Bringing 2g Back?

submitted by tiny-brown-mug from self.technology

Hear me out. This may sound weird, but it must be possible. There are a lot of folks out there who own and love older tech, especially quad-band 2g cell phones. But it's becoming increasingly hard to connect in the US.

T-Mobile is still broadcasting a 2g signal, but doesn't like to let new customers latch on. You may get a few minutes or hours of service / connectivity, but you'll likely get kicked off soon.

Would it be possible to construct a very small, portable 2g transmitter that would synch with a dumbphone's SIM card and allow the phone to make and receive calls? Probably only within a range of a few feet, but still.

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[–]tiny-brown-mug[S] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I have found that, so far, Tello is working for me. It's an mvno. I had to activate the sim-card in a 4g LTE phone and leave it in there for a couple months, then tried it in my 2g phone. It's working!

So far, it's working. So, if anyone is looking for a really affordable, customizable option to use with an old 2g dumbphone, try Tello. Just activate it within a 4g phone, and leave it in there for a while. Switch it to the 2g phone, and it'll hopefully work for you.

[–]tiny-brown-mug[S] 0 insightful - 1 fun0 insightful - 0 fun1 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is the closest I've found to anything remotely like this. I think folks would basically have to cobble together their own system.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2010/04/20/91755/build-your-own-cellular-network/