After GSM networks are shut down, can old GSM phones be revived somehow? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ohren
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2025, 04:23:35 pm
content: I recently dug out my first ever (GSM) phone (Ericsson T65), and was once again surprised by how comfortable it was to hold compared to modern smartphones. Maybe nostalgia and the familiar shape in my hand played a part too. I justlikeit — the shape, size, looks, buttons, beeps...GSM networks are shutting down where I live, so I was wondering about the fate of these old phones after that:Have they no recourse?I don't know much about mobile networks more than that here we use 900 and 1800 MHz for "2G". Without modification, is there any way to privately 1) interface with them, 2) do so legally (probably/probably not?), 3) do so economically?Can they be used some other way?The RF/HAM radio forum didn't seem appropriate for the topic.

author: bw2341
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2025, 04:45:16 pm
content: When the GSM 2G services are shut down, the frequencies are reused with new equipment for more modern services such as 5G and LTE. This improves service for current customers by increasing capacity.With no remaining 2G equipment in the tower, your old phones will never connect again.The only way around this is to contact your local government to have them prevent the 2G shutdown before it happens.

author: ohren
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2025, 05:09:14 pm
content: Well, yes, the premise was that it will never connect to anything "official" again. Arguing with government doesn't sound like a feasible private solution though.I take it that the chances of a legal technical solution are slim, considering the reuse... what a shame

author: bw2341
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2025, 06:00:38 pm
content: Advanced RF/HAM hobbyists might have old base station simulators or a software defined radio version. However, this would only be for tinkering in the lab in very close range or with a hardwired connection.Maybe you could fit a modern mobile module into the shell of the Ericsson? The level of crafting skills needed would be quite high. Maybe someone else has already done something similar.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2025, 10:21:38 pm
content: Yes, you can get 2G running with an SDR kit. For instance, something like OpenBTS. Operating in GSM bands without a licence is illegal in many countries, so you would need to make the room / area you test in a Faraday cage if you want to stay legal. Of course, this wouldn't be super useful, given you would be unable to access anything other than other phones connected to that base station, unless you plan to implement your own calling infrastructure (good luck with that).I went to EMF Camp in 2022 and they had a DECT system for calling others in the campsite, it was quite cool, you just needed to bring your own DECT phone and they would set it up with its own number. It was just hackers being hackers. I believe they had a licence from Ofcom to do this.I have also heard of an American hacker-camp that did the same thing with 2G and issued eSIMs to everyone - likely based on the above - they would have certainly had a licence from the FCC and would have needed to be very careful about transmit power and so on.Private 4G is also a thing: the next generation of UK police/emergency services radios will be operating on a dedicated 4G band provided by BT/EE.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2025, 04:35:02 am
content: If the phone is an international model, in theory one could set up a private 2G network on the ISM band, so 850MHz in a country that uses 900MHz for cellular or vice versa. Just a lot less practical than modding an ESP32 into the phone to turn it into a VoIP phone.

author: ohren
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2025, 03:22:08 pm
content: Thanks for your replies. I appreciate the suggestions.Reusing one's phone is starting to sound a bit less like a fun project — like how you can reuse wired phones by plugging them into an external module that takes care of everything — and a bit more like an obsession :-) which requires a custom design for every phone model, and a separately manufactured module and installation for each and every phone you want to "rescue". It sounds cool, but even if one were to come up with a design these thresholds would probably prevent it from rescuing any significant number of phones out there. In any case, I'm no EE so I'm far from being able to pull this off, myself.I couldn't find 850 MHz in the list of ISM bands on Wikipedia, only 902+ MHz for region 2, but I know very little about that subject.Having a private little network and software that translates calls into something useful would've been nice, so that they could have the same use case as wireless landline phones at home, but I wouldn't want it to cause interference for neighbors. It sounds like I won't be seeing any plug'n'play solutions if it's illegal.Playing Snake is all they'll be good for.

author: akku46
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 04:27:29 pm
content: 1G NMT phones have been modified for 70cm ham radio band use, but doing that to 2G phones would be much harder or infeasible.The closest ham bands would be 23cm (1.2 GHz) and 33cm (902 MHz) but the latter is only legal in the Americas, and GSM phones are much more complex anyway.

author: EPAIII
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2025, 10:24:02 pm
content: We live in a throwaway age. You are expected towantto buy the new one every few years. It does not matter if you think the "new and improved" model really is any better or not. You are expected to toss the old one and buy the new model anyway. Just look at all the automobiles rusting away in the junk yards. They are literally worth their weight in scrap steel. And in my working days I have thrown away many pieces of equipment that, when new a decade before, cost many thousands of dollars. The only part of most of them that I considered salvageable was the power cord. At my last job, around a decade ago, we finally replaced the last PC-XT in the building. The guys took it out in the parking area and beat it to pieces with hammers and axes. It went into the dumpster in many pieces! Tin cans get more respect when empty.I was collecting all my old phones that don't work anymore just last night. I have a bin full. I will save the wall warts for future use. I have two boxes full and pull one out for a project from time to time. But the phones will go to whatever recycler I can find. Or just into the weekly garbage pickup.I sometimes look at the "smart phone" that I carry around - weather I want to or not. Mine is just a Nokia, Android model, nothing fancy. Then I remind myself that my plain, old Android phone which only cost a couple of hundred dollars, has more computing power in it, in that ONE phone than what existed across the entire planet on the day I was born in 1944. And when someone decides to change things again, it will be just a throwaway tin can. And the same applies to all those other phones that I am going to toss in a day or two.It's a throwaway, tin can society. Fortunately everything gets recycled by some process, sooner or later. Nature knows how to take care of nature; even without any help from the green-weenies.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2025, 11:10:26 pm
content: An example of a recycling service for old phones:https://www.bigskyrecycling.com/chicago-illinois-cell-phone-recyclingThe circle of obsolescence completes.