Orange and Free End 2G Across 43 French Departments, Silencing Devices People Believe Are Protected

In five days, hundreds of thousands of elevators and teleassistance devices could have no way to communicate with the outside world. Many owners are still unaware that Orange and Free are preparing to switch off 2G in 43 departments, taking with them safety devices that were once thought indestructible and perfectly reliable.

These “protected” devices that will suddenly go silent

People tend to believe that once installed, a security system operates forever. This is especially true for emergency-call buttons in elevators or the teleassistance bracelets worn by the elderly. These devices seem to belong to a special category—things you don’t touch because they’re supposed to watch over us in silence.

The problem is that these devices often rely on technology more than thirty years old: 2G. And the professional elevator federation is clear: 232,000 telealarm systems still run on this network, to which 58,000 3G devices are added. That adds up to nearly half of France’s elevator fleet, all things considered.

On the teleassistance side, the figures are not more reassuring. There are 120,000 devices still connected on 2G and 180,000 on 3G, used by the elderly or people in dependent situations. In other words, hundreds of thousands of households rely on a technology whose expiry date is approaching rapidly, without necessarily realizing it.

France counted 1.7 million active 2G terminals at the end of June 2026, compared with nearly 2.9 million a year earlier. A decline of 41.4% in twelve months, showing that the transition is already well under way, but far from finished for everyone.

The five-day countdown that no one saw coming

On October 20, 2026, Orange will definitively switch off 2G in 43 departments. Among them are some of the country’s most densely populated areas, including Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Yvelines, and Val-d’Oise. The full list is published in a calendar by Arcep, the telecoms regulator, and covers both rural departments and large urban areas.

This deadline is not arbitrary. It fits into a gradual schedule that began on March 31, 2026 in Bayonne, Anglet, and Biarritz, before expanding in May and June to several departments in the Southwest. Nice followed on September 22, then 44 more departments were cut off on October 6. The October 20 wave thus marks a particularly large advance.

One detail worth noting: Free Mobile has no standalone 2G network of its own. Its subscribers connect through Orange’s antennas under a roaming agreement, validated by Arcep until the end of 2028 for end-of-life networks. As a result, Free customers follow exactly the same schedule as Orange, with no exceptions.

Only the regulatory white zones benefit from a postponement, with the shutdown pushed back between December 1 and December 15, 2026. For the rest of the affected territory, the deadline is October 20, with no additional leeway.

The remedy already exists: 4G chips or migration to a rival operator

Facing this imminent deadline, two concrete options are available to those affected. The first is to replace the telealarm or teleassistance hardware with 4G-compatible chips and modules, notably those supporting VoLTE and LTE-M, designed to carry voice and data over newer networks. This is the most durable solution, but it requires a rapid technical intervention.

The second option, more immediate, is to switch to a carrier that still maintains an active 2G network. SFR will shut its network on November 15, 2026, and Bouygues Telecom between November 15 and December 15 depending on the municipality. This delay provides precious breathing room for households caught off guard by Orange and Free’s deadline.

Another point to know is that a phone still capable of 3G will continue to be able to place calls until 2028 on Orange and SFR, and even until the end of 2029 on Bouygues Telecom. In short, 2G disappears faster than 3G, which buys a little time for those whose devices shift to this intermediate frequency.

In any case, waiting is clearly not the right strategy. Co-ops with old elevators and families who installed a teleassistance device for a relative have every interest in checking, as soon as possible, the compatibility of their equipment rather than discovering the outage at the worst moment.

This gradual shutdown of 2G is not a whim of technology. It frees up precious frequencies for higher-performance networks, while forcing an upgrade that many had postponed for years. One can only hope that the days left before October 20 will be enough for those who had not yet grasped the issue.