There were some burner flip phones that didn't have 4G up until around 2015, LG making a few of them. This guy was buying used pieces of crap and complaining how they weren't going to support a waste of spectrum.
Incorrect. It was a brand new Samsung Galaxy A5 Duos which I bought in early 2018 for well over $300. Yes, it was 4G, but not voice over 4G. It stopping being able to make voice calls on AT&T’s network only four years later. I think T-Mobile still supports 2G, so it would work there, but I’m not sure.
Anyway I got a Pixel 5 and now use T-Mobile’s instead of AT&T’s network (via Ting, since I use little mobile data and that gives me a phone with a low-bandwidth data plan for $15 a month + tax), since T-Mobile is better about supporting legacy phones and protocols.
In terms of the “waste of spectrum” argument, I think it’s better for the earth to “waste” some spectrum than waste millions of perfectly good phones. One takes up landfill, the other doesn’t. But, to each their own.