iPhone 4S unable to turn off 3G?!

Indeed. I made VERY heavy use of the EDGE network setting with my old iPhone since I get no bars at my desk at work most of the time, and the 3G network in that area is saturated with data-hungry users. Seems silly to force customers to use a network that is known to still be problematic in many areas.

You can still use Internet data over EDGE, which is not 3G.

That post hasn't proved anything.

The phone does support EDGE. It auto selects. If there is no 3G, it will auto select EDGE, if available.

Sprint and Verizon never used EDGE network technology.

Turn off iCloud syncing.

I think we are actually missing the point of this whole topic. There should be an option to turn your 3G settings on the phone off. In a remote part of Australia where I am (for instence), we have a tower enabled for 3G. Fair enough, the phone automatically selects 3G, or Edge, but this is not good enough. It will try and make preference to 3G, but it is right on the limit (at the moment) of going Edge to 3G.

With older iPhone's, where you can select 3G to be disabled, you can stay connected in calls without interruption if the 3G service goes down. The iPhone 4S provides no relief as when it switches over from 3G to Edge, it disconnects the call in doing so. Never before have we had problems with our towers, but our service provider is looking into fixing the tower. Also noticed is that whilst 3G is showing only 1 bar of service, the Edge network is showing full service.

All's I am saying is that if any of you people that are in stable 3G area's ever have problems with your service, you might be looking for the same remedy. :-)

But CDMA phones can't disable 3G via a toggle. Verizon and Sprint users never have been able to, because there is only one radio for voice or data (one or the other, not both at the same time. If 3G is toggled off, the radio is toggled off). Not everyone uses GSM. Making a blanket statement that there should be a 3G/2G toggle is confusing and is inconsiderate of Verizon and Sprint users who can't.

Hmmmm, quite a conundrum then isn't it. Verizon customers obviously would have been able to toggle between 3G and 2G in the past with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4. What has changed with the 4S? Wouldn't it all still be the same? And have Verizon or Sprint changed what they do?

Verizon users could never turn off 3G (EVDO) at all on any version.

Ok, I get that, but worldwide, what has changed. Are CDMA iPhones different to what we have here in that we can turn of 3G? Or would they all be the same from generation of iPhone to iPhone?

I mean obviously I isn't just me or Australians that have this issue, but everyone around the world......

CDMA is a different system from GSM. The only offiical iPhone providers with CDMA and using EVDO that I am aware of are Sprint and Verizon.

http://gizmodo.com/5637136/giz-explains-gsm-vs-cdma

The first CDMA iPhone was the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4S is a "world" phone which means it has a combination GSM/CDMA chip.

So in other words, there is no way to segregate the bands?

It would all be a moot point if there was enough 3G coverage and bandwidth available on the AT&T network.

But I really don't understand why there was a control on the older phone models that is no longer there regardless of what Verizon and Sprint are doing. If this control is also missing from the iPhone 4 w/iOS 5 then it's really strange. It's still there on the iPhone 3GS w/iOS 5.

Are the AT&T iPhone 4S's now the same for all carriers?

Disabling 3G is the only way to make the iPhone usable in certain areas.