How to turn off LTE on iPhone iOS 15

There is only so much bandwidth available and with the move to 5G the FCC demanded that older technology be shut down. This has been know for at least 2 years and the cell service providers don’t get an option. If LTE is not working well in your area then contact your cell service provider.

It was actually after iOS 15.1 that disabled the ability to turn off LTE, and later in March, AT&T released a carrier file that disables the ability to turn off LTE for all the VOLTE compatible devices

I didn’t say I was in favor; I stated it as a fact. They cleared it with the FCC, even knowing that many essential services depend on the 3G network, such as home security systems, personal emergency devices, On-Star, emergency communications systems, etc, and these all need to be upgraded to continue working. But all of that is far beyond the control of individuals. This is a decision that has been made all over the world, not just by AT&T. The only thing that changes in different locations is the schedule for shutting down 3G. The justification is that the bandwidth and antenna space is needed for 5G, which is essentially correct; 5G cannot be deployed extensively until the frequency bands used by 3G become available, and 5G has much greater capacity than 3G.

Here's a great backgrounder from the FCC:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/plan-ahead-phase-out-3g-cellular-networks-and-service

Amazingly enough, in Europe Orange has announced 3G won't be shut down until 2025, and 2G not until 2030 (!).

I have Verizon and this morning I woke up with the ability to have my phone off lte. I updated when I got to work to the 15 and now my phone is completely useless without wifi. Apple took the option away

Verizon states (emboldening mine):

After December 31, 2022, if you are a Verizon customer still using a device that is 3G (CDMA), 4G that does not support HD Voice (Non-VoLTE), or 1X, the device will no longer be able to send or receive text messages, use data services, or make or receive calls, including emergency 911, on the Verizon network. Until this date, your device will still be able to use these services.

https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-218813/

There is no reason to allow you to shut off LTE any longer as doing so would soon leave you with a completely non-functional device.

Verizon in fact stopped allowing devices that do not support VoLTE on their network as of January 1, 2020, so there is yet another reason they did not want to allow you to shut LTE off.

Same. I have iphone 8 and Im on verizon too. The option for turning off lte went away in ios 15. Its very odd. I do have 5g in my phone plan. Maybe if I get a new phone one day down the road that option will come back.

It will only come back if Verizon decides it will. The ability to make changes in that area are based on the information in your carrier file that your carrier provides to Apple and is installed on your iPhone and is updated as the carrier decides. At this point, since the US carriers are disabling the 3G bands and converting those frequencies to 5G, you will either connect to LTE or 5G now, that is it. If you do not have a phone that supports 5G, you will connect to 4G/LTE. Those will be the only choices.

Yeah thats what Im saying. If I get a new phone down the road that supports 5g then those options will come back. Or at least I hope they will. It makes sense why they would remove the option to turn off lte if we already had it turned on. Like a year ago I turned off 3g cuz it kept giving me no service outta nowhere. Once I turned on lte it was fine. Now I know someone else who has iphone 8 like me and they have att not verizon like I do and I went to turn on lte for them and once again there was no option. Maybe att switched her to lte if she was on 3g. Maybe it was an automatic thing they did in software update att update

JustBob1 wrote:

Can I uninstall the 15.5 update? Off WiFi lte is useless. T mobile didn’t do it, update 15.5 did.

You are half right. 15.5 did it, but it's BECAUSE T-MOBILE GAVE APPLE A CARRIER UPDATE TO BE INSTALLED WITH iOS. You can’t go back, but even if you could that would not change anything because the T-Mobile carrier update will remain installed. And by the end of June there will be nothing but Voice over LTE (VoLTE) on T-Mobile’s network, they are shutting down their 3G (AKA “4G”) network. They began the transition on April 1, and expect to finish by the end of June. AT&T already completed the transition as of April 1.

KiltedTim wrote:

T-Mobile's 3G network will cease to exist in 6 weeks.... If it's that big a problem for you now, you need to be looking for a new carrier...

Of course, AT&T’s ceased to exist 6 weeks AGO, and Verizon’s is being phased out and will be gone completely by the end of the year.

So we can recommend that everyone who wants 3G to switch to Verizon and they can use it until December 31, 2022 and magically on January 1, 2023 we won't see these posts anymore. At least for US users.

Bob Timmons wrote:

I find it hard - no, impossible to believe AT&T changed their data setup at the exact same time Apple rolled out a new version of iOS

Yet, they did.

And actually, they changed it BEFORE the new version of iOS. Straight from the horse’s mouth→https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1324171

And→AT&T 3G Shutdown

I have the same issue apple did not make a good decision with this update. I also read the comments, people are saying it’s because of your personal carrier. They are wrong. Your personal carrier does not control the options from switching on your mobile device. One way to go back from 4g to LTE is to turn on airplane mode for 10 sec and it will reset to LTE. It works for me.

What carrier are you using, where are you located and have you looked at the version of your Carrier Settings file. Do you know what the Carrier Settings file does. And you don't go back from 4G to LTE, for most carriers 4G = LTE, on T-Mobile they call theirs 4G and also use LTE. You go back to LTE from 5G.