Turn on 3G in iOS 17

No change on the carrier side. It’s Apple who removed the option of 3G from its 5G capable devices. I observed this problem on iPhone13 with multiple carriers.

It is the carrier who provides the carrier settings to Apple. They are generally updated at the same time as the system software is updated. And yes, more and more carriers are removing the ability to connect to 3G networks. One of the ways they do that is by removing the settings.

zhaslan07 wrote:

What??? Man, get out please)

I'm only speaking from my twenty years of working for a major U.S. cellular carrier. But, believe whatever you like. It won't change anything. You also don't have the right to make me "get out". Only the Hosts can do that.

And why do you assume I'm male?

I don't know where you live, but in the United States, all of the carriers got rid of their 3G networks some time ago. I also see that "All across the UK, since February, mobile networks have been winding down 3G services …"

https://reboxed.co/blogs/outsidethebox/is-your-phone-about-to-become-obsolete-what-ios-17-and-the-3g-switch-off-means-for-you

It's possible that the carriers in your part of the world are planning to do the same, in which case having a "3G-only" preference setting on your iPhone would be pretty pointless.

But if you want to send feedback to Apple, try

Product Feedback - Apple

This forum is mostly read by other users, like yourself.

Airborne27 wrote:

I am speaking from my experience of working for a handset manufacturer. I doubt that Apple has settings for all the wireless carriers on globe. I assume for most they use default settings. In absence of LTE signals, phone does latch on to 3G network. It just doesn’t provide this option to the user.

Carriers provide Apple with configuration files. Those files determine things like what networks the phone can connect to and whether or not you can turn on/off things like Call Forwarding directly from the device.

As Idris Seabright says, the options which are available for network type are decided by the network (carrier) to which the device is connected. The settings are pushed out as "network settings" or "carrier settings" (regional language variation around the world).

Manually update your carrier settings on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Airborne27 wrote:

I am also facing the same problem. It seems to me that on devices that support 5G (iPhone 12 and later) Apple has quietly omitted option to select 3G network in iOS 17. I have iPhone 11 and iPhone 13 on the same carrier (both running iOS 17) and I can select 3G network on iPhone 11 but not on iPhone 13. I even called Apple Support for this issue and to my surprise, they were not aware of this omission.

It is not Apple that has removed the option. It is the carriers. The carrier settings that the carriers provided for iOS 17 apparently do not include that option.

faiyeah wrote:

please provide an option to enforce 4G mode without LTE, and enforce to 3G mode.

No one here in this user-to-user forum can do that. Apple can't do that. Also, 4G IS LTE (except for AT&T who makes up its own labels).

Same issue in Hong Kong, as some location, I tested with 4G just have 0.2-0.5 mbps, but using 3G with same carrier can go up to 20mbps. This is tested by my iPhone 11 with iOS 16.7.

After I change to iPhone 15 with iOS 17, the 3G switch is missing.

I also need to have this 3G switch, otherwise I will offline....

mariusz123 wrote:

No, it isn’t like you wrote.

Yeah, it really is.

When I put my sim to my old XS(ios16), same place, same carrier of course, I can still choose the 3G network.

Your carrier decides what will appear in the settings on your iPhone. Your old phone has a different OS with different carrier settings.

Apple in ios17 blocked the possibility to manage that option. They confirm that information when I call to apple support.

Nope, it's the carrier.

Bilal-BFS wrote:

Goto -> Voice&Data select any option from them like 4G, 3G, 2G options only show according to your network provide

I think you may have missed the problem. It's not that people don't know where to look for the options. It's that they they do not see all those options.

zhaslan07 wrote:

Hello, in my city best network with 3g only 3g ….(( please come back 3g

Only your carrier can make that happen.

haku_20 wrote:

I also need to have this 3G switch, otherwise I will offline....

Only your carrier can change this. It is, however, unlikely that the will do so.

Airborne27 wrote:

I can select 3G network on phones using Android 12, 13 and 14.

Yes, because the carriers allow it. Carrier profiles are not necessarily the same across all operating systems.

Doesn’t make much sense. Why would all the carriers only force iPhones on their networks to use 4G and not do the same for Android devices.