Mobile providers are shutting down 3G; what you need to know.

Mobile providers are opening more bandwidth for their new 5G networks, but to do that they are shutting down their old 3G services which could leave some people cut off.

[JDogpt]

The problem with this is, the older technologies have a greater range. The higher the frequency, the more data it can carry, and the shorter the range. 3G/2G reach further at the expense of speed. This also comes into play during emergencies when the primary networks are overloaded, those with the right equipment (emergency services for example) could fall back to the older network and maintain communications. So now you need towers on every street corner, and people in fringe locations may actually lose whatever little service they had altogether.