[kristopolous]

And even then it's controversial.

1st gen IoT devices used 2G, even when 3G was a thing. Things like emergency response in cars (eCall in Europe) and other types of infrastructure level "call home" technologies that were intended to work for decades but now must be upgraded before their 2G networks go dark.

There's a bunch of hard to access industrial sensors that have worked fine for 20 years but now crews have to be sent out to service and replace them because the network is going offline. Yes, that does sound like an expensive pain in the ass, you're right.

[jeroenhd]

I think it was foolish for manufacturers to design systems that are supposed to last decades while relying entirely on the technical implementation of a service provider without signing a contract for the entire lifetime for the device.

I've seen it here with systems that rely on the voltage of phone lines to operate. They simply don't work with most digital telephony without additional hardware.

The consumer and business service industry doesn't stand still for industrial and IoT applications and time and time again do companies building these things assume this time things will be different. Whether it's 2G networking or Windows XP, failure to plan and make the necessary deals for the entire lifetime of the device is what's really causing these devices to fail.

If you can't make sure the necessary technology is available for the entire lifetime of your device (which can easily be 20 years or more for a car!) at least make your interface upgradable and well-documented.