iPhone 4S unable to turn off 3G?!

On the iPhone 4 turning 3G off drops you to edge witch is more robust in areas with spooty 3G coverag you can turn 3G off and still get calls and surf the web just slower if you only get 1 or 2 bars on 3G turning 3G off you get 4 or more bars on edge

It doesn't matter if EDGE is an "obsolete" technology in your opinion, Apple still needs to support it because there are many areas of the country that don't have 3G in their area yet. When you can't switch 3G off on your phone, and you don't have a 3G signal, your phone is searching for the 3G signal the entire time, wasting battery life. They haven't stopped supporting it, because our phones can still switch to EDGE when there isn't 3G, they're just not giving us the option to use EDGE, which is what the topic of this discussion is.

It sounds like you're the one having a temper tantrum.

Even while you're on wifi, you're still connected to the 3G network unless you don't have 3G or have the switch to turn it off on your phone. By being on EDGE while connected to wifi, it will save people like me even more battery life.

Turning off cellular data is not the same thing as turning 3G off. They definitely didn't rename it, since on older iPhones there is a switch for enabling 3G and for cellular data.

Please ensure you give your feedback on the removal on the option to turn-off 3G to Apple on www.apple.com/feedback. Like I did...

Wow MJ328 - You really don't understand the difference between 3G and mobile data! And yet you preech to the rest of us that you know best.

So answer this then - How would I use EDGE or GPRS (2G) and not WiFi Nor 3G?

What? oh really? You can't do that on the iPhone 4s - Well done MJ328 with catching up with the rest of us!

To make this VERY clear and easy for you to understand on the iPhone4 there are 2 options - 1 to disable/enable 3G and one to disable/enable Cellular Data. Disabling 3G forces the iPhone4 to make use of 2G technologies such as EDGE and GPRS (signified by a E and a o in you status bar).

On the 4S the option to disable 3G whilst leaving mobile data enabled has been removed.

Now MJ328 - Would you like me to explain any of this in more detail to make it easier for you to understand?

Please read my comment on this thread:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3389295?start=15&tstart=0

Look here http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html

8 hours on 3G

14 on 2g

That's why we need the option. And in marginal areas where 3G is so poor it is no better than 28k modem

This is a problem in the UK as well as in the US and it isn't not carrier specific. It seems to be part of the iOS 5. I most certainly had it with my iPhone 4 and with iOS 4xx.

While the phone will revert to 2G if it thinks it needs to, that isn't good enough. I can't go a whole day even on mostly standby. I've taken to turning off WiFi when I'm away from it because I can't turn off the 3G. I realize Siri won't work on 2G and maybe that is what has driven it-Apple's special, incredible new feature but if my phone has a dead battery it won't matter anyway.

Spread the news. Complain. We need to get this option back!

It's not even about battery life for me. It's about the spotty 3G coverage here in LA. At both my house and my office 3G is borderline non-existant, while 2G generally has 2 or 4 bars of service. Put another way, I could make and recieve calls on my 3GS with 3G disabled, but never with it enabled. If I can't disable 3G on the 4S then I can't use it as a phone (e.g. right now it is "searching" for a network), and I will need to return it to Apple.

This *****. I've been using an iPhone since the very first one came out and have loved them so much I was willing to put up with poor network coverage and service. Now I'm thinking I might have to get a droid...:-(

You'd have to go back to using iOS4x because it is a funtion of the iOS, not the phone model itself.

Scream and yell at Apple and make them change it back.

And you can get a signal booster for your AT&T connection at your house and office, which they sell for $149 each but have been known to give free to those who persist.

I adore my phone too, and will not give it up but am going to have to conserve battery life by turning off WiFi when out and about etc until they issue a patch to fix this.

PLEASE give Apple and AT&T feedback on this. Most staff of the companies have NO idea this is the situation.

Same with me: at my home in the mountains with my 3GS trying to use 3G coverage will sit on searching and drain the battery dead overnight. I cannot receive or make calls, I cannot receive or send SMS. Turning off 3G explicitly causes it to sit happily on the Edge network, able to receive and make calls and receive and send SMS. And the battery is barely affected overnight.

I'm very frustrated that my new 4S does not have this feature. It's surely AT&T's fault for poor/weird coverage and configuration. Either way, it was AT&T who recommended (with my 3GS) switching off 3G. Now I can't use my newer phone at home.

I turn off cellular data and still make and receive phone calls.

I'll miss this option. While, yes, the iPhone will step down to Edge when 3G is unavailable, there are other times when the 3G signal is quite robust but Edge still gives you the, uh, edge. For example, when I'm at a baseball or soccer game here in Washington DC, the 3G signal can be strong but the network swamped and totally unresponsive to data requests. By forcing the phone to drop to the far less crowded 2G (which the iPhone will not automatically do in such cases), data would flow again. Slowly, of course - it's Edge after all - but faster than "not at all".

Anyhow I did that routinely with my 3GS, and it'll be a shame if I have to surrender the phone's data functionality altogether in certain instances because Apple elected to remove the toggle.

I just set a message to Apple via www.apple.com/feedback as well and i really want this to be reinstated as an option, i live in London, England and 3G coverage is over used and very patchy indeed plus it just uses the battry way to much and thats just not on. if Siri relys on 3G then thats not to good... waht aboout wifi or just switching on 3G when you need it and off when you dont..!!!!!

I don't have 3G coverage where I live, so to me it's just a waste not to be able to turn it off. ***** battery for no reason.