UPDATE: Verizon Wireless has sent us the following statement on this subject:
The Verizon Wireless 2G and 3G networks will be available into the foreseeable future. Recently published dates are guidelines that we are giving customers who have to plan, fund, and transition large enterprise projects to the faster speed networks. The Verizon Wireless 2G and 3G networks will be available as long as necessary to support customers who may have mission critical projects on those networks.
Verizon customers who are still clinging onto devices that can only operate on the carrier’s 2G and 3G CDMA network have nine years to make the switch to 4G LTE. According to a FierceWireless report, Verizon’s vice president of global strategy for M2m Aparna Khurjekar said that the company is “giving a decade worth of pre-warning” before it sunsets the networks. Khurjekar’s statement isn’t surprising considering how fast the carrier is moving to switch on LTE in more cities. Verizon has said it plans to blanket its entire 3G CDMA network with LTE and get Voice over LTE up and running by the end of 2013. You can’t say Verizon didn’t give you enough time to upgrade to 4G LTE. Read the full story at Boy Genius Report.