Verizon Will Sunset 2G, 3G Network By 2021 → Re: on the customer side

Valid points but i refuse to buy a 4s that i KNOW is obsolete right out of the box. As far as there will be no more dumb phones not everyone wants a smart phone. Theres a few that just want a simple dumb phone like the elderly that can't handle these touch screens. They should leave a choice.

And there lies in the crux of the problem. When I added my mom to my plan, all she wanted was a cell phone without all that fancy schmancy stuff. Now (or at that time they shutdown 3G) she will have to switch to one of them smartphones she will NOT have any use for besides adding costs. Emphasis on adding as that is what the providers want is pretty much more $$$ .

If iphone 4s does what you want or need it to do then it's not obsolete.Not everyone wants an flat screen HDTV but good luck finding a old SD CRT being made still.

Go take a look at Verizon's offerings for basic phones. They have a total of 10, that's it, TEN. Go back 6 years how many did they have? Dozens? Maybe over 100? So what makes you think in another 6 years dumbphones will still be around? There isn't any money in dumbphones an if manufacturers don't want to make them anymore they aren't going to. And as you said they said they will obsolete in a few years so why bother? People still using dumb phone are the kind that typically hold onto a phone for years. So really no point in even making these things much longer. Unless you are suggesting they will make a 4G dumbphone. I'm really dubious of that.

I love my 16:9 CRT HDTV.

I don't know, I still see a "base" phone, or several, being around for some time.

Doesn't mean it won't have further features, or use different frequencies ("LTE"). Perhaps not quite as 'dumb' as they are now, but then again, even the most basic phones these days continue to gain more features (camera, color screens, voice recognition...).

Your analogy also misses the "size factor" - smaller TVs, with fewer features still exist

I was just talking about this very thing on Facebook.

Well, I decided to try something new, and I decided I didn't like it.
For the last 10 years or so I've had a Motorola Razr v3c. Nice little phone, easy to push
buttons, decent screen to find the name of the person you're calling, not too complicated.
Well, everyone was raving about these new android phones like the Droid 4.
Well, I'm not made of $$$ so I bought a Droid 2 from my niece. I figured I'd give the
new technology a try. 6 hours later I ended up calling Verizon back and switching
back to my old phone. The slightest touch on the screen would make this phone do something.
No way is that going to work for me. I think Scotty said it best when
he sabotaged the USS Excelsior, the more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain. I think for me, a phone should be just that, a phone.
The $30 increase in the bill for a data plan you have to have (no way to opt out)
just because the Droid 2 is a so-called "smart" phone also influenced my decision
to switch back to my old one. About 5 years ago, I was in Costco looking at the new phones.
The guy saw me comparing my phone to another and he says, "looks like you need a new phone, yours is looking pretty old." I replied "oh really....my phone still works, does
what I need it to do, make and receive phone calls. He countered, oh but you need to keep in touch on the internet....do this, do that....(can't remember the rest).
I replied again, oh really? I need to keep in touch. I then pulled out a dual band ham radio, and a pager for search and rescue and said, I'm so in touch I couldn't escape if I tried.
Then I said, so what's wrong with just wanting a simple phone?
Seriously, if I want to be on the net, I have a computer at home. If I'm out and
I want to be on the computer, I have a laptop. Granted, the newer phones mean you
don't have to lug around a laptop, but then again, my laptop has plenty of keyboard
space and a nice large screen to look at. I'd rather have a piece of technology
that does one thing well, than have a piece of technology so complicated that
you need a thick manual just to know which menu does what.
Sometimes, simple is best.