Johnny Oxford

Q: ios8 3G disable no longer available

Hi, I have a problem. I live in the UK in an area where the 3G signal is weak. Ever since I have used iphone (since iphone 3G) - I have used it with 3G switched off when at home. That way it was forced to use the GPRS (or 2G) mobile signal from o2.

 

This worked fine, and I had 4 or 5 bars of signal always. If I enabled 3G at home that would drop to between 1 bar and NO SERVICE. This made using the iphone as a telephone virtually impossible as call quality was rubbish and often dropped out.

 

I used wifi for internet so it was never an issue, and I switched on 3G when out if I needed it.

 

Since the ios8 upgrade APPLE have taken away the ability to switch between 2G and 3G. Instead the button now switches between 4G and either 2G or 3G, this either is decided by the iphone itself depending on the strength of the 2G and 3G signals.

 

I have spoken to APPLE twice about this. The first time yeaterday they flatly blamed o2 and said it was nothing to do with them. So I called o2 and guess what; yes you got it, they blamed Apple. IT reminded me of when Steve Jobs got up on that stage and denied there was ever a problem with the iPhone 4 antenna a few years back.

 

So I called Apple back, and today the guy I spoke to did seem to understand my problem and sympathise with it. He said I was not alone and that hopefully it would be fixed by an update. I have since however read various blogs with people complaining about this since the beginning of the year with BETA verions of ios8, and in the past 48 hours many more, from Ireland, Argentina, South Africa, India......

 

Luckily for me I am only 3 months away from an upgrade, so if they dont fix it by then I am going to take the leap and jump to Android.

 

The short term solution - and you need to be quick if you have already upgraded to ios8, is to downgrade to ios7.1.2

 

This is not officially supported by Apple, but it you google it, it is quite easy, you have to download an ipsw file and then do a restore in itunes, but you will lose everything on the phone, and you cannot back up from a backup made with ios8.

 

I hope they sort this out, it has driven me mad over the past 2 days.

 

We need the Toggle between 2G and 3G to be re-instated

iPhone 5, iOS 8, cannot disable 3G

Posted on Sep 19, 2014 6:56 AM

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Q: ios8 3G disable no longer available

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  • by Johnny Oxford,

    Johnny Oxford Johnny Oxford Sep 22, 2014 1:56 AM in response to supersparksteve
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2014 1:56 AM in response to supersparksteve

    still no news? I have emailed Apple again, and am waiting for a reply, if I hear anything I will post on here.

  • by Johnny Oxford,

    Johnny Oxford Johnny Oxford Sep 22, 2014 4:48 AM in response to Johnny Oxford
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2014 4:48 AM in response to Johnny Oxford

    just had a call back from Apple, basically telling me nothing, and still blaming the carriers.

     

    Pathetic.

  • by gardena75,

    gardena75 gardena75 Sep 25, 2014 6:52 AM in response to Johnny Oxford
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 25, 2014 6:52 AM in response to Johnny Oxford

    shame on apple, we trusted and now this!

    downgrade ios 7.1.2

  • by supersparksteve,

    supersparksteve supersparksteve Sep 26, 2014 12:33 AM in response to gardena75
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 12:33 AM in response to gardena75

    If I could I would, but trying to find a reliable download is not easy for the iPhone 5.

    Also people with auto back-up are finding when they reboot the phone after the downgrade it wipes their back-up out.

    I checked my back-ups and I have the last time I linked to laptop on lead and the only other one is on the 19/09/14 the day I upgraded.

    Neither are Firmware only contacts, apps etc.

    I think you must disable auto back-up first.

  • by David Shanahan,

    David Shanahan David Shanahan Sep 26, 2014 1:02 AM in response to Johnny Oxford
    Level 3 (920 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 1:02 AM in response to Johnny Oxford

    This is not an Apple issue. The ability to switch off/on 3G/4G is controlled by the settings file that comes from your carrier, not from Apple. It's called the carrier settings file. When you upgrade iOS you will normally also automatically get a new settings file from your carrier immediately after you finish the update of iOS. Normally it's an automatic download your carrier pushes out to your device when it logs onto their network using the new iOS version. This may well change the option switch in Settings/Mobile (this option name differs from carrier to carrier also, mine says "Mobile", yours may well say something else like "Cellular" or whatever) from "Enable 3G" to "Enable 4G",  and other network settings, at the carrier's discretion. Mine did after upgrading from iOS 7 to 8, and my carrier is a VMNO that doesn't even offer 4G currently!

     

    What you need is a new settings file from your carrier that restores the Enable 3G functionality. Apple can't do it, it has to come from the carrier. Unfortunately it seems most carriers tie their settings files to the version of iOS in use and are reluctant to offer customers custom files, so the only way to get back to the older settings file is to go back to an older version of iOS, and that's only possible for a short time after the release of a new version of iOS. It may well already be too late to go back to iOS 7 if Apple are no longer signing new installs of it now that 8.0.2 is out.

  • by Rakesh7D,

    Rakesh7D Rakesh7D Sep 26, 2014 1:40 AM in response to David Shanahan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 1:40 AM in response to David Shanahan

    Hi,

     

    I tried posting this separately but it wont allow me to. Maybe the terms and conditions in the agreement have found some words in my post which might seem offensive. I'm sorry i have to reply on your post David but i want to be one of those users of Apple who wants to be heard.

     

    I do not intend to start another thread for this topic just for the sake of it. But this is an attempt asking folks at Apple to do something about this. I find it hard to believe why Apple cannot do anything about it. There has to be some way in the code which invokes the carrier settings to bring the toggle for 3G back. It cannot be an only carrier issue.

     

    I'm an Iphone5 user from India. Ever since an upgrade to ios8 i have lost the toggle for switching 3G off rendering me with no form of data connectivity in the absence of 3G. I have seen multiple threads where users who've upgraded to ios8 in various countries are facing a similar problem.  Just like most of them i have approached my carrier asking for an explanation if they've sent any carrier settings upgrade over the air which automatically updated with ios8 and they are clueless about it. They've asked me to wait for a software update from Apple and inspite of updating to ios8.0.2 i still do not see that toggle. Not that it was stated anywhere that it might come in this update but i am sure engineers/developers at Apple read these posts and so i was hoping it might work.

     

    Please do something about this. If there isnt any code which does this on its own then please write one. Bring the toggle back atleast till the entire world moves completely away from 2G.


  • by Jenpen81,

    Jenpen81 Jenpen81 Sep 26, 2014 1:47 AM in response to Rakesh7D
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 1:47 AM in response to Rakesh7D

    Unfortunately, I am in the same position.  As soon as I (stupidly) upgraded, I lost 3G toggle.

     

    Now, I cannot even leave my cellular data on.  I only turn it on momentarily when I need to check mail and such.  Leaving it on for a few minutes, has drained 15% of my battery.

     

    Unlucky for me, I do not have a MAC and my laptop which has all my iTunes backup, is not in use at the moment so, I cannot downgrade.

     

    To put it blunt, Apple has erred massively in regard to the elimination of the 3G toggle.

     

    Thank you, Apple.

  • by David Shanahan,

    David Shanahan David Shanahan Sep 26, 2014 2:05 AM in response to Rakesh7D
    Level 3 (920 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 2:05 AM in response to Rakesh7D

    Your carrier own and operate the network, not Apple. They add their specific settings to a file that adds the necessary cellular network-specific information to iOS as distributed by Apple so it works with their specific network setup. This file includes stuff like the Enable 3G/4G switch. They determine whether you can use 4G, 3G or whatever on their network and what devices and operating systems they will support.

     

    See: iOS: Updating your carrier settings and iOS: About cellular data network settings (viewing or editing the APN) for more information. Yes, the people who typically answer customer queries at most carriers are clueless about the settings file and what it does, they're clueless about most things aside from plans and so forth.

  • by William Kucharski,

    William Kucharski William Kucharski Sep 26, 2014 2:12 AM in response to Jenpen81
    Level 6 (15,159 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2014 2:12 AM in response to Jenpen81

    Jenpen81 wrote:

     

    To put it blunt, Apple has erred massively in regard to the elimination of the 3G toggle

     

    As many people here have stated, Apple removed the toggle from iOS 7 in the US and now iOS 8 internationally at the request of cell carriers.

     

    They want to retire their legacy 2G equipment and can't do that until they get their users onto 3G and above.

     

    This isn't done via a carrier settings update but rather by removing the ability to control it from the OS.

  • by David Shanahan,

    David Shanahan David Shanahan Sep 26, 2014 2:15 AM in response to Jenpen81
    Level 3 (920 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 2:15 AM in response to Jenpen81

    Apple did not do this, your carrier did. It's one of the settings in the carrier settings file that your carrier pushes out to your phone. It's your carrier's network, not Apple's, they decide what options and settings to offer for devices connecting to their network. You need to take this problem up with your carrier, not Apple.

  • by Rakesh7D,

    Rakesh7D Rakesh7D Sep 26, 2014 3:47 AM in response to David Shanahan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2014 3:47 AM in response to David Shanahan

    David, i just checked and you are right.

     

    Me and my wife are attached to the same carrier. She is using a 5S and is still on ios7.1.2 and her carrier settings are different from mine. Which means for ios8 (and ios7 for some users in other parts of the world)  the carriers / service providers worldwide are forcing people to be on 3G and 4G when they arent fully prepared to offer services. Which also means we are at the mercy of carriers to strengthen their network which in turn can reduce battery drain inspite of being on 3G.

     

    And even though this is not a forum to complain about and to the carriers, as a customer representative of the people who use their products maybe Apple ought to take this issue up with the carriers.

  • by William Kucharski,

    William Kucharski William Kucharski Sep 26, 2014 12:45 PM in response to David Shanahan
    Level 6 (15,159 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2014 12:45 PM in response to David Shanahan

    Interesting; here in the US it disappeared in iOS 7 without a corresponding carrier update.

  • by Rakesh7D,

    Rakesh7D Rakesh7D Oct 20, 2014 11:30 PM in response to Rakesh7D
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 20, 2014 11:30 PM in response to Rakesh7D

    Hi everyone,

     

    Here's an update. ios 8.1 has resolved this issue of having an option to switch 3G on and off. And i am not sure who has done what or all of it has been done in tandem. Whether it was just apple who made those changes or they had arangements with carriers to send another update file, but i am happy that it has worked in a user's favour.  I suggest everyone to check it out themselves.

     

    Nevertheless i'd like to thank Apple as well. Good work from Cupertino *two thumbs up* from me.

  • by supersparksteve,

    supersparksteve supersparksteve Oct 21, 2014 12:03 AM in response to Rakesh7D
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 12:03 AM in response to Rakesh7D

    Well I updated last night and it's no different, still no option to switch 3G off, just Mobile Data and 4G option.

  • by Jenpen81,

    Jenpen81 Jenpen81 Oct 21, 2014 8:18 AM in response to supersparksteve
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 8:18 AM in response to supersparksteve

    THankfully this has been solved from my part. However battery power is very weak.

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