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iSayuSay

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 6, 2011
3,789
906
Got a simple question. How do we know if iPhone is using WiFi connection and not 3G if both are present?

Does iPhone automatically override any 3G data service whenever WiFi is present? Or are there any specific services (apart from SMS/MMS) that being forced using 3G connection?

I prefer not turning off Cellular Data, if that's possible.

Thank you :)
 

Big D 51

macrumors 6502a
Jan 15, 2011
771
0
Mobile, AL
Yes, wifi will override 3G when possible. If your phone is in 3G, it will
have "3G" written in top task bar near your signal or the wifi signal when on wifi. I would post pics, but I'm using tapatalk on iPhone so not so easy.


To turn off cellular data on ios5: Settings > general > network
 

r2shyyou

macrumors 68000
Oct 3, 2010
1,758
13
Paris, France
Got a simple question. How do we know if iPhone is using WiFi connection and not 3G if both are present?

The data status indicator at the top of the screen will tell you if your phone is currently using 3G or Wi-Fi (see attachments).

Does iPhone automatically override any 3G data service whenever WiFi is present?

Yes, as far as i know.

Or are there any specific services (apart from SMS/MMS) that being forced using 3G connection?

I prefer not turning off Cellular Data, if that's possible.

Thank you :)

Not that I know of, but I could be wrong.
 

Attachments

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scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
Visual Voicemail is another example of when an iPhone will utilize 3G for data, even when connected to Wifi.
 

iphone1105

macrumors 68020
Oct 8, 2009
2,106
316
i believe imessage also uses data rather than wifi (something i dreadfully hate)

nah, i send plenty of imessages on wifi! plus, if it needed 3G all those nice ipad and ipod touches wouldn't be able to imessage
 

bmms8

macrumors 68020
Dec 19, 2007
2,492
112
Doesn't appear to... I was able to send an iMessage with "Cellular Data" turned off.

Youre right, but what i am saying is that imessage uses data before it uses wifi to send imessages. anandtech confirmed this iirc.

nah, i send plenty of imessages on wifi! plus, if it needed 3G all those nice ipad and ipod touches wouldn't be able to imessage

i think we are talking about a couple different things. what i meant to say was that if you have data on, and wifi on, the iphone sends imessages with your data connection rather than using data.

for me, its no fun as i live in an edge area and sending pics takes a while even though imessage :(
 

aziatiklover

macrumors 68030
Jul 12, 2011
2,704
269
8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
well some of you guys are correct. However, I have this carrier here in nam that charge you data even tho you on wifi, and they SAY that they can't do anything about it since it's the iphone controlling that matter! Thoughts?
 

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

aziatiklover said:
well some of you guys are correct. However, I have this carrier here in nam that charge you data even tho you on wifi, and they SAY that they can't do anything about it since it's the iphone controlling that matter! Thoughts?

Turn cellular data off if it's an issue!
 

iSayuSay

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 6, 2011
3,789
906
well some of you guys are correct. However, I have this carrier here in nam that charge you data even tho you on wifi, and they SAY that they can't do anything about it since it's the iphone controlling that matter! Thoughts?

Well same thing happened to me when I was traveling abroad. I used a local prepaid SIM, and the I saw my credit keep falling little by little as I browse using WiFi. (Yes of course I checked WiFi is in-range and connected to Internet). And I didn't text, MMS or making any calls then.

But I don't understand why the carrier was charging me over and over again. That's why I asked this question. Do anyone else having this problem? Especially with prepaid SIM?
But truly, even for those who use data plan, this still annoying because it decreases your quota even while I'm using WiFi.

Thank you for all kind responses. I guess there's no other way but turning off Cellular Data, huh? :( .. Well it's preferable to keep this data flow automatic, but if carrier still charging me my credit/quota while I'm on Wi-Fi, I better not take chances.
 

aziatiklover

macrumors 68030
Jul 12, 2011
2,704
269
8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)



Turn cellular data off if it's an issue!

of course that's wat I did rite after questioning them where were my credits from my prepaid sim.
 

openendstraight

macrumors regular
May 5, 2010
132
0
La Vegas
for me, its no fun as i live in an edge area and sending pics takes a while even though imessage :(

There is a solution for your slow edge sending pics if you are near wifi. Just turn on Airplane mode, and then turn wifi back on. When you first go into text app, it will tell you that you need cellular data or wifi. Just hit cancel and proceed as normal.

If you are not around wifi, then sorry about your crap cellular area.
 

applefanDrew

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2010
1,437
4
iMessage uses wifi too. Thus, iPad and iPod Touches can text. If you're on 3G, iMessage will use 3G. If you're on wifi, iMessage uses wifi.
 

yezza

macrumors 6502
Mar 12, 2008
259
23
As a side note, Dataman is a great app for logging data usage. It splits it into wifi/3G. It's very interesting (and rather concerning) to see which actions transmit data, and how much. Btw, Dataman doesn't tell you which app is transmitting the data, but you can test apps data transfer
yourself by using the Dataman log.
 
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