The 3G mobile network will be switched off on 30.06.2021, even though the actual date may be somewhat earlier or even later depending on the provider (Telekom, Vodafone, O2) and depending on the region. So for all users of 3G technology, one thing is certain: the end is here - now!

While we hardly notice this in the private sector because our smart phones are all fairly new and have long since supported 4G (LTE), things are quite different in the industrial sector. Here, machines and systems designed for 20-30 years of operation have been communicating with each other automatically for years or even decades, with or without human intervention via mobile radio, or they connect to control centres or service centres via long-established technologies. No one updates to the next generation without necessity. And because this has run so smoothly for so long, it is easy to forget which basic technology and infrastructure the operation is based on.

2G (GSM - 9.6 KBIT/S) - SMS INSTEAD OF CABLE CONNECTION

In the private sector, it has been almost completely replaced by messenger services such as WhatsApp & Co, but in the plant sector it is still in use today, the SMS (Short Message Service). In 140 bytes, for example, a pumping station can transmit any amount of data to the remote power plant control centre, and the control centre main controller (PLC) can react to this just as easily with a short 1-byte SMS to the pump controller: 1=ON, 0=OFF. With the associated SMS flat rate for the SIM card, the costs for such a solution remain significantly cheaper than laying several 100m of cable through open terrain from the pumping station to the control centre, even after 20 years of SMS.

The SMS service will continue in Germany, with no end in sight. (This is different abroad, e.g. Switzerland and the Netherlands). Running applications of this kind do not need an update, no matter whether the model used today now supports 2G, 3G or 4G, the service continues to run normally on 2G. By the way: Our current 4G routers of the UR32/UR75 series also support SMS sending.

3G (UMTS - 7.2 MBIT/S) - REMOTE ACCESS INSTEAD OF ON-SITE SERVICE

Connections to installations via 3G routers, which are not 4G-capable per se, do not disappear completely with the dismantling of the 3G network, but revert to 2G. These installations date back to a time when equipment maintenance was often still carried out via a serial interface and a character-oriented GUI was the standard instead of today's graphical web interface. Remotely taking a diagnostic look at the system and performing a reset if necessary was and is always cheaper than hours of on-site service trips. With the reversion to 2G, this procedure becomes at least agonisingly slow, or even timeout errors occur that make a connection completely impossible. Action is needed here! Either switch to the current 4G technology now or perhaps even update to 5G in the long term in a future-proof manner right away!

4G (LTE+ - 500 MBIT/S) - LIVE COMMUNICATION WITH THE SYSTEM

4G is the standard today. We use it to surf the web on the move and to connect to machines and systems. Secured via VPN and including encryption, we operate the graphical interfaces and websites of the remote PLC or the industrial computer fluidly or send process data to the cloud every second. If your machine connection is still rather stuttering today or the data update rate would like to be a little higher, then check now whether an update of the mobile router could eliminate this bottleneck. Choose the optimal 4G router for your application from the UR32/UR35/UR75 or ICG-2420 (Industrial Cellular Gateway) model series.