Many of the larger carriers in Canada have already announced that they’re phasing out the 3G networks in Canada, and while most users won’t notice a change, people with older devices might have some problems.
When the 3G shutdown occurs for your carrier, you’ll need to start using voice over LTE (VoLTE) to make calls. However, there are still older phones in rotation that don’t support the feature.
For instance, any OnePlus phone running anything earlier than OxygenOS 14 won’t be able to use the feature due to software constraints. It’s still unclear to us if any other brands or older phones will also have this problem, but we suspect older phones from less popular manufacturers might suffer a similar fate.
Rogers is the first of the big three carriers to shut down its 3G service on July 31. Bell will follow in October, and Telus hasn’t shared a shutdown date yet, but says it’s coming.
Rogers told us that it’s working to make sure that all phones from 2019 and newer will be able to access VoLTE on its network once 3G shuts down later this summer. However, that doesn’t seem to be settled yet, and there appears to be some confusion among Rogers and Fido customer support about the cutoff.
A Reddit post suggests that a Fido customer service agent told a customer that all OnePlus phones won’t get VoLTE on its network, but Rogers told MobileSyrup that’s incorrect.
OnePlus told us that the OnePlus 9 series and older devices are no longer getting software support from the company and therefore won’t get VoLTE compatibility. However, the company is planning to roll out an update to OnePlus 10 and newer devices that will ensure compatibility with VoLTE on all major Canadian networks. Thus, even some OnePlus phones that are made post 2019 won’t work due to a lack of OnePlus support, not Rogers’ network.
There are potentially some ways around this – one user said they called Fido and told them they had an iPhone and their account started working again. Others are tweaking their network settings with third-party apps to gain compatibility. However, for most, I’d recommend switching to a newer phone. It may depend on your phone’s manufacturer, but if you have an older OnePlus phone
This issue is likely going to extend to other less popular smartphone brands that aren’t sold in Canada, and will likely affect some tourists who use phones from outside our market. This is also an issue in other countries as they go through the same thing with aging 3G tech.
Update June 2, 2025, at 4:13 p.m. ET: Corrected a part of the story that erroneously said Telus would shut down 3G in December.
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