GPSBob talk to Motorhome Matt about UK 2G shutdown!

This week on the Motorhome Matt podcast, Matt welcomes GPSBob to discuss a topic that’s flying under the radar but could have a significant impact on all leisure vehicle owners: the upcoming shutdown of the 2G network and its potential consequences for tracking systems.

With the phase-out of 2G, the security of motorhomes, caravans, cars, and even heavy machinery could be compromised if their tracking devices still rely on the network. GPSBob dives into practical advice on how to check if your tracker is 2G-dependent and what steps to take if you’re travelling to regions where 2G has already been discontinued.

 

Are motorhome trackers going to stop working on 2G?

Keith Gooden

It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.

Matt Sims

And I’m Motorhome Matt.

Keith Gooden

It’s brought to you by www.thatleisureshop.com. We’ve got some big news for you. A previous guest from GPSBob told you of a big change coming. Isn’t that right, Matt?

Matt Sims

He did. So Guy from GPSBob was recently on the podcast. We were unpacking Thatcham, and he dropped into conversation that the network that trackers work on is being turned off. Trackers work on a 2G network, and the UK government has agreed with all the suppliers of these comms that 2G will be turned off by 2033.

That is not very far away. In fact, most of Europe has already turned their 2G network off, and this, of course, has an impact on our trackers, because they all rely on the 2G phone network to communicate.

Keith Gooden

I remember having a 2G phone. I worked in High Wycombe at the time. We called it the Wycombe brick. You know the big ones with the aerial out the top?

Matt Sims

Like a lunch box.

Keith Gooden

Yeah. I used to have a briefcase, and I used to put it in the end of the briefcase, and the aerial used to stick out at the top, but it was a mobile phone. A friend of mine one weekend took his Wycombe brick up the top of the ladder when he was doing some cleaning out of the gutter. It fell out, hit the ground, and worked perfectly afterwards.

Matt Sims

They were robust. One with a handset with a coily cable?

Keith Gooden

No, it wasn’t that quite that bad. It was the one with the big battery, you know. But the audio quality was fantastic.

Matt Sims

A friend of mine has still got one, a Motorola. I can’t remember the model number. It’s got the old fashioned LED screen, and he’s still got it. He takes it to the pub, and it still works. And people say, “Is that a satellite phone?” It’s a mobile phone from 1988!

Keith Gooden

But it worked on 2G, and that’s the thing we’re talking about. So does it matter if 2G is turned off? I mean, nobody uses it, do they?

Matt Sims

You’re joking? Well, I’m on it all the time. Driving into work, I’ve constantly got that E signal, which is the 2G network, which my mobile phone is relying on. And our phone signal around here – we’re in North Somerset – is just terrible all of a sudden. It’s really turned down the power. I don’t know why.

So many bits of products we engage with every day in our lives are on 2G. So if you go to a country where there is no longer any 2G, your motorhome tracker is probably not going to work, which means you’re no longer tracking your motorhome. So if it was stolen, how do you find out it’s been nicked? It’s no longer communicating because it can’t. So this has a massive impact for the tracking industry.

Keith Gooden

So what are they going to do?

Matt Sims

Well, they’re going to have to start introducing hardware that runs on 4G, because there’s no plan to turn 4G off at the moment. One day it will be. So if you’ve got a tracker that is 2G, you need to consider before 2033 replacing it for a 4G tracker. And bear in mind, that’s a deadline. That’s not the date it’s being turned off. Many countries have already turned their 2G off, particularly around Europe.

Here in the UK, it’s still live, but there is a big move towards 4G, and obviously on to 5G, which is coming. And that isn’t really going to overtake 4G until probably 2029, but by 2033 the UK government has set a directive to the telecoms companies that 2G will be turned off.

Keith Gooden

Yeah, because they’ll be flogging that bandwidth to somebody else. But the point is, and let me play devil’s advocate here, the trackers are working on 2G which is a low technology. And we know by looking at our own phones that you flip out of 4G to 3G and then, as you say, the E on your phone.

So if the trackers are then going to go to one of those higher quality bandwidths, there are occasions where the tracker isn’t going to be working, isn’t it, because it can’t get a 4G signal, or it can’t get a 3G signal. At the moment, it’s at the bottom of the pile, and it can always get that signal.

Matt Sims

Yeah, that’s right. So there has to be a lot of change within the telecoms infrastructure in this country and across Europe. Europe is, it’s fair to say, ahead of us. So I invited Guy back onto the podcast.

Why does the 2G network matter for people who use trackers?

Matt Sims

This is a big change, and the impact is going to be directly affecting many of us in fact, all of us, potentially, with a tracker on any type of vehicle or piece of plant. What as consumers do we need to know?

Guy Carter

Just try to find out if you have a 2G or 4G device. I would suggest going back to where you purchased it from would probably be the easiest way to find that out. 2G as a whole, I think if you’re just UK based, I don’t think it’s going to make as much of a difference for you there. We’ve got sort of a closing date on that.

At the moment the government says no later than 2033, although, because it is no later than, it could obviously be moved closer. Whereas in Europe, you’ve got 22 countries out of 31 countries in Europe who have already switched off their 2G. So it is sort of moving down the line. So it depends on how much travelling you do with it.

Matt Sims

I know Germany has said they’d be turning theirs off by December 2025. But that has a massive impact, then, for us with a motorhome with a tracker on. If we travel to Europe on holiday, it means the tracker won’t work. Is that right?

Guy Carter

Yeah, for the 2G stuff, you are going to struggle. You may still get some signal. In the UK, for example, they’re not turning it off, but they’re not as quick to repair things as they used to be. So there may be patches of signal that you may lose on there. I think the country’s obviously putting their money into the newer generation.

We’ve had the 2G, second generation, third, and now we’re on the fourth. Weirdly, 3G has been turned off quicker than the 2G. But there’s still a lot of infrastructure using 2G, such as your smart meters.

I think the government’s a little bit more reluctant to turn it off as quickly, because obviously there’s still a lot of infrastructure there that wouldn’t work for them. And I’m assuming as well they’ll have trackers on government vehicles and stuff, which will, again, more than likely, they’ll have had 2G. They’ll have to start transferring that up as well.

Matt Sims

The other consideration though, Guy, is if I’m only going on holiday in the UK, in my motorhome, it has a tracker on and it is a 2G platform. If it’s stolen, there’s lots of reports of vehicles being taken to Europe when they’re stolen. Potentially, that means it can no longer be tracked once it leaves Dover.

Guy Carter

Yes, this is another issue. We’re having conversations with people. They’re a little bit worried about this, as you’re saying. A lot of vehicles, obviously, if you’re just staying in the UK, for the most part, aren’t going to affect you.

But there is obviously that element that you’ve just mentioned there, that even if you are just in the UK, if it does get stolen, the likelihood for a motorhome and some high end cars is that they’re not going to stay in the UK. So that’s an issue there.

Matt Sims

And of course, this isn’t just an issue affecting motorhomes. It’s an issue affecting trackers. So it applies to tractors, diggers, heavy plant – for our audience, if they’ve got a car with a tracker on it’s the same issue, isn’t it?

Guy Carter

As a company, we’re obviously starting to move forward with pushing more the 4G side. We have for a while had the 2G and the 4G available. There is obviously a price difference there just due to manufacturing costs, etc.

But we are looking to move that forward because we have the five-year plan, which we discussed before. So you can get a tracker and you’ve got a five-year plan. Looking forward to the 2030 cut off we’re thinking, okay, so in the next three years, we need to really not have the 2G available.

Because then customers won’t be able to get the full five-year plan out of what they’re purchasing, which is something that obviously we’re a little bit concerned about. We don’t want a customer to buy it and in four years’ time, then it gets shut off a little bit early. They might only get three years of their five year tracker that they’ve bought.

Matt Sims

Yeah, well, of course, as I say, it may not work in Europe at all from the moment you’ve bought it, because 2G is turned off already. So Guy, that’s what you’re doing at GPSBob, which is great. But as an industry, as a tracking industry, what is your wider industry doing about this change?

Guy Carter

Yeah, so I think a lot of companies – in fact, I would probably say most companies have most of the 2G and 4G stuff. There’s been a lot of stuff on the two wire. So you’ve had the two wire, the self-installed stuff that we talked about before.

We’ve always had the 2G and 4G version that there as a standard. It’s the Thatcham side that has been a little bit slower to take that on. So we now have the 4G Thatcham, which we’re not going to continue on with, potentially with 2G. So we are moving forward just on the 4G with the likelihood, obviously, of the switch off happening.

As an industry, I think that is going to become the norm, to just have 4G coverage. So you’ve got worldwide coverage there. Even if you go into a country with a 4G device, most devices will still have a 2G fallback.

So in the countries that don’t have 4G, it will fall back onto 2G if needed as well. So you are covered on most 4G devices that will have the fallback onto that. And the Thatcham unit is one of those units that does have that fallback.

So as an industry, as I say, it is becoming more a thing to have 4G because it’s the newest generation of that. I think just moving forward, that is going to be something that… 2G is probably not going to be seen as much in the next two, three, four years.

Matt Sims

It was only a few weeks ago, Guy, that you were here with me in the studio. And we were unpacking what is Thatcham and your range of products for tracking. Since then, in the last few weeks, you’ve had a 4G tracker approved by Thatcham.

Guy Carter

We’ve been looking at doing it for a while, and we had it ready, but it was getting Thatcham to come and obviously do all the testing. So it was just waiting on them. You know, a normal two wire device, there is none of that stuff.

You could just buy a 4G device, and you can sell it. With the Thatcham side, it has to be approved by Thatcham. Obviously, it’s insurance approved, and you’ve got all of those features tested to make sure that that specific device works for it. You know, we wanted to make sure that we’re 100% on that before we started throwing them out there.

Matt Sims

Shouldn’t it be the case, then, that Thatcham withdraw their approval of any 2G tracker going forward?

Guy Carter

The thing is, because we’ve still got the 2033 cut off at the moment, they’re not sort of pushed to do it. For us as a company, it’s something we’re thinking about more purely for the fact that we still have the five year trackers.

So I think that’s the thing that we’ve concentrated on a little bit because we do that. Whereas there’s a lot of companies out there that are doing – you know, you buy the tracker, then you just pay monthly, which is something that we’re now starting to do, and look into doing the monthly payments.

Because, you know, not everyone wants to spend £160 or whatever on a tracker. I think at the moment, we’ve got £160 for the 2G tracker with five years’ tracking. We have got a bit of a discount at the minute on the 4G, so it’s £200.

And with your Motorhome Matt discount again, another £10 off there. So it’s something that we’re just sort of seeing how the markets use it, if you like, because there is obviously the extra expense of a 4G no matter where you’re going to go. You’re going to get the extra expense on the initial outlay there.

However, you’re then guaranteed at least five years with us. You’re going to be covered. Whereas with 2G, because it does say 2033 at the latest… and as we’re all aware, the government doesn’t always follow through with what they’re saying. You can’t always trust the dates that are given. You know, we’ve seen that a lot.

So if something happens in the industry and they decide, actually, yes, turn it off earlier, there’s going to be a lot of trackers and other things that aren’t going to be working. So I think moving forward, we need to preempt that that date could change. It could move forward. You know, if it moves forward three years, our five year trackers are only going to be valid from next year.

Matt Sims

That’s all well and good. That’s in the UK. But as you said earlier, across Europe, a lot of the 2G has already been turned off.

Guy Carter

22 countries out of the 31 have completed or are planning to shut down all of that. So it’s moving forward into that. What’s going to happen is, as you say, there are going to be trackers that people have got that aren’t going to work, and not everyone’s going to know why.

And I think that’s the issue, because it isn’t spoken about. And similar to what we had when we did our podcast the other week, the Thatcham stuff, it isn’t really spoken about. You go to buy a motorhome. You go to drive it away. They give you the keys, you ring your insurance and they say, “Hang on a minute. You haven’t got a tracker on it.”

We’re trying to just preempt it, let people know what’s going on in the industry. And, you know, countries’ governments are shutting these things off. They’re aware that at some point in the next few years, if they have a two year tracker, they need to consider potentially getting a 4G and if they’re looking at a tracker, would it be worth going to 4G for the extra cost of, you know, £30, £40 to do that and just save that hassle later on down the line?

Matt Sims

Well, we’re recording this in September 2024, so there’s our date stamp on when we’re raising this on the Motorhome Matt podcast. But the big question, Guy, is I’ve got a tracker on my motorhome, and the tracker is probably three years old. How do I find out if it’s 2G or  4G?

Guy Carter

Yeah, the best way to do that is to go to where you bought it from. I mean, if you’re fairly tech-savvy, you could have a look at it, and it may have details on there. It depends on who you bought it from. Some of them change the cases so you don’t see the details of 2G, 4G, LTE, and all of that sort of stuff.

So the easiest way would be to look at that. Potentially, if you also look through emails, it should usually say on your invoice for it whether it was a 2G or a 4G device as well. So that could be something to look at.

Matt Sims

You’re assuming that a), I know where the tracker is, and b), I’ve kept the invoice! Shall I just ring the tracking company that supplied it?

Guy Carter

Yeah, that would probably be the easier way, because obviously, they’ll have your records on there. You’ll have an IBI number and things like that, so they can find it within minutes as to what the device is.

What does the 2G network shutdown mean for motorhome owners?

Keith Gooden

That’s Guy Carter, the technical engineering manager at GPSBob.

Matt Sims

Thanks, Guy. It was great to get your insight. And of course, as Guy referenced to me as well in the conversation we were having, even car park meters are going to be affected by this. You know, when you put your coins in and pay for your pay and display parking, they work on 2G. All of that industry has to reinvent itself in terms of its comms. Smart meters at home. Have you got a smart meter at home?

Keith Gooden

No.

Matt Sims

But if you did, that is working on 2G. So there’s a huge change. It’s not just trackers.

Keith Gooden

I do have solar panels.

Matt Sims

Yeah, we know you have solar panels. You obsess about them all the time. How much have you created this morning and donated to the grid?

Keith Gooden

Oh, I haven’t got my phone, but it’ll be something. It’s quite overcast today, so it won’t be fabuloso, but it’ll be alright.

Matt Sims

Only a gentle hug you’re getting from them today.

Keith Gooden

Yeah, yeah. My son will be able to use his computer. He’s upgraded his computer, by the way. He had a nice, quiet computer. He’s upgraded it. Spent £300, and he put in extra fans. It sounds like a jumbo jet landing there with these extra fans. Yeah, it’s got a water cooler in it, he said.

And when you’ve got solar panels, you can look and see how much electricity you’re consuming, which is why we don’t have a smart meter, because the system is basically a smart meter. And it’s gone from 350, like, you know when you’re sitting there at eight o’clock at night and he’s upstairs playing his computer games, to 770. So this computer is… it’s costing daddy money.

Matt Sims

Of course it is. Yeah. Our electric bill doubled this year. It’s ridiculous. We’ve just had the bill through.

Keith Gooden

And it’s going up by 10%.

Matt Sims

Yeah, I know. I’m dreading it. It’s just life is so expensive, isn’t it, these days, and this is not helping.

Keith Gooden

No, no.

Matt Sims

Replacing our trackers!

What should customer and tracker owners do?

Keith Gooden

What is your advice for people, then, who own or are thinking of buying a tracker? Wait?

Matt Sims

You could wait. There’s no problem in waiting.

Keith Gooden

That’s not going to be great for the business, is it?

Matt Sims

No. But if you’re going to Europe and you’re going to a country that has already turned its 2G off, this is going to impact you now. So I would be checking your hardware. Find the receipt, or find the certificate of installation. It should say 2G or 4G.

Or contact the provider, and they will be able to tell you whether you’ve got a 2G tracker. And if you have, I would consider replacing the hardware and starting the subscription. Either adopting that hardware onto your current subscription, or you may have to start a new subscription. It’s about a conversation with your tracking company. So I would be getting in touch with them and asking for the facts so you can make an informed view and take action.

Keith Gooden

I’ve got a funny feeling we’re going to be talking about this again in the future, don’t you think? Because this is a big change.

Matt Sims

Undoubtedly, yeah, and I’m hoping that we’ve kind of lifted the lid on it, that we get people starting to talk about it, because we’re just not seeing this being talked about in the mainstream. So you know, let’s start the conversation and make people aware, because it’s really important.