Force iPhone 6 to use 3G Only

Hey SuyogDixit. I'm Chongie from MALAYSIA. I do understand your problem because we are experiencing the same problem here in Sarawak, MALAYSIA. I think it does happens to all iPhone users in the word, is just that in other modern countries, mAybe their carriers provide a much better LTE or 3G network than 2G or EDGE network. So they don't quite understand what we are discussing here. I've read all the replies and what I get from it is both side are discussing and commenting on two different topics which somewhat related but not directly I guess.

So guys, from our ( phone users having problem with their automatically-choosing-2G/EDGE-phone-problem ) actually wanted an option in the network setting which allow us to fix our phone to only receive 3G connection bandwidth and ignores the slower 2G bandwidth. This setting will force phone to connect strictly only to 3G network and ignores the other regardless LTE or 2G network is available around.

On the other side, Meg is taking about network provider. Yes, network provider do effect the connection by providing strong network. But which bandwidth is stronger? in our country, 2G bandwidth is much stronger than 3G thus it made our iPhone to automatically choose the much stronger and stable network which is 2G. The network provider won't force a phone to pick up which bandwidth will it connects but instead, just spread and scatter the bandwidth all around the country.

Now, the problem is we wanted to have the option of connecting to 3G ONLY. Network provider won't force a phone to choose whichever network the phone will connect. So the phone itself has to be able to choose which network it wants to connect. And thus, we want 3G ONLY.

I hope this help in any way. It's not about the network provider. It's about the phone itself.

you make a solid point there. too bad it's gonna fall on deaf ears. lol! apple fanboys will defend it to no end no matter how ****** some of their practices are. and yes, thanks to people like these, the problem persists 2017.

This is a user-to-user technical support forum. Apple has only minimal participation.

It is up to the carriers, not Apple, to decide which parts of their network you may use and when.

This is something you'll need to take up with your carrier. Apple won't be able to help you with this. However, there is a "Contact Us" link at the bottom right of every page with information on how to contact Apple.

Apparently, you do not understand Suyogdixit's problem. What the user wants is an option to force the iPhone to use "3G/LTE" only. It's also a problem for me in Nigeria. For some reason, the iPhone decides to revert to EDGE which makes using the Internet very frustrating.

On my BlackBerry 10, as well as Android powered devices, I am able to force both devices to use only EDGE, 3G or LTE. What the iPhone does is use an EDGE, 3G or LTE connection whenever it deems it convenient. The user has no control over this and it's been an iOS problem since inception. Considering the number of users who have continuously complained about this, I think Apple should consider including a fix in one of their future updates.

On my BlackBerry smartphone, I can set my connection to these options:

• 4G & 3G & 2G
• 4G & 3G
• 3G & 2G
• 3G
• 2G

When I have the BlackBerry set to the first option, it does exactly what the iPhone does and switches as the device deems convenient. When I set this to the second option (4G & 3G), my BlackBerry insists on staying on 3G & 4G which makes surfing the internet much faster. My iPhone can't do this and I find this very annoying. I have to manually navigate to 'Voice & Data" and select 2G then 3G before it switches back and then stupidly switches back to the slower band (2G). Sometimes I have to share my BlackBerry's internet connection to support the iPhone.

ALL SMARTPHONES HAVE THIS OPTION. APPLE SHOULD FIX THIS!

iPhone 6, iOS 8.3 (12F70)

N3RVE wrote:

Apparently, you do not understand Suyogdixit's problem. What the user wants is an option to force the iPhone to use "3G/LTE" only. It's also a problem for me in Nigeria. For some reason, the iPhone decides to revert to EDGE which makes using the Internet very frustrating.

Yes, in fact I do understand the OP's question. I don't think you understood my answer. On an iPhone, it is the carrier settings that determine which parts of the carrier's network you can use. These settings are provided by the carrier, not Apple. What you can do with your Blackberry or Android phone is not germane.

Again, I think you've misunderstood the situation.

Almost every carrier out there provides different wireless data standards and frequency bands on their networks. 3G (UMTS) or 4G (LTE) enables you to achieve higher data speeds than when using 2G (GSM / GPRS / EDGE). Mobile devices traditionally attempt connections with bands that they (the device) support. For example, a Motorola Razr V3 IIRC can only connect to 2G networks and it will connect and stay on that band without issue. However, a high-end BlackBerry can connect to all available bands and the user is able to SELECT, specifically, which band they want to connect and stay connected to, as shown in the screen shot above.

In developing countries like Nigeria and the OP's (India), it's common to get kicked off the 3G/4G bands to a lower band (2G) due to congestion or other reasons. When the iPhone suffers this, BlackBerry and Android users who have the option to force UMTS/LTE can stay connected and use their devices on these bands despite the poor reception which doesn't necessarily mean the network is unusable, like the iPhone thinks. My carrier has made all options available to me, I can see 2G, 3G, and LTE on my iPhone but selecting any of these doesn't mean the iPhone will STAY on that band like we expect it to.

I hope I've made the problem clear. I see you're in the U.S, and that explains why you've probably never experienced this problem.

N3RVE wrote:

Again, I think you've misunderstood the situation.

No, i have not. The simple fact is that, for whatever reasons, carriers don't allow you to do what you want on an iPhone. I understand that your Blackberry and Androids do let you do that. You will need to consult with your carrier as to why they do not permit that with iPhones.

Meg St._Clair, you can now see that his carrier including mine and 2 others in Nigeria allow devices freely select their preferred band. This is NOTHING to do with the carrier, but about how the iPhone is PRESENTING itself to the carrier. What we require is the ability to configure the iPhone to present itself as a 3G or 4G *ONLY* device, STRICTLY depending on OUR selection. If the iPhone can't connect to 3G or 4G, show us "NO NETWORK CONNECTION", do NOT play smart and switch back to a lower, slower, frustrating and unusable band (2G).

SuyogDixit, no one feels your pain more. I result to sharing the connection from my other 'smart' phone or staying connected to WiFi networks which unfortunately are relatively scarce here. I have written Apple using the communication channels I've found and not heard back from them. I'm never the type to use jailbreaks or anything of that sort, but if there's a jailbreak solution that corrects this problem, I would PAY to have it.

N3RVE wrote:

What we require is the ability to configure the iPhone to present itself as a 3G or 4G *ONLY* device, STRICTLY depending on OUR selection. If the iPhone can't connect to 3G or 4G, show us "NO NETWORK CONNECTION", do NOT play smart and switch back to a lower, slower, frustrating and unusable band (2G).

You don't seem to comprehend the reality of the situation.

We are NOT Apple. We can't do ANYTHING AT ALL about it.

Leave feedback for Apple using the contact us link at the bottom of the page. If that's not sufficient for you, then go buy something else.

Ranting about it will accomplish nothing.

We understand the frustration, but Meg has said numerous times that she understands the issue. We all understand the issue. But there's no way to do what you want on iPhone. The fact that Blackberry and Android allow you to lock their phones to 3G is irrelevant, because there are lots of things iPhones can't do, just like iPhone does things other phones can't do. If you want to suggest the feature, go to http://www.apple.com/feedback to send it to Apple and hope they implement the feature. Until then, you'll have to live with the problem.

Meg apparently didn't understand the issue. She continued to insist that the carrier was responsible for the iPhone's failure to stay on the chosen band. Thanks for the link. I already left feedback using a bug report form somewhere but I would try again and see where this leads to.

N3RVE wrote:

Meg apparently didn't understand the issue. She continued to insist that the carrier was responsible for the iPhone's failure to stay on the chosen band. Thanks for the link. I already left feedback using a bug report form somewhere but I would try again and see where this leads to.

Meg understand the issue quite well. She is very sorry you don't like the answer.