Q: Remedy for poor signal strength on iPhone 6 plus?
I'm in Bangalore, India using an iPhone 6 plus, 64 GB on iOS 8. LTE signal strength is frankly, quite bad in Bangalore - its still new. 3G signals are more abundant but can still be spotty at times. A 2G signal is easily found. A 2G signal is enough for email, IM, SMS and most importantly - being reachable for phone calls!! These gadgets are still meant to be phones!
Last night I was in a restaurant and I had no service for 2 hours - just because the phone would refuse to latch on to a 2G signal. I rebooted the phone twice. Each time, it would latch onto a 3G signal, show 2 dots but couldn't enable data. After a couple of minutes of acquiring a signal, the phone would show no service. I just gave up. And yes, this is a new SIM card.
How can I force the phone to use only the 2G signal? I know there's only a way to turn off LTE use, I've turned off the LTE toggle. What's annoying is that the phone burns through more battery to try an acquire a 3G signal. Additionally, when you're traveling in the country; you will still pass through towns which don't have 3G services. Locking the phone down to a 2G signal will keep the phone active - and not a useless brick!
Not having a "2G signal preferred" type option is frankly, very annoying and a serious oversight for countries still having 3G deployment issues. I was on Windows phone and Android before this - and they had this exact. I've been told that older iPhone models still have this option on non-4G/LTE models - so why not for the iPhone 6 series?
Please, pretty please add this option in a future iOS upgrade - preferably before Q2 - 2015!
-Extremely Peeved,
A First Time iPhone owner
(ps: the phone is amazing when it has a decent signal/WiFi)
iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 8.1.2
Posted on Jan 20, 2015 6:31 PM