How do I turn off 3G on the iPhone 4S?

It doesn't exist for any CDMA phone. It is technically impossible. The iPhone 4S isn't a GSM phone, only. It is a hybrid phone with both GSM and CDMA limitations to deal with. You still can buy the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 as GSM only variants that will contain the toggle that you are looking for. EDGE network on an iPhone 3GS or GSM iPhone 4 will be no differenince in speed than EDGE on an iPhone 4S.

Well, unless you are the designer for the new Qualcomm Hybrid chip.....

Let's look at it this way.

I agree that the iPhone 4 come with 2 models, GSM that supports 3G toggle; and the CDMA version which does not.

iPhone 4s comes with a hybrid chip that allows it to use the GSM networks (both 3G & 2G). Even if the hardware itself is not possible to toggle the switch. The software might be able to be programmed to look for 2G signals instead of the 3G and therefore providing a switch via software instead of hardware.

Technically speaking, if the hardware cannot provide the toggle interface and Apple can't provide the toggle via software, then leave it to Apple should speak out to us and let us know. There is no point insisting whether this is technically possible or impossible... I don't think anyone here who posted so far can prove whether this is possible at this stage....

If somebody can prove it, I think it should be out in the news by now....

Dude, you are on the Internet. Do a search.

It is not my opinion that it is technically impossible, it is a fact. If you turn off 3G on a North American CDMA phone, not an SV-DO phone, you will disable voice, data, SMS and text. They all operate on 3G. Not true of UMTS/HSPA on GSM phones. In parts of Canada, if you disable 3G, you have no signal, since there is no EDGE network to fall back on.

Hey Dude, what are you talking about? Read my post properly!

Where is the fact that the new Hybrid CDMA chip cannot support a 3G toggle for GSM network? As far as I know, that it is most people's opinion that the Hybrid cannot support in both Hardware and software... Did Qualcomm or Apple came out to say that the Hybrid chip cannot support such a function?

Do let me know if you can find the facts yourself.. Don't bother about the earlier CDMA chips used for earlier iPhone models, CDMA doesn't have 2G and the iphone CDMA doesn't need such a toggle. Everyone who is requesting for the toggle here should be on GSM.

Lastly, I am on GSM, not CDMA. We only have GSM in my country... There is no CDMA providers here..

Ashley xavier, did you even read transmogrifications post? Whether you are on a CDMA or GSM network is irrelevant. There is only one model iPhone 4S and it used a hybrid chipset for GSM and CDMA. As such, it must deal with the limitations of BOTH types of networks. Since a CDMA device cannot revert to EDGE or 2G service, a device running a hybrid CDMA/GSM chipset also cannot revert to EDGE or 2G service.

I was told in an Apple store that while there is only one 4S model (with 3 memory and 2 color variations), it is both the chip AND the software that distinguishes an ATT iPhone from a Verizon model, for example. With the iPhone 4, the ATT (GSM model) and the Verizon (CDMA model) obviously had different software, because you could turn off 3G on the ATT model. It wasn't a well publicized fact that the ATT model could have double the battery life of the Verizon model, but it WAS right there in the specs.

If the iPhone 4S ATT (GSM) flavor can (AND DOES) switch automatically from 3G to 2G (EDGE) when there is no 3G signal, I don't see why the ATT version (GSM) software couldn't have a software switch to turn 3G off.

However I can think of 2 reasons why Apple doesn't allow it.

1. Siri apparently really needs 3G

2. Politics - ATT would have a field day advertising that their 4S has DOUBLE the battery life (possibility) over the competition.

diesel vdub wrote:

Ashley xavier, did you even read transmogrifications post? Whether you are on a CDMA or GSM network is irrelevant. There is only one model iPhone 4S and it used a hybrid chipset for GSM and CDMA. As such, it must deal with the limitations of BOTH types of networks. Since a CDMA device cannot revert to EDGE or 2G service, a device running a hybrid CDMA/GSM chipset also cannot revert to EDGE or 2G service.

Unless I've misread the post/misunderstood something, I have a 4S and live in the UK, I'm on the O2 network, and my 4S does go onto a EDGE connection if 3G is not available in that particular area.

No, I don't think you misread it. Just 2 members cannot understand what the rest are deriving at. xD

Care to elaborate on who these two are? Please refrain from personal attacks.

All iPhones, from the iPhone 3G forward can auto-switch between 3G and 2G.

sorry if you feel that it's a personal attack.. nothing personal. there is only 2 of you who is insisting that the Hybrid chip cannot support a toggle via either hardware or software whoout being able provide any proof.

I agree with you that the hardware might not be able to support like the previous CDMA chips but might be does not mean impossible.

There is always a software factor. If the phone can use the chip to differeriate out the GSM and CDMA network, it is still possible to provide a toggle switch on the 4s solely for the GSM network.. Not sure why is this so difficult for you to understand.

Either way, if you are reading my post correctly. I am not stating that it is possible or impossible, so it is still either way. Until either Apple or Qualcomm comes out to state that both hardware and software is not possible, there is no point in insisting that it is impossible.

vdub, it is relevant what network, since disabling 3G on Qualcomm's CDMA used in North Ametica is not really possible by a simple software toggle. A CDMA device can revert from 3G to 2G service. It auto selects, just like any other. 1xRTT is 2G and considered the 2G EDGE equivalent with CDMA networks.

I am not insisting anything. I am only suggesting that since this is a hybrid phone and that the operating system (iOS 5) is platform agnostic, that the problem isn't that simple and very well may be hardware related. Please read my previous posts on this here in this forum thread.

If this is a hardware related issue and a simple 3G - 2G software toggle cannot be achieved, then if this was such a big deal, I would downgrade to an iPhone 4 where there isn't a problem having that software toggle and wait it out instead of pitting the voice of reason against the lion's den of protests.

Thank you for understanding.

Also, remember that the iPhone 4S is designed to be used on CDMA2000 networks and GSM networks at the user's will. That the user could buy one phone and use it as the user decides. By design, the iPhone can activate and operate on either network technology. iOS 5 is also designed to handle either network technology, where with the iPhone 4 there were two separate iterations of iOS 4 depending on which iPhone 4 radio chipset you had. It's not as easy as swapping radios. There are technical limitations of the network technology to consider with the OS, such as the software toggles for "Call forwarding", "Call Waiting" and "Show my caller ID" that CDMA activated iPhones don't have.

You aren't a programmer are you?

No one is saying it is not possible for Qualcomm to produce a chip that has a user controllable software switch to allow manual switching on the GSM side, although not working for Qualcomm in their engineering department I don't know for sure. What we are saying is the current chip that Qualcomm has produced for Apple it does have multiple radio capability that can detect a signal and adapt to it. What is does not have is anything programmed in firmware that would allow an outside programmer to write a routine and call and control this function. So on the current model of the chip there is not access to the function without replacing the chip. And you cannot reflash the chip.

I don't think the battery life reason suggested is really plausible, I can't see AT&T advertising that if you abandon Siri and run at abysmally slow EDGE speeds you will get twice the battery. Even if Qualcomm produced a chip that had the function Apple would have to run two different versions of iOS for them which they just moved away from.