You can't say we didn't warn you: AT&T is officially pulled the plug on its 3G cellular network, February 22, 2022. That means millions of connected cars will simply stop phoning home as cellular radio towers quit transmitting a signal compatible with in-vehicle hardware, and the fancy features that rely on that 3G signal—things like in-nav traffic and location data, WiFi hotspots, emergency call services, remote lock/unlock functions, smartphone app connectivity, voice assistants, and more—will stop working.The telecom industry has coined this term as "sunsetting," but that's a sort of fancy term for what's effectively a stoppage that'll screw tons of vehicles and other devices. Automobiles, ATM machines, security systems, and even EV chargers are already feeling the effect of this two-decade old cellular standard being retired in order to make room for newer 5G cellular bands. And with the official cutoff actually here, our connected world is about to get a little more fractured—potentially beginning with your car.
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