11 hours ago, OccyVRS said:

Are we talking about 3G or a G3 (Gulfstream III) 😝

4G will be around for a while. It is the basis of most networks, with 5G not being established enough yet. I would expect it to be phased out in the mid 2030s.

The UK's emergency services (police/fire/ambulance etc.) currently use a system based on Airwave, but the "new" Emergency Services Network that was planned to replace it in 2017 has been designed to run over 4G. ESN now looks unlikely to come into service before 2029, but is still 4G-based, so shutting 4G down before the 2040s would seem to be a little tricky. Of course, expecting joined-up thinking from the Westminster numpties is perhaps overly optimistic 🙄

We seem to be descending into speculation here.

I looked into both the 3G and the TMC switch off in the UK in some detail. Here are some facts pertaining to VAG products.

First 3G

When I spoke to VAG about 6 months ago I eventually confirmed there were no plans to allow cars that depended on it for comms to be retrofitted with anything. No modules or conversion kits planned and the cars so fitted would remain compliant with UK regulation even after 3G was switched off. So VAG abandoned owners of cars that were only 6-7 years old.

The vast majority of VAG product that has an Emergency Call button is using 4G and or was built to be 4G compatible.

Practically this means that for older infotainment it becomes a dumb system and there is no connected information. So you can't use Google maps and you can't get real time traffic. You may or may not be able to use Android Auto.

There are some aftermarket companies that will pull out the factory fitted infotainment and replace it with something more modern. It's a bit of a lottery though as to if it will work on any specific make and model. It's not a small job so quite expensive compared to buying a Tom Tom.

Second TMC

This has apparently been switched off in the UK. More correctly the company providing it has stopped providing it. The basis for this may or may not have been contractual. In other European countries TMC is provided by (sponsored) government. Not so in the UK it seems.

So if you take your car abroad TMC may well still work as it depends on a radio signal.