcom’s advice is to tell your provider, which might be able to offer additional support and help identify affordable options.
6. List the other things in the house that use a mobile signal — pendants, lift and fire alarms, monitored security, smart meters, card machines.
7. Check each one with the organisation that supplies it, not with your mobile network.
8. Treat any unexpected call about the switch-off as unverified, and ring back on a number you found yourself.

Related

• Why does my mobile signal keep dropping? — the everyday problem, as opposed to the network being retired underneath you.
• Wi-Fi Calling and VoLTE explained — what these settings do, and how to turn them on.
• Is this call really from BT? — the one-minute check for any unexpected call about your phone or broadband.
• Telecare alarms and the digital switchover — the landline deadline running alongside this one.

→ Use the fix mobile signal at home tool