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Your original iPhone won't work on AT&T anymore

Your original iPhone won't work on AT&T anymore

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Riding off into the 2G sunset

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Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

Anyone still clinging onto the original iPhone got some bad news yesterday: AT&T announced that it shut down its 2G network on January 1st, 2017. That means any original iPhone 2G owners will finally have to say goodbye to their devices, which will no longer receive cellular service on AT&T’s network.

The 2G shut down will free up resources and spectrum bandwidth

The 2G shutdown has been planned for a few years at this point, and judging by the lack of outcry when the network stopped working over two weeks ago, it doesn’t seem to have had a huge impact in today’s world of 3G and LTE networks. AT&T notes that the 2G shut down will free up resources and spectrum bandwidth for the network to use for future rollouts of more advanced wireless solutions like 5G down the line, which is probably a good thing.

But still, after a 10-year run, it’s still a little sad to have to finally say goodbye to the iconic original iPhone. (That said, if you’re still using an OG iPhone for some reason, maybe consider getting an iPhone 7? You’ll find Apple’s made a couple of upgrades since 2007.)