3G on iPhone 12

"...I'm not sure why you are still posting here, you obviously don't like Apple as a company and it is clear that your current phone does not meet your individual needs..."

Because I want to upgrade and I know where I live now the signal is dodgy and I will run into the scenario I have mentioned without the option to force the radio to 3G.

3G will be in the UK for at least another 2 years, perhaps longer with some of the operators. 2G will be with us for a lot longer, perhaps until 2030.

I hope if we can make enough noise Apple will add a few lines of code that will make it more flexible but you guys are doing a really good job dampening it...

And also I don't know if/how to raise a new feature case to Apple development...

It is now time to find a mobile virtual network operator in Bulgaria that does not offer 5G, or go with the carrier I’ve told you that does not support 5G, 5G is not to drain battery life, it’s just that your area does not have good 4G/5G coverage yet, and that’s why the battery drains a lot. Samsung phones typically do not support VOLTE for all carriers around the world within one single model, whereas on the iPhone, VOLT is supported on all models of iPhone 12 regardless of where you purchase it from.

I am a bit lost and trying to figure out the meaning of what you are saying.

Are you saying that the iphone 12 doesn't support 3G?

According to the apple spec sheet, it supports 2, 3, 4 and 5G.

Are you saying that the carrier will block the 2G/3G support in their carrier profile? I.e. if you roam into a location that the said carrier does not have 4 or 5G signal/towers but has 3G coverage, you will not be able to access it?

techguy171 wrote:

I have seen 204 Mbps with full bars of LTE and 20 Mbps with one bar of LTE.

You’ve got a better carrier than I do. I’ve got 2 bars deep in my condo unit and I got 4.88 Mbps. If I go to a window (with the same 2 bars) I get 40 Mbps. I realize that bars is a poor measure of signal strength, but I didn’t want to go to the trouble of actually checking the signal strength as it isn’t important for this discussion. Oh, and my network displays as 5Ge, which is not really 5G (which isn’t supported on an XR), it is AT&T’s marketing label.

But I never got over 1-2 Mbps on 3G, even with 5 bars.

i sended feedback to my carrier today, i also sended feedback to apple as well,

i also writed personal email to MR. Craig i hope he will listen to me or at least add this a option........ right now if i want to use my iphone i need to carry my 2nd phone and to start sharing hotspot in order my phone to have cellular coverage and normal loading i-net since it cannot select 3g...

i need to carry extra android or extra iphone how cool is this ?!

I have had different carriers for my iPhone service from time to time. The option switches for each were different. So you are saying that Apple has a list of option switches for carriers around the world, and puts the right ones on the phone for each carrier?

Carriers would obviously send you their supported capabilities and the phone would display those.

For instance, if the carrier didn't send you 5G capability in the profile, you wouldn't want your phone to display it!

levent128 wrote:

I will once you provide some evidence. You guys keep repeating it but I asked several times as to what the format/protocol of these files are and got nothing.

I worked for a major U.S. carrier for over twenty years. I know whereof I speak. What do you think the carrier settings are for if not for things like this?

levent128 wrote:

"Again, who is Craig?"

I sent it to an email address that I hope belongs to the Senior Vice President, Software Engineering. Same as the one Idris suggested.

As there are lots of Craig's in the world, it would be less confusing to refer to him by his whole name. And, unless you know him personally, more polite as well.

Care to elaborate on the "things like this" bit?

What do they send to an iPhone12 specifically?

By the way, from all the discussion so far all the iphone-12s, on any carrier, seem to get the 3G option disabled.

If I am to believe your hypothesis that the carriers alone have the power to display 3G on an iphone's menu, it appears "all" the carriers accross the globe appear to have ganged up on Apple to specifically remove the 3G option?!

Did it occur to you that “all the discussion so far all the iPhone-12s” only includes users who don’t have a 3G option? Why would users whose phones HAD a 3G option bother to post, or even read this thread?

There are hundreds of carriers in the world. Have you polled users of all of those carriers?

Since some people claim carrier file is the issue - can carrier file be replaced or reverted to previous version like one in ios 14.2 ?

Or is it anyway just this carrier file to be modified in any way ?

Contact your carrier to issue 3G compatible SIM

Just to Clarify i have the same options as you do in the Voice and Data settings.

If you are in the US by the end of the year 2G will no longer be available and 3G will follow shortly.