iPhone 4S unable to turn off 3G?!

Agreed, I to am no longer able to receive phone calls via my AT&T iPhone since they disable this feature. The 2G network preforms much better where I live (in the mountains where 3G was never truely built out) than the 3G network.

Would love to see a fix, but I know that they goal here is for AT&T users to purchase the $200 3G booster, which I refuse to do.

Edited because of the Trolls....

Message was edited by: VailGeek

There is no fix. AT&T is decomissioning their 2G network. In the very near future, it will not exist at all. Many AT&T customers are getting notices from AT&T that they need to upgrade to newer phones if the phone they have does not support the 3G network or they will lose service entirely.

Please fix this.

Who are you talking to? Fix what? Did you read anything in the thread you just posted in? Did you not comprehend that AT&T is phasing out the 2G network this year and is alreay notifiying customers with 2G only phones that they will have to upgrade their phones?

Do you think anyone here can change AT&T policies? We don't even have anything to do with Apple!

Thanks for your constuctive feedback KiltedTim. I will pass it along to the manager of my iPhones business account.

deggie wrote:

No, it is probably due to your computer/laptop going into sleep mode and cutting power to the USB ports, which puts your iPhone on battery, which then drops the WiFi connection. Has nothing to do with AT&T and tethering.

My laptop doesn't go to sleep mode. I have tested this, and if it is plugged into the Apple supplied charger, the wi-fi doesn't go off, but if it is plugged into the computer USB interface, even if the computer is actively in use, it still shuts off the wi-fi after a few seconds. Charging continues, however.

KiltedTim wrote:

There is no fix. AT&T is decomissioning their 2G network. In the very near future, it will not exist at all. Many AT&T customers are getting notices from AT&T that they need to upgrade to newer phones if the phone they have does not support the 3G network or they will lose service entirely.

They are doing that so that they can use the frequencies for 4G. If you have poor 3G coverage, and you phone doesn't do even the faux 4G offered by ATT, you may have a problem.

Yes. I'm aware of that. Thanks.

rphunte42 wrote:

My laptop doesn't go to sleep mode. I have tested this, and if it is plugged into the Apple supplied charger, the wi-fi doesn't go off, but if it is plugged into the computer USB interface, even if the computer is actively in use, it still shuts off the wi-fi after a few seconds. Charging continues, however.

That would indicate the USB port is not putting out sufficient power to both charge the phone and keep the WiFi radio alive. Given the choice, the phone should try to charge. Doing otherwise could actually result in the battery being drained while connected to USB if the available power is too low.

Cities like San Francisco and New York have saturated 3G networks. You might get full bars, but data access is spotty to non-existent. One workaround was to set data to Edge, where you could get slow but consistent data. Also, if you are using Edge, your voice goes over a different channel than your data, so you can avoid some call drops in areas where coverage is spotty. Also, Edge uses less battery than 3G, which could be a benefit to some users.

The iPhone 4 has the ability to force the phone to Edge. The 4s removes this, even though it will auto-switch if 3G coverages drops.

I'd like to see the ability to manually set the radio mode added back to iOS for the 4s, and I hope this sums up the problems and the reason for a solution.

Plughie wrote:

I'd like to see the ability to manually set the radio mode added back to iOS for the 4s, and I hope this sums up the problems and the reason for a solution.

It doesn't matter. CDMA phones have never had that option at all. CDMA doesn't work that way. As for AT&T, they are in the process of shutting down their EDGE network entirely. It won't exist within a year. Much sooner in some locations. There will be no EDGE network to switch to.

I don't have a CDMA phone. My phone currently auto-switches to Edge, and there's no reason to remove a feature that is being handled automatically by my phone and is available on other devices using the same OS.

Perhaps when Edge is unavailable anywhere in the world, it would be worth removing the switch. But until then, it serves a useful purpose.

If AT&T is your service provider, perhaps you beef is with AT&T. Moaning and groaning here won't change anything.

AT&T is my service provider, but this isn't a gripe with them or their service. I live near San Francisco, which has a population that has decided that they don't want any more cell towers installed in the City. AT&T's hands are tied.

There once was a technical workaround to the problem of NIMBY (Not-In-My-Back-Yard) neighbors, but it was removed in a recent software patch.

It is a gripe with AT&T. It is their phones that no longer have the ability to turn it on and off. Folks with phones locked to other service providers have the switch. AT&T obviously instructed Apple to remove the ability for their phones.

hello everybody

I tried to turn off the 3G but at the same time i am unable to make any phone call and even the text messages..

any answer will be appreciated