3G on iPhone 12

Ok let’s clear some things up, and explain what the OP is getting at and is exactly what I have issue with and so do many others (I’m assuming this is their issue lol)

I’m from Australia and have a shack (holiday house) in a rural area that gets patchy phone reception, when it does connect to 4G it only gets 1 BAR, but when it connects to 3G it gets 3/4 BARS, which is HEAPS faster than 1 bar of 4G (in this area) 4G 1 bar for me doesn’t even load on occasion.

My iPhone 12 Pro, connects to the 3G but drops and changes back to 4G, what we are wanting to do is select in ‘Mobile data options’ 3G only, for more usable speeds (maybe not as fast a 4G or 5G, fast speed isn’t the issue something that actually loads is), Then when back in more big city areas put it back to 4G, 5G auto.

1) this is not a provider issue, I’ve called my provider (Telstra) they support ALL bands, it’s an apple issue.

2) I’ve contacted apple support and they are looking into it and escalating it.

Just off the blower with my carrier. They stated that the issue is with the iphone 12 dropping the 3G option in the menu and nothing to do with them.

Also, the android phones can manually choose 2, 3, 4, 5G and any other band the carrier supports.

So if a carrier had the ability to limit menu items they would certainly be in a much stronger position to do it on android phones which as we all know are in a far less favourable position to dictate terms to a carrier...

Incorrect. What switches are made available are entirely contained within the Carrier Settings file. And those are done by the cell service carrier.

jbourette wrote:

Right, but how can you be sure that they aren't providing the settings and apple is just showing the latest 2 (5G, LTE for me) to choose from?

Because that's not just not how it works. And, if it were Apple who was determining this, everyone would be seeing the same thing.

But, regardless of what you're willing to believe, the bottom line is, you can't change it.

jbourette wrote:

I think that is the point of this post, other people are seeing the same issue. Are you saying that you can select 3G on your iPhone 12 in voice and data settings? TomLondon74 reported that he bought an iPhone12 and he can't select 3G because 5G is limited and 4G is unreliable, exactly my problem. I don't understand why it would be in the best interest of my carrier to limit the choices, isn't that just going to make me choose a different carrier?

It's in the interest of your carrier because most of them (in the U.S.) are starting to decommission their 3G networks. They are trying to move people off of those networks as much as possible.

****honest post****

I don’t understand why people are still going on about the 12 not supporting 3G. The 12 series does support and I and many other people have stated that it does. with evidence in previous posts.

as other people have stated it is the network that is not supporting 3G and the device is not to blame.

as I have previously stated in previous posts the options are the to allow 5G and below or allow 4G only and below (excluding 5G). To have the option for only 3G would be redundant as that is why it is not there.

this post is not sarcastic, judging or derogative it just blows my mind that the same information is being repeated constantly and the same answers are coming out all the time

The problem here is the iPhone 12 has 5G and LTE, I believe that CDMA EVDO 3G may not be compatible with 5G phones, because 3GUMTS works in areas with no 4G or 5G coverage, but I’ve seen other users with evdo 3G that does not work, in order to use 3G on iPhone 12, you need a plan that supports 4G LTE and does not support 5G. you can also use a plan that only supports 3G, although EVDDO Is available, it cannot be used with 5G capable phones.

I have heard other users from China using China Telecom where certain areas used to have 3G signal on iPhone 11 Pro, when they have purchased an iPhone 12 Pro Max, there was no service in that area.

in this case for Verizon/US cellular, when there is no 4G/5G signal available, it will fall back to no service. My suggestion right now is to use it older phone such as the 11, also the 3G network for Verizon is shutting down in 2023 officially, that means in whatever area you have no service, Verizon has to offer LTE

Usually it automatically switches, we got a list of options available, for instance, my iPhone XR can have the option of voice and data and it has LTE or 4G, but when you switch to 4G, and T-Mobile 3G network isn’t available, it drops to edge. on the iPhone 12, it does the same thing, it goes on 5G when you have options of 5G auto or enable 5G or LTE standalone, when you use LTE only, when the LTE network is not available in your area, it will fall back to 4G, which is the 3G network, but on the iPhone 12 you don’t have the option to always use 3G, I have a T-Mobile one cell phone plan on iPhone 12 Pro Max, and when I’m in an area with no 5G or LTE coverage, it falls back to 4G, when I have 5G auto or 5G enabled, it will just say T-Mobile with no data connection. But when I turn on airplane mode and turn it back off, I have to wait at least 30 seconds, the 4G icon reappears, not sure if it’s using the AWS spectrum or the 1900 MHz PCS spectrum, I’m starting to think that the AWS 3G standards are not compatible with 5G iPhone 12, when I open the Field test menu, it keeps showing LTE with no updated information when I’m on 3G

The carrier settings are installed in the phone when it first activates, and can be updated periodically. To check for whether you have the latest settings go to Settings/General/About. If there is a newer version of carrier settings for the carrier shown there you will be prompted to install it.

It appears you haven't read the thread. If you had, you would have seen my post on the 13th of March with a picture that shows the Android phones have the option to set any possible options in the carrier profile sent to your phone, whereas Apple only allows the highest/latest two technologies.

Please open your eyes people you lost Control over your phones, its not carrier related its not sim related its bot plan related, same sim card i put on my older iphone with older firmware and i can choose to use 3g or 4g... my findings are in order no to use 4g/5g you would need either older firmware or wait for upgrade to fix the issue or find old sim card before 5g/4g i have such old sim from different carrier when i put it inside my iphone even if the phone wants 4g 5g sim is only 3g unfortunately these sim cards are very hard to find and no longer for sale. Other solution will be to use other device or older firmware. I hope someone will find better fix right now i cant use my Very expensive phone its like paper i even post a picture right now Phone cellular internet is extremely slow i have option to use it as wifi device only i also tried restore and network reset here is a pictureeven app shows i got Slow internet if i had 3g option it will be fine but since apple removed i am ending with my iphone paper, my battery draining ratio is 10 min on 4g LTE and 10% gone if the battery and i dont download blu ray movies or play games and i also use low power mode for more battery... untill issue is resolved i must walk with my cable and charge my phone several times per day...

Here is a plan for you that will work equally well if not better: Make a big sign saying you want to be able to run only 3G, go to your busiest intersection and start yelling about it.

This is a user-to-user technical support site operated by Apple, there is no one from Apple management here to read your posts. And the lines of code that would have to be changed within the Carrier Settings provided by your cell carrier.

So:

1. Write a letter to customer service at your cell service provider and ask them to change the APN settings in their Carrier Settings file.
2. Go to here -> https://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html and suggest to Apple that they get your carrier to do the same.
3. Wait to see what happens.

Good luck.

is the carriers files, not Apple, basically Mobile providers have an agreement with Apple to certify the carriers to be able to run on 5G, there is never going to be in it option to revert back to 3G only.

Hi, If you switch airplane mode on, then off again, does it then connect to 3G? I get you shouldn't have to, but, was reading another article about the issue this morning.

Ask your carrier for help.