Back to the 90's, Ghosted by the Grid

What is happening? As cell phone manufacturers and grid operators switch to the newest technology, they can't just shut off the old tech. You might not notice with the iPhone you are replacing every three years or so, but that old aunt with her flip phone from 2003 can still make calls in most major European countries. Given the very low bandwidth that so called 2G consumes, there was never a real rush to phase it out. 3G is actually being "sunset" quicker by some as it releases more space on the airwaves. In the next few years the game is up though. By the beginning of the next decade all major players will have completely shut down 2/3G service.

The technical evolution will not just hurt you great aunty, there are also a surprising number of relatively recent cars that will lose certain connections. The eCall function that appeared in modern cars around a decade ago, and became mandatory as of 2018, will no longer work when the service is cut. Just as a reminder, when you hit the eCall button in your car you are automatically connected to the emergency 112 services and the GPS position of the vehicle is relayed to the emergency responders. I don't know about you, but it feels like a car from the 2020's should not start losing safety features like that. For some manufacturers it's not just eCall that risks going dark. Live navigation updates and certain functions that can be controlled from a distance like pre-heating will no longer work everywhere.

This evolution shows the flipside of the software eating hardware evolution. It used to be the case that your car would stay exactly the same as when it left the factory, just older and maybe a bit less reliable. Now, it can often get better with over the air updates but will certainly lose some of its shine when the technology it was built on cycles onward or you stop paying your dues. As always, progress comes at a cost.