2G defines basic mobile services, for example telephone or SMS.
3G, 4G etc. added internet to it, but there they are interchangeable. Each new one replaces the former if you use only the internet service. But none of them replaces 2G fully.
It’s more that all should be backwards compatible, so if you have 5g then you still have 2g and it gives you the bare minimum voice and some scraps of data.
They can reclaim all the spectrum for 3 and 4g (which is a lot) for 5g, while leaving some of the barest functions working for stuff that doesn’t need real data.
That’s why they should never switch off 2G.
All the other G’s are unimportant.
1G is important. Most emergency services are based on it.
How so?
2G defines basic mobile services, for example telephone or SMS.
3G, 4G etc. added internet to it, but there they are interchangeable. Each new one replaces the former if you use only the internet service. But none of them replaces 2G fully.
It’s more that all should be backwards compatible, so if you have 5g then you still have 2g and it gives you the bare minimum voice and some scraps of data.
They can reclaim all the spectrum for 3 and 4g (which is a lot) for 5g, while leaving some of the barest functions working for stuff that doesn’t need real data.