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Europe's autumn of switch-offs: France, Ireland, Iceland and Sweden, country by country
Orange ends 2G in France on 20 October, eir is retiring 3G in Ireland, Iceland has closed both and Sweden has closed most. Data is fine. Calls on older phones are the check.
Mobile data on 4G and 5G is not affected by this autumn's switch-offs in France, Ireland, Iceland and Sweden. Older phones are. Orange's last French 2G ends on 20 October, and eir's 3G reaches southern Ireland on 28 October.
France ends 2G first and keeps 3G. Orange switches off the last of its 2G on 20 October, except in regulatory white zones, where it ends between 1 and 15 December. Free has no 2G of its own and follows Orange. Arcep, the French telecoms regulator, lists SFR for 15 November, and Bouygues Telecom for 15 November in four pilot cities, then 1 to 15 December everywhere else. 3G stays until 2028 on Orange, the end of 2028 on SFR and the end of 2029 on Bouygues Telecom. Our France post has the full dates and the 4G calling check.
Ireland does it the other way round: eir retires 3G and keeps 2G. The switch-off started in Donegal on 1 October, reached parts of the north, west and east on 14 October, and moves to the southern counties on 28 October. eir says a 3G-only phone loses data while calls and texts move to 2G, and that a phone already using 4G or 5G sees no change. Vodafone closed its 3G in October 2024, per the regulator ComReg.
Iceland and Sweden are the early cases, and both show a catch. Iceland closed 2G and 3G on 1 June 2026, the first European country to do so, and about 4,200 phones still could not reliably reach 112 in early August. Sweden's regulator PTS reports that Tele2 and Telenor shut 2G and 3G in 2025, Telia and Tre shut 3G, and Telia keeps 2G until the end of 2027. PTS ordered Tre, Telenor and Tele2 to block phones that cannot call 112 over their own network from 2 February 2026. Those phones are 4G models that cannot make emergency calls over 4G, and a blocked phone loses all voice calls on the network.
What to check before you fly: first, that your phone supports 4G calling (VoLTE) and has it switched on, because some phones get it through a software update. Second, that your network setting allows 4G or 5G, not 2G or 3G only. Third, that you know your emergency fallback in Iceland, which our Iceland post explains. One gap remains. Arcep and PTS do not say how a phone roaming from abroad is treated, so ask your home carrier whether 4G calling works for you in each country.
A SimFuse plan for any of these four countries carries data only and runs on 4G/LTE or 5G, so a 2G or 3G switch-off does not touch it. It does not replace the calling check above, because your home SIM stays in the phone for calls and your WhatsApp number stays the same. Install the eSIM over Wi-Fi before you leave and it connects when you land.
GSA counts 102 completed 3G switch-offs worldwide against 56 completed 2G ones, so 3G has closed almost twice as often as 2G (GSA, August 2026).
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