Saying Goodbye to 3G in New Zealand

It feels like yesterday that 3G was the bleeding edge of mobile technology, I still remember being blown away by my first iPhone – the mighty 3GS – it’s fluid UI and amazing capabilities. As with CDMA a couple of decades earlier, 3G is now being shut down permanently. This change is said to be finalised 31 March 2026, and of the major operators Spark, Skinny and 2Degrees have fully completed theirs while OneNZ has completed the South Island and will finish the North Island in March.   

This is part of a global transition to newer, faster, more reliable technology (4G LTE and 5G), freeing up network capacity and spectrum that will be used to improve overall mobile coverage and performance.

Why This Matters

Even if your phone shows 4G or 5G now, many devices still use 3G in the background — particularly for voice calls. Once 3G is gone:

Emergency 111 calls will not connect on devices that cannot use 4G/VoLTE or 5G.

Phones that rely on 3G for calls or texts may stop working completely.

Older tablets, smartwatches, medical alarms, vehicle trackers and other IoT devices that are 3G-only will stop connecting.

What Phones Will Still Work

For your phone to keep working after the 3G shutdown, it must:

• Support 4G (LTE) and/or 5G
• Support VoLTE (Voice over LTE) for voice calls on your carrier’s network

Most modern phones that were bought new in New Zealand will meet these requirements. However the plot thickens for parallel imported devices, or those bought overseas. Certain overseas markets (looking at you USA) use different 4G bands to NZ, so while they support VoLTE they may not support it on our 4G. Further, devices must be on the telco’s approved devices list for it to work, so at this stage the less mainstream devices such as OnePlus will not work, even though they fully support VoLTE and operate on the requisite 4G bands. Here’s hoping the approved devices list is added to at some stage.

Phones Likely to Continue Working

• Most iPhones from iPhone 6s onwards that support 4G and VoLTE — including iPhone SE, 6s, 7, 8, X, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, 16 and 17 series.
• Most Android phones released in the last 7–8 years that support 4G and VoLTE (e.g. Samsung Galaxy S7 and newer, Google Pixel models, recent Huawei and Motorola devices).

Phones That Won’t Work After the Shutdown

Any device that only supports 3G and not 4G or 5G will lose connectivity entirely.

• iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4 (3G-only models)
• Early Android smartphones from around 2012–2014 that did not include 4G
• Older feature phones marketed as 3G-only
• Older phones that don’t support VoLTE
• Phones purchased overseas that might operate on different 4G bands
• Phones not on the networks approved device list
• Some phones will work with a software update or change of settings

How to Check If Your Phone Is Ready

Before the shutdown:

• Text “3G” to 550 from your mobile — this free NZ tool will check whether your device is compatible.
• Check your phone’s specifications to confirm it supports 4G and VoLTE.
• A couple of the main network providers have nifty device checkers, which we’ve linked below;
  • Skinny 3G Network Shutdown
  • Phones Compatible with VoLTE and WiFi Calling | 2degrees
• Visit a store and ask staff to check your device compatibility.

What does this mean for SellMyCell?

Complicated isn’t it. Most of the phones in NZ circulation today are NZ new so shouldn’t have any issues, we do get the odd device that was purchased new overseas though, where this is the case and the phone is found to not work on NZ networks, we may need to revise the offer for that device. If there are doubts please feel free to reach out via our live chat or email.