6s Plus Reverts to 4G

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MJedi

MJedi

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 16, 2010
765
185
My 6s Plus has been going down to 4G (with AT&T) all day. I've tried rebooting, and resetting network settings. It stays on LTE for a few minutes, then goes down to 4G. However, other iPhones (5S and 5C) in the office are still on LTE. Not sure if it's AT&T (maybe a new carrier update is needed for the 6s Plus?) or an issue with my iPhone. Anyone experienced this?
 

Subwaymac

Subwaymac

macrumors regular
Apr 1, 2009
197
74
Illinois
No att has hspa plus which is really not 4G and it's terrible just like AT&T in general that's why they're getting sued for $300 million from the FCC for throttling customers
 
J

jonstatt1

macrumors 6502
Oct 23, 2015
255
92
Subwaymac said:
No att has hspa plus which is really not 4G and it's terrible just like AT&T in general that's why they're getting sued for $300 million from the FCC for throttling customers
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Yeah the confusion comes though that on other networks/countries such as in the UK an iPhone will only display 4G, not LTE. And when it says 4G it really means 4G. HSPA+ shows as 3G on a UK iPhone for example. So this switching between 4G and LTE makes no sense to a lot of people.

However, to the original posters point, could it just be battery saving to fallback to 3G when there isn't a data throughput need to actually use 4G? A lot of non Apple phones switch off HSPA+ and fall back to generic 3G for example when they are just idling or doing minimal data, in order to save battery power.
 
lordofthereef

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
12,869
3,407
Boston, MA
It's really tugh to say what is going on here. Do you have another phone that is NOT doing this? It's netirely possible that, wherever you are, ATT's network is having issues. It would also be helpful to say where you are experiencing the issue. This certainly isn't a nationwide thing else we would see threads like this blowing up all over the forums.
 
lordofthereef

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
12,869
3,407
Boston, MA
Farsider said:
Isn't LTE and 4G the same thing?
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I hate that US carriers have decided to market them differently. And I hate more that Apple gave in to US carriers and allowed it to happen.

HSPA shows up as 3G on the iphone
HSPA+ shows up as 4G
LTE shows up as LTE

It's confusing, espcially when discussing on forums. I don't know who did it first, but AFAIK, all carriers in the US treat the terminology the same way. :/
 
MJedi

MJedi

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 16, 2010
765
185
lordofthereef said:
It's really tugh to say what is going on here. Do you have another phone that is NOT doing this? It's netirely possible that, wherever you are, ATT's network is having issues. It would also be helpful to say where you are experiencing the issue. This certainly isn't a nationwide thing else we would see threads like this blowing up all over the forums.
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An iPhone 5C and 5S stayed LTE when I started this thread.

Garen said:
I had a similar problem turns out it was my new metal case, if you have a metal case remove it and see if that helps.
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I use the Apple Leather case.

So far this morning, my iPhone is staying on LTE. Hopefully, it was just a glitch.
 
lordofthereef

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
12,869
3,407
Boston, MA
If pother phones are not dropping to 4g at all in the same locaion than I would say there is a decent possibility there may be a hardware issue. Are we talking about the same sim in different phones as well? I'd start with troubleshooting through ATT first. They are likely to blame the phone though lol.
 
geoff5093

geoff5093

macrumors 68020
Sep 16, 2014
2,221
2,512
Dover, NH
lordofthereef said:
I hate that US carriers have decided to market them differently. And I hate more that Apple gave in to US carriers and allowed it to happen.

HSPA shows up as 3G on the iphone
HSPA+ shows up as 4G
LTE shows up as LTE

It's confusing, espcially when discussing on forums. I don't know who did it first, but AFAIK, all carriers in the US treat the terminology the same way. :/
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I believe T-Mobile was the first to do it, I remember them claiming they had the nations largest "4G" network before all the other carriers were mass deploying LTE.
 
M

Merkie

macrumors 68020
Oct 23, 2008
2,104
662
Yeah, 4G = LTE in the rest of the world, except for the US. Now let's move on.

OP: I think the cause is the network and not your phone.
 

M

MasterRyu2011

macrumors 65816
Aug 22, 2014
1,065
359
Does this happen at the same spot (your office) or everywhere? There are certain spots where my phone will go back and forth between 4G and LTE. Of course I'm using Tmobile.
 
lordofthereef

lordofthereef

macrumors G5
Nov 29, 2011
12,869
3,407
Boston, MA
geoff5093 said:
I believe T-Mobile was the first to do it, I remember them claiming they had the nations largest "4G" network before all the other carriers were mass deploying LTE.
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I was going to make that claim myself but I wasn't sure lol. Either way they're all guilty and it's rather annoying. Especially for people visiting from overseas.

Unsure how Canada treats their cellular signals but I think the is is literally unique (in a bad way haha)
 
A

Aston441

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2014
1,287
1,785
I suspect it is because AT&T coverage nationwide is oversaturated, awful and gets worse day after day and year.
 
MJedi

MJedi

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 16, 2010
765
185
I spoke too soon. I'm still experiencing the issue of LTE going down to "4G" (HSPA+) on my iPhone. I've also noticed it sometimes shows "No Service." I tried my SIM in a 5S, and saw the same thing happen. Is it my SIM? Never had this problem at my desk since I got the 6s Plus last month. I did try a 5C with its own account, and saw that it drops to one dot but stays on LTE. Maybe the 6s Plus is more sensitive to network issues?

ielessar said:
In addition to what the guys mentioned above, try a network reset.
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I already tried that.

Aston441 said:
I suspect it is because AT&T coverage nationwide is oversaturated, awful and gets worse day after day and year.
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I'm beginning to suspect this is what's happening at my location.
 
C

CNeufeld

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2009
937
503
Edmonton, AB
MJedi said:
I spoke too soon. I'm still experiencing the issue of LTE going down to "4G" (HSPA+) on my iPhone. I've also noticed it sometimes shows "No Service." I tried my SIM in a 5S, and saw the same thing happen. Is it my SIM? Never had this problem at my desk since I got the 6s Plus last month. I did try a 5C with its own account, and saw that it drops to one dot but stays on LTE. Maybe the 6s Plus is more sensitive to network issues?



I already tried that.



I'm beginning to suspect this is what's happening at my location.
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Does it just happen in one location?

If you notice the problem moves with the SIM card, I'd get that replaced first. Did you try your SIM card in the 5c as well as your 5s? Did you try the SIM card from your 5s in the 6s?

C
 
A

Aston441

macrumors 65816
Sep 16, 2014
1,287
1,785
MJedi said:
I spoke too soon. I'm still experiencing the issue of LTE going down to "4G" (HSPA+) on my iPhone. I've also noticed it sometimes shows "No Service." I tried my SIM in a 5S, and saw the same thing happen. Is it my SIM? Never had this problem at my desk since I got the 6s Plus last month. I did try a 5C with its own account, and saw that it drops to one dot but stays on LTE. Maybe the 6s Plus is more sensitive to network issues?



I already tried that.



I'm beginning to suspect this is what's happening at my location.
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Also you might dig around in settings and see if you have the latest carrier update. I've been having the same thing going on with my 6s+ and expect it will be sorted out with the next at&t 6s+ carrier update. I've seen this BS before with AT&T and try not to stress over it. Ultimately the underlying issue is that AT&T is awful, but for various reasons I'm stuck with it. All the carriers are terrible for different and overlapping reasons.
 

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