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Gold3nrul3

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2012
5
0
Hello I am trying to find out if it's possible to turn off the 3G radio and not the LTE radio because at my desk my phone automatically switches over to 3G even though I get an LTE signal of about one or two bars which are good enough to have a perfect connection. If I walk to one end of the room I get four bars of LTE but then when I go back to my desk it slowly drops until I have one or two bars at my desk which is still a good enough signal. I don't know if there's a way I can manually enter the network profile for the 3G to disable it or I might have to jailbreak the phone or it's just not possible.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,481
43,407
Nope, no option, you can disable LTE but not 3G.

If you're phone is unable to keep a lock on LTE, then its probably best to disable LTE so it doesn't try to keep locking into a tower.
 

Gold3nrul3

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2012
5
0
Why would it be best? It does get a lock just prioritizes a stronger 3G signal... I know there is no easy way to find this answer but historically does jailbreaking iOS give access to radio control?
 

tymaster50

Suspended
Oct 3, 2012
2,833
58
Oregon
Why would you want to turn off 3G anyway? 2G is slow and it probably means the 3G signal is faster than the LTE signal.
 

Gold3nrul3

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2012
5
0
I'm sitting at my desk, it can't keep a lock because its prioritizing the 3G....AFAIK. Battery is np I have it plugged in
 

Westyfield2

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2009
606
0
Bath, UK.
I don't think it's needed really. Mine will stay locked on to LTE all the way down to a displayed zero bars... but still speedtested at 8/17meg while at zero bars!
 

tymaster50

Suspended
Oct 3, 2012
2,833
58
Oregon
I'm sitting at my desk, it can't keep a lock because its prioritizing the 3G....AFAIK. Battery is np I have it plugged in

Well you can't turn off 3G since it's on the same chip now. So you'll just have to live with things loading 3 seconds slower
 

cngrevolution

macrumors member
Jun 16, 2008
96
3
Well you can't turn off 3G since it's on the same chip now. So you'll just have to live with things loading 3 seconds slower

Hmm. Why would it matter if they are on the same chip? You can turn off the LTE what's the difference of turning off the 3G? I would love to have that option. I'm hoping maybe a jailbreak will make that option possible.
 

tymaster50

Suspended
Oct 3, 2012
2,833
58
Oregon
Hmm. Why would it matter if they are on the same chip? You can turn off the LTE what's the difference of turning off the 3G? I would love to have that option. I'm hoping maybe a jailbreak will make that option possible.

there's no dedicated 3G chip. So basically you're stuck on LTE, unless your area/country doesn't have LTE yet, it's pretty much carrier setting based. and if you really hate the 3G that bad then it's up to you, the device automatically switches to 2G when connecting to LTE
 

cngrevolution

macrumors member
Jun 16, 2008
96
3
there's no dedicated 3G chip. So basically you're stuck on LTE, unless your area/country doesn't have LTE
yet, it's pretty much carrier setting based. and if you really hate the 3G that bad then it's up to you, the device automatically switches to 2G when connecting to LTE

I guess what I am saying is since all the radios are on one chip then it should be nothing more than a software switch to turn off LTE or 3G. Either one should make no difference. I guess just a matter of the carriers allowing it or a developer writing a app for that. :)
 

tymaster50

Suspended
Oct 3, 2012
2,833
58
Oregon
I guess what I am saying is since all the radios are on one chip then it should be nothing more than a software switch to turn off LTE or 3G. Either one should make no difference. I guess just a matter of the carriers allowing it or a developer writing a app for that. :)

I don't really see the problem though. It couldn't get a consistent LTE signal so it switched to a stronger 3G signal. I wouldn't want to turn off 3G when carriers are shutting down 2G networks and when LTE turns off 3G anyway
 

stonyboys

macrumors 6502
Oct 16, 2012
323
3
I'm thinking if no phone ever in history allowed the option to turn 3G off but leave LTE on, then there is an impossibility in the way cell towers work, ie LTE relies on 3G somehow.

Also have you speedtested it? I was near downtown which is where the only 2 LTE towers in the city are, and the speed I got was as fast as the 3 bar 3G speed I get at my house.
 

Redsew

macrumors newbie
Nov 3, 2012
12
0
This may not be helpful but the iPhone 5 has a 3G capability??? I thought it only had 4g lte since the new iPad only allows 4g... This is surprising... I want the iPhone 5 now lol....
 

Gold3nrul3

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 3, 2012
5
0
I at least want the option... if the LTE ends up being spotty and worse than the 3g then I would swap back but I am pretty sure that a really low LTE signal is still better than a 100 times slower 3g signal...
 

Myiphone7

macrumors 6502a
Nov 18, 2010
848
0
Hello I am trying to find out if it's possible to turn off the 3G radio and not the LTE radio because at my desk my phone automatically switches over to 3G even though I get an LTE signal of about one or two bars which are good enough to have a perfect connection. If I walk to one end of the room I get four bars of LTE but then when I go back to my desk it slowly drops until I have one or two bars at my desk which is still a good enough signal. I don't know if there's a way I can manually enter the network profile for the 3G to disable it or I might have to jailbreak the phone or it's just not possible.

I don't think this can be done. Maybe a jailbreak tweak will be available. In fact I am certain their will be because there was an app that let you turn off edge only on jailbroken 4's
 

hNicolas

macrumors 6502
Dec 4, 2008
377
66
Ottawa, ON
This may not be helpful but the iPhone 5 has a 3G capability??? I thought it only had 4g lte since the new iPad only allows 4g... This is surprising... I want the iPhone 5 now lol....

All iPads fall back to 3G when 4G or LTE signals are weak.

----------

I at least want the option... if the LTE ends up being spotty and worse than the 3g then I would swap back but I am pretty sure that a really low LTE signal is still better than a 100 times slower 3g signal...

I would love to have that option too. I have 2 bars LTE at home and get 25-30 Mbs downloads. And it often switches to 3 bars 3G, at 8 Mbs downloads. I don't understand why it switches like that. I have never seen 0 bar LTE, but I'm sure it would still be faster than my 3G.
 

SlickYagami

macrumors newbie
Mar 9, 2013
12
0
Right here
Sorry for reviving this old thread. I would really appreciate it if someone could develop a hack to disable 3G only so I can fully enjoy LTE in my area. I'm on Sprint, so I'm sure many would understand my position - suffering sub 1 Mbps speed just because 3G has one bar stronger signal than LTE. It's that way for the whole city which has several known LTE towers. I don't know of any jailbreak tweak that can solve this issue.
 

osofast240sx

macrumors 68030
Mar 25, 2011
2,539
16
Sorry for reviving this old thread. I would really appreciate it if someone could develop a hack to disable 3G only so I can fully enjoy LTE in my area. I'm on Sprint, so I'm sure many would understand my position - suffering sub 1 Mbps speed just because 3G has one bar stronger signal than LTE. It's that way for the whole city which has several known LTE towers. I don't know of any jailbreak tweak that can solve this issue.

You can either move to a different carrier or wait it out till sprint gets more LTE up.
 

SlickYagami

macrumors newbie
Mar 9, 2013
12
0
Right here
You can either move to a different carrier or wait it out till sprint gets more LTE up.

I'm actually wanting to ditch Sprint in favor of T-Mobile. Just the ETF is the problem, and I'm in a family plan so $600-$700. Guess I could try to complain to them about the spotty LTE and 3G as I lose signal sometimes.
 
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