Verizon Will Support 3G until 2019

Yesterday, we posted news that Verizon was starting to kill off their 3G networks. This comes 4 years after 4G was initially launched. According to Verizon’s vice president of network operations, Mike Haberman, they are using the PCS bands and repurposing them for their third LTE network. It will be deployed it in 10 markets to start.

“In Manhattan, PCS is up with LTE. It puts us in even a better situation, because you’ve got another 10×10 block out there right now,” Haberman said. Unfortunately Haberman didn’t say what other cities are included in this upgrade, but so far it has also been discovered in Manhattan and Cleveland, Ohio.

The change comes mainly because of the decreased usage on the 3G network. Most customers are upgrading to new devices that support 4G and, let’s face it, 3G will eventually become unused anyway. In fact, most manufacturers like Apple are only making 4G devices now.

For those of you still stuck with 3G as your only option - don’t be too discouraged. Verizon knows this and certainly won’t shut it down completely just yet. Haberman said they are committed to support 3G EV-DO until at least December 31, 2019.