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Mobile data - 3G option not available

Are there any plans for Apple to reinstate 3G as an option when selecting mobile data? I only have 5G or 4G, but 5G isn’t available in this area and 4G has low coverage. Therefore, on my old phone I selected 3G, which worked fine, but this isn’t an option on the latest iOS on iPhone 13.

Posted on Mar 14, 2022 1:59 AM

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Posted on Mar 14, 2022 2:13 AM

That is correct, Unlike the older iphones 6,7,8 you cannot force 3G on newer phones. The reason is probably that 3G is on its way out. I also live in a good 3G bad 4G area for Three network, fortunately I changed network before upgrading my phone.


Before anyone says it is the networks decision, here are the settings for the same SIM on my iphone 7 and my iphone 12



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Mar 14, 2022 2:13 AM in response to iamazerrad

That is correct, Unlike the older iphones 6,7,8 you cannot force 3G on newer phones. The reason is probably that 3G is on its way out. I also live in a good 3G bad 4G area for Three network, fortunately I changed network before upgrading my phone.


Before anyone says it is the networks decision, here are the settings for the same SIM on my iphone 7 and my iphone 12



Mar 14, 2022 2:23 AM in response to LD150

Thanks for the reply. Glad you were able to fix it by moving to a new network with decent 4G. I’ve been on a few networks and all have the same issue in this area, presumably because it’s very busy.


Unfortunately, I’ve just switched back to an iPhone after having an Android for the last few years, but now starting to regret moving back. Seems like a silly thing to remove until 3G actually is no longer available.

Mobile data - 3G option not available

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