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My mobile carrier is upgrading their network from 3G to LTE. I'm using a LG V20 phone, model LG-H915 to be precise. So far, I have been contacted twice by them, claiming that my phone and SIM card should be replaced because of this. They have even offered me a new phone, but I have declined since the model they offered is a cheap one.

There are good reasons to change for a new device, that's true. For one thing, my current phone is running Android 8, which is, well, very outdated to put it mildly. The battery, which is the original one as I never replaced it, seems to be draining a bit faster as well, but it's hard to tell.

However, I'm not sure about the network thing. I did a bit of research, and as far as I understand, the V20 does support LTE, so I should be fine with the new network. In fact, when I activate mobile data (I usually keep it deactivated unless I actually need it), I see a LTE logo appears, and if I check in the phone's settings, it actually says that the network is indeed LTE.

From Settings-­>Network->Mobile Networks :

Mobile Networks screenshot

From Settings->General->About Phone->Network :

enter image description here

So, do I understand this correctly and in fact do not actually need to change phone (well, not because of the LTE network, anyway)? Or is my mobile carrier correct about this?

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  • Do you use the phone for voice calls? If the phone doesn't support Voice over LTE (VoLTE) then it will be unable to make emergency calls (possible government regulation) when the old 3G network is removed. Their attempts to change your phone may be for liability reasons.
    – Morrison Chang
    Jan 6 at 20:55
  • phone calls have fallback to GSM
    – alecxs
    Jan 7 at 17:44

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Your device supports LTE, but not VoLTE (Voice over LTE) => It will fall back to a 3G network whenever you send/recieve a phone call => once your Telecom operator shuts down HSPA/HSPA+ networks aka 3G, your phones loses the ability to process phone calls, including emergency calls.

So yes, you must replace your phone.

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  • Thanks for the answer. This is pretty much was I was being told by the sales rep, minus the actual technical terms. VoLTE was the bit of info I was missing. Now it makes sense.
    – Ertnad
    Jan 7 at 0:23
  • phone calls have fallback to GSM. wait for it and report back
    – alecxs
    Jan 7 at 17:44

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