5ge won’t work must force switch to LTE

MountainLakePine wrote:

I have seen other people post on this subject. I live in the mountains and very often I see 5G E with five bars but I get no data however if I force my phone through settings to LTE then I get Internet I think this is either a problem with my iPhone 12 pro max or an issue with AT&T my cellular provider. It is frustrating because I then have to remember to switch it back to 5G if I leave the area and go somewhere where 5G and other higher level services than LTE really exist and work…has anyone else experienced this or have ideas how better to deal with it?

That’s strange, because 5Ge IS LTE; it is an AT&T marketing gimmick to make it sound like older phones have 5G when they don’t. It uses multiple LTE connections for faster speed. 5Ge, or 5G Evolution, is merely AT&T's name for its latest and greatest iteration of LTE, which utilizes specific technologies, like 256 QAM, 3-way carrier aggregation and 4X4 MIMO. So it should work at least as well as LTE. If it doesn’t, contact AT&T’s tech support.

5GE is not a 5G cellular connection.

It's AT&T marketing for LTE, meant to confuse you.

Try turning airplane mode on, wait a few seconds and turn it off.

Greetings MountainLakePine,

Thanks for visiting the Apple Support Communities! It seems your iPhone will show you have full service, yet no data transfers when connected with 5G E.

Check out the cellular troubleshooting in the article below and speak with your carrier if the issue persists:

If you see No Service or Searching on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Kind regards.