I've been thinking about this some (during the last few days that I've been snowed in without power, and a rapidly dying cell phone battery).
Somewhere, I have my old Motorola Flip Phone... from the mid 90's. I discontinued service for a while, then when I was ready to re-enable service, the phone company refused to re-enable it, even though it seemed to work with the current network.
Analog. :EEK:
Reading about the 5G, it sounds like it may be fundamentally different from the 4G. If there is a serious attempt to bring widespread 5G across the country, then it could essentially replace 4G within a decade or so, and one might find one is severely limited in coverage if one maintains the old 4G. Will 4G be eventually discontinued like the old Analog?
If I could get the cell phone data plan promised with 5G (and have tethering opened up), I'd likely drop my land line, DSL, and current cell phone plan.
One might actually realize some savings with the conversion.
Will my next phone be 4G or 5G?
I wouldn't go out and buy a $1000 4G phone.
On the other hand, it might be worthwhile to drop $200 to $300 into a used phone that might be good enough for a few years, until the 5G network starts being widespread, and in the places that I'm likely to be.
I'd anticipate we'll see prices falling quickly, and some used 5G devices hitting the market shortly after introduction.
Has 5G actually been finalized yet? Data frequencies? Frequencies sold/purchased? I'd hate to get an expensive prototype that is obsolete by the end of the year.