Without 2G your car is not luxury

It was known that shutting down 2G/3G mobile networks could cause problems, but could cars be affected? Brits who drive Nissans have the upper hand in that regard.

It is a story it is already a week old, but it has not yet been picked up on this side of the North Sea. The UK government wants to take 2G and 3G networks off the air. This space creates a need for 5G (and to a lesser extent 4G). This decision is good news for telcos, but also bad news. Low maintenance costs are great, but forced migration of customers is a different story.

Who are the 2G/3G users?

Who are the customers who are still using 2G/3G? Are they owners of outdated smartphones or alarm systems? That is indeed a group, but there is also a group that is suitable for the customer number in the telco’s database, and those are the big customers who need a SIM card for their services. In the Netherlands, it has recently become clear that millions of smart meters belong to the latter category. Network operators must change. Simply changing the SIM card to a 4G model is not the solution, because the equipment can no longer handle it.

There are many more user groups among prepaid and dumbphone owners and network operators. Not every group is aware of the impending loss of communication. The British have discovered where this can lead.

Nissan

Nissan, the Japanese car manufacturer with factories in the UK, which is a company that provides “in-house” services, has announced that the program will no longer work for all Leaf and NV200 vehicles built before 2016. The first model is a passenger car, another van. According to Nissan UK, there are still 3,000 of both models on the road.

They can still drive after losing the functionality of the software, but you’ll miss out on most of the luxury. Remote heating, setting a heating profile for each rider, is something you only miss when it no longer works. The program is also useful for the payment of these vehicles, because it has a timer for this.

2G only

And why doesn’t all that work anymore? The app and the car can only communicate via 2G. Nissan offers no alternative. Anyone driving a Leaf or NV-200 can no longer use the app. Nissan has removed it from the app stores and disabled full functionality on the server side.