In the past couple weeks I have repaired both my aunts and uncle’s older cell phones, and my aunt in particular loves typing text messages on mini keyboard with a switch for every letter, so much so, that she has purchased a few of the same model.

Unlike older computers, which can still run simple word processing for years, cell phones are linked to the transmission standards, which evolve over the years. My Aunt’s LG phone is a 2G and 3G version, and the recent fix I did was to get the phone to boot in 3G.

I then had to break the sad news to her and my cousin that Verizon’s 2G network had been shutdown and the 3G network will shutdown on December 31, 2022, pushed back from a previous 2020 date. I don’t believe that date will be pushed back again.

To prepare for a transition to a new phone, I was able to upload her contacts and pictures to a cloud site. I haven’t seen new LG keyboard phones for even 4G, so she will have to shift to a new style of phone, and with this forced change I’m hoping she will get a fondness for dictating text messages instead of typing on QWERTY keys. Will her grandchildren or great grandchildren grow up not even knowing about the QWERTY keyboard?