iphone connected to wifi but always chooses cellular

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Level 1

12 points

iphone connected to wifi but always chooses cellular

I have two iPhone 7 Plus phones. Both are connected to the same wifi as well as every device in my house. But my iPhone appears to choose the cellular connection for data. If I tell the app to only use wifi, or turn off cellular data, it works fine on wifi. But then its not usable when I leave my home. Simply opening up safari to google, it will say no internet on my phone but my wife goes right to it (cell connection is only 1 bar in my home). My instagram is crazy slow or won't connect, youtube videos will not play.

I have rebooted the phone and reset the network settings as suggested in most google searches. IOS is up to date. I am about to wipe and re-activate. But I wanted to look for other suggestions before I take this rout.

iPhone 7 Plus

Posted on Jan 30, 2020 10:36 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Mac_slide

Level 3

605 points

Jan 31, 2020 7:10 AM in response to mgrabow

You can always sip on and off manually when you leave if you have to - I would use the control panel and tap and hold on the icon. ALSO you do have 1 bar - so maybe get a range extender or a better newer wifi?

You might just need to just reset all network settings and try again... Usually HOLDING airplane mode on then off for 30 seconds fixes or helps connect for me. You may need to put in airplane mode then power OFF, wait a minute and power back on and turn off airplane mode.

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Answer 2

Mac_slide

Level 3

605 points

Jan 30, 2020 11:03 AM in response to mgrabow

Try checking WIFI assist - go to cellular> data> all way at bottom, then toggle slider to a green bar

& at top make sure you have under cellular data options Enable LTE & Data roaming

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Answer 3

Jan 31, 2020 7:16 AM in response to mgrabow

You want Wi-Fi assist to be OFF. If it is on, when the Wi-Fi signal is weak or slow it will switch to cellular. But even with the switch off, if the Wi-Fi signal is very weak or intermittent it will switch to cellular also. And it will always use cellular when the phone is asleep, because Wi-Fi turns off 30 seconds after the phone goes to sleep to preserve battery life (Wi-Fi, when connected, uses power continuously whether it is being used for data transfer or not).

There are also some functions that always use cellular data: Visual Voicemail, MMS messaging, and Notifications. That’s because all of these originate at your carrier, and your carrier doesn’t know anything about your Wi-Fi connection.

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Answer 4

mgrabow Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 1, 2020 7:42 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

It does not matter what WiFi I am on. It happens everywhere. And yes I have rebooted WiFi. I have no way of being certain it is actually ignoring my WiFi. But if cellular and WiFi are full signal strength the phone loads pages fast. It’s only slow or no internet when cellular is poor. YouTube seems to work fine on WiFi. As does spodify. If I tell the apps with issues to only use WiFi they work fine.

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Answer 5

mgrabow Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 1, 2020 5:37 AM in response to Mac_slide

Thanks. When I say 1 bar it is one bar cellular. WiFi is full signal . I did reset the the network connections. I know it’s an issue because my wife has the identical phone and does not have the problem

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Answer 6

mgrabow Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 25, 2020 9:48 AM in response to mgrabow

Man this is frustrating. I am constantly shutting off cell data to use WiFi and forgetting to turn it back on when I leave the house or office. While I was trying to post this reply it failed because of the connection to cell was NOT LTE. I am linked to my friends personal iPhone hot spot (he is on a different carrier” and you can see it searching

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Answer 7

mgrabow Author

Level 1

12 points

Feb 1, 2020 5:39 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Yes I agree it should be off. I do know some things use only cellular. I am talking about safari, Facebook and Instagram all loading slow or not at all on full WiFi but poor cellular. If I turn off the cellular they load fine.

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Answer 8

mgrabow Author

Level 1

12 points

Jan 31, 2020 5:09 AM in response to Mac_slide

i turned both of those OFF when I noticed the problem started . With them on it would seem I want it to use cellular more and not less. But I’ll turn them back in to see if it helps.

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Answer 9

mgrabow Author

Level 1

12 points

Mar 14, 2020 6:05 AM in response to mgrabow

Full WiFi and pages won’t load

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Answer 10

Feb 1, 2020 6:22 AM in response to mgrabow

Have you restarted your router?

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iphone connected to wifi but always chooses cellular

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