iPhone 12 Coverage - 4G LTE & 5G dropped in favour of 3G & GPRS

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Level 1

11 points

iPhone 12 Coverage - 4G LTE & 5G dropped in favour of 3G & GPRS

Hello,

Wondering if anyone can shed any light on this. I am having issues on iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I am seeing that on frequent occasions, 5G & 4G LTE are being 'dropped' in favour of 3G & GPRS. This happens on multiple carriers.

It is as if the device prefers to use 3G network bands, regardless of carrier. The only solution is to reboot the iPhone, to which the iPhone realises 4G LTE and 5G are available.

I have tried the following:

A Physical EE SIM (swapped to eSIM, and back to physical SIM). The issue still occurred in both instances.
A Physical Vodafone UK SIM (swapped to eSIM, and back to physical SIM). The issue still occurred in both instances.
An eSIM from O2 UK. The issue still occurred.
Both Dual SIM enabled (MIMO off), as well as dual SIM disabled, so as to limit to solely one provider at a time to allow MIMO.
Restoring the iOS software using Mac & Windows as well as using 3 different ISP's to download the software from Apple. Both iOS 14.3 & iOS 14.4 - Setting the device up as new each time.
Replacing the iPhone.
Tried to force 5G on, from 5G Auto, and vice versa.
Tried to limit the device to 4G LTE only.

In all instances, the SIM cards were totally fine in an iPhone 11 - 4G LTE coverage in all areas on this device.

Posted on Feb 4, 2021 1:45 AM

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Answer 1

Eric--F

Community Specialist

Feb 6, 2021 2:25 PM in response to J3XLC

Hello J3XLC,

Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities! We understand that you're having trouble with the cellular data for your new iPhone 12. You've provided some great details and gone through great steps to help with this. Since the issue continues, we recommend reaching out to Apple Support to look into this with you more: Get Support

Thanks again, and take care.

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Answer 2

Feb 6, 2021 2:30 PM in response to J3XLC

A couple of comments. If you are using the Sim Card from your iPhone 11, you should visit your cellular provider and get a new sim card which is provisioned for 5G.

Do you know how prevalent 5G service is where you live? In many areas, 5G service is just rolling out or non-existent. If your cellular service doesn't have widespread 5G, you won't get 5G and the phone will drop down (as long as you have Auto selected in Cellular settings) to what is available.

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Answer 3

Feb 6, 2021 3:42 PM in response to J3XLC

I'm not sure what to offer you other than what I wrote. Do you have one primary carrier or do you routinely switch between multiple carriers? If you have one carrier, contact your carrier and ask them conference Apple into the call, which they do. That gets your carrier and Apple speaking about your issue with at the same time.

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Answer 4

J3XLC Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 6, 2021 3:19 PM in response to lobsterghost1

Hi,

Thanks for your suggestion. All SIM cards are 5G enabled, and being used in areas of strong 5G coverage.

I understand 5G is currently in the process of rolling out, as a result, I choose not to utilise this currently.

The issue is the device continuously using 3G, in areas of strong 4G & even 5G coverage, regardless of carrier. This happens on 3 main networks (Not MVNO’s). EE, Vodafone UK & O2 UK.

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Answer 5

J3XLC Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 6, 2021 3:25 PM in response to Eric--F

Thanks for your suggestion.

I’ve actually reached out to Apple Support on a number of occasions, only to be told “This is outside the scope of what Apple Support can offer”.

As the issue occurs on 3 mobile network providers, with their own infrastructure (Not MVNO’s), I have contacted these providers too, only to be told to contact Apple Support, as this is a device issue.

It appears Apple are not interested! I have seen some other posts about this issue on this community too.

I would say the Issue started Late November, just after iOS 14.2 rolled out.

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Answer 6

J3XLC Author

Level 1

11 points

Feb 7, 2021 8:05 AM in response to lobsterghost1

Thank you. Yes, I primarily use EE. However I do routinely switch carriers for coverage, due to these issues.

I never used to switch before having iPhone 12, iPhone 11 provided exceptional coverage.

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iPhone 12 Coverage - 4G LTE & 5G dropped in favour of 3G & GPRS

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