@Blum
5G for personal use is more of a marketing ploy to the Jones's so that customers with more money than sense help pay for a network that is primarily designed for business/commercial use. But there are always customers that will line up ( or pay someone else to line up) and pay top $$ for the latest and greatest Apple product, Samsung S$$ or Fab Flip Phone they never had but was dreamed up in a movie and finally came to life.
While many newer models of phone's come with 5G they also still come with 4G LTE and 3G. They don't come 2G anymore as the last remnants of that network will be permanently shuttered by Rogers this year. If your phone in fact is only 3G/2G it is starting to reach its age and will want to retire but I would hazard a guess that it may also be 4G LTE capable. Even my little back up Alcatel flip phone from 2014 is 4G LTE compatible.
For the foreseeable future you need a 3G phone with pm in order to use your voice services. 5G is useless with pm as they don't support it. Without even a timeline for voLTE calling for public mobile customers your phone will be fine as long your battery is still good and you don't need a crapton of the latest app's and you are not day trading on your lunch break. While you may start window shopping for a new device to see what you like, you need or don't need, the must haves or the meh?
Don't necessarily look at the latest and greatest. In fact mostly take 5G out of the equation. Look at dropping prices on higher end or flagship phone's that were released in 2019 and 2020. Depending on your needs the great deals you can get on these phone's that would almost break the bank when they were released will likely serve you well into the next 5 years or more?
I don't use any of my phone's for my finances so with security updates that come to end around the 3 year mark doesn't concern me. I picked up a Google pixel 3 last summer mainly to use as my camera for a bargain basement $165. Now I understand the difference between a flagship $1000 device and a mid range phone or lower priced Chinese device that's snazzy looking and functional but neither can come close to the almost perfection Google produced in 2018 with both the pixel 3 and 3xl.
My dual SIM Samsung galaxy A320 still functions well, the camera is still pretty good, the battery only lasts a little more than day now but for 5 year old phone that cost $400 shortly after release it was a great buy. My moto g7+ bought in late 2020 for $180 is my mainstay. Has all the apps I need with plenty of storage leftover, a very good camera in good conditions, great battery, enough updates if I need them for security and a solid design that can take some abuse for years to come.
But my pixel 3 is my baby and it's quality outshines the other two. The camera is amazing and still years ahead of nearly every other device in the market today with only the pixel 6 a marginal improvement and the pixel 6 pro with some marked improvement with the such things as the zoom and focal length but not worth it to me to pay 5 times more for maybe for the techies out there but not for my purposes. Otherwise only the $1200++ priced devices can compete and outperform the camera in certain tests.
While pm's roaming partners in the US (at&t and T-Mobile) decommissioning their 3G networks this year will affect voice calls for pm customers using US Roaming add ons once they are completely shutdown Canadian providers are scheduled to sunset the 3G network and the end of 2025 leaving plenty of time for consumers to replace their aging 3G only devices.
The 4G LTE network is here for a longtime to come and as @BKNS27 has mentioned 5G isn't all its cracked up to be. For the average user it shouldn't even be a concern it's all hype and a way for the big three to dig deeper into impressionable consumers wallets. You know the same people that only buy grey goose vodka and Christal more money than sense or in this case....taste.
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