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Carrier AT&T iPhone 12 - Don't Have 5G as a Dropdown Option in Settings?

boltjames

boltjames

macrumors 601
Original poster
May 2, 2010
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Anyone else seeing this? My son just got his iPhone 12 Pro.

Going to Cellular > Voice & Data it offers LTE and 4G but does not offer 5G.

We have the AT&T Unlimited Plus plan. We spoke to AT&T just now and they say everything looks fine on their end.

Help.
 
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boltjames said:
Anyone else seeing this? My son just got his iPhone 12 Pro.

Going to Cellular > Voice & Data it offers LTE and 4G but does not offer 5G.

We have the AT&T Unlimited Plus plan. We spoke to AT&T just now and they say everything looks fine on their end.

Help.
Click to expand...
I don’t think the Unlimited Plus is a 5G plan. The new plans are the Unlimited Elite, Extra and Starter or the Unlimited Your Way which includes a mixture of the 3.
 
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sydia21 said:
I don’t think the Unlimited Plus is a 5G plan. The new plans are the Unlimited Elite, Extra and Starter or the Unlimited Your Way which includes a mixture of the 3.
Click to expand...

I called and asked AT&T twice before we bought the 12 Plus and once again today when talking to tech support about the missing 5G dropdown option and all three times I was assured that our 2017 Unlimited Plus plan did include 5G at no extra charge.
 
Cryates said:
Your 2017 unlimited plan does NOT include true 5G. This is likely AT&T fooling you into thinking “5Ge” is true 5G, which it is absolutely not. It’s a fancy marketing term for LTE.
Click to expand...

I would certainly hope with iPhone 12 coming out and AT&T having actual 5G pretty much nationwide that they wouldn’t be saying that.

With that being said, checking my AT&T unlimited plan now before my IP12 Pro Max shows up in a few weeks.
 
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Your plan definitely does NOT include 5G, trust me I had the same exact plan and had to work with my mom to move our whole family plan to one of the new plans (Elite) to get 5G access. The good news is our bill went down about $15, and the soft cap of 22 GB is now 100 GB so that’s good I guess. Still a hassle you have to move plans in the first place but that’s AT&T for you
 
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Deinocheirus said:
What exactly do you base this statement on? If you're going off of their coverage map, it absolutely includes 5Ge aka LTE advanced in the 5G color.
Click to expand...

You're correct...was so focused on my own direct area and that has a very large swath of 5G.

Also, their map does not have that lame 5Ge even noted...and the 5G portion of the legend clearly states 5G as 5G and 5G compatible phones.

It's weird that it doesn't mention 5Ge at all...only 4G LTE....hmmmm
 
MozMan68 said:
I would certainly hope with iPhone 12 coming out and AT&T having actual 5G pretty much nationwide that they wouldn’t be saying that.

With that being said, checking my AT&T unlimited plan now before my IP12 Pro Max shows up in a few weeks.
Click to expand...
AT&T is pretty vile though. They’ve been trying to make customers think they have 5G with that marketing for two-ish years now, so why stop? Especially when their true 5G isn’t even much better than their 5Ge.
 
MozMan68 said:
You're correct...was so focused on my own direct area and that has a very large swath of 5G.

Also, their map does not have that lame 5Ge even noted...and the 5G portion of the legend clearly states 5G as 5G and 5G compatible phones.

It's weird that it doesn't mention 5Ge at all...only 4G LTE....hmmmm
Click to expand...
Their map is very confusing. My immediate area shows saturated in 5G, but I can barely get 1-2 bars of LTE standing outside. Need to drive the mile or so out of the neighborhood before it transitions to full bars of 5Ge....all of this inside areas AT&T's map shows as saturated in "5G".

The problem is that AT&T's map only shows 1 color per area, the "best" color, so there is no way to see what the LTE coverage is like for this area since the 5G color overrides it.

My expectation when getting the 12...is that I will still get 2 bars of LTE.
 
Deinocheirus said:
Their map is very confusing. My immediate area shows saturated in 5G, but I can barely get 1-2 bars of LTE standing outside. Need to drive the mile or so out of the neighborhood before it transitions to full bars of 5Ge....all of this inside areas AT&T's map shows as saturated in "5G".

The problem is that AT&T's map only shows 1 color per area, the "best" color, so there is no way to see what the LTE coverage is like for this area since the 5G color overrides it.

My expectation when getting the 12...is that I will still get 2 bars of LTE.
Click to expand...

I get 2 bars of LTE at home and my speeds went from 40 to 60 Mbps with 5G enabled. It seems to be working fine for me.
 
jakeuten said:
I get 2 bars of LTE at home and my speeds went from 40 to 60 Mbps with 5G enabled. It seems to be working fine for me.
Click to expand...
Meaning you USED TO get 2 bars of LTE but now you get 5G and it performs around 60 Mbps? You left out some important details in that statement.
 
boltjames said:
I called and asked AT&T twice before we bought the 12 Plus and once again today when talking to tech support about the missing 5G dropdown option and all three times I was assured that our 2017 Unlimited Plus plan did include 5G at no extra charge.
Click to expand...
I have the Unlimited Starter plan, which includes 5G according to the website, but I don’t have the the option in my cellular settings either (just LTE and 4G).
 
I just checked swapping gout my old plan to a 5G plan (and they let you choose by phone number now). Switching all 6 phone numbers on my account (5 phones...I have 2 numbers on mine) ADDS $20 to my bill and everyone but me loses their hot spot, loses 1080p video streaming, loses HBO Max (don't care...have it through Hulu anyway).

Sticking with 4G unlimited for now. Without traveling, I really won't benefit from 5G anyway right now.
 
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Thanks to all who took the time to respond. Going to stick with the 2017 Unlimited Plus plan for now. Can’t lose the hotspots, we use it all the time. 5G will have to wait.
 
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MozMan68 said:
I just checked swapping gout my old plan to a 5G plan (and they let you choose by phone number now). Switching all 6 phone numbers on my account (5 phones...I have 2 numbers on mine) ADDS $20 to my bill and everyone but me loses their hot spot, loses 1080p video streaming, loses HBO Max (don't care...have it through Hulu anyway).

Sticking with 4G unlimited for now. Without traveling, I really won't benefit from 5G anyway right now.
Click to expand...

If you sign up for auto pay and paperless billing, plus have a signature program discount (most employers, or if you dont qualify just sign up for AARP for 12 bucks) then you can get the AT&T elite plan for 35 bucks a line (for over 5 phones.) So 35*6= $210 a month plus taxes/fees. This would include HBO Max, HD video streaming, and 30GB of hotspot per line plus 100GB of overall data before potential throttling.

What are you current paying on the old plan?
 
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Only the base Unlm
boltjames said:
Thanks to all who took the time to respond. Going to stick with the 2017 Unlimited Plus plan for now. Can’t lose the hotspots, we use it all the time. 5G will have to wait.
Click to expand...
Only the base Unlimited Starter plan doesn't include a hotpot. And now you can choose between Unlimited Elite (30GB of hotspot data), Unlimited Extra (15GB of hotspot), or Unlimited Starter for EACH line on your plan separately.
 
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jdlindsey7 said:
I have the Unlimited Starter plan, which includes 5G according to the website, but I don’t have the the option in my cellular settings either (just LTE and 4G).
Click to expand...

This is concerning. Is anyone else on a new unlimited plan having this issue?
 
jdlindsey7 said:
I have the Unlimited Starter plan, which includes 5G according to the website, but I don’t have the the option in my cellular settings either (just LTE and 4G).
Click to expand...
I stand corrected. I chatted with AT&T before ordering to verify that I wouldn't have to make any changes to my plan to get 5G. Although the agent told me that "your plan supports 5G" I found out today that it does not (old Unlimited & More plan). AT&T chat fail.
 
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jdlindsey7 said:
I stand corrected. I chatted with AT&T before ordering to verify that I wouldn't have to make any changes to my plan to get 5G. Although the agent told me that "your plan supports 5G" I found out today that it does not (old Unlimited & More plan). AT&T chat fail.
Click to expand...
If I had such an "Unlimited" plan, I might argue the point with them that their own information clearly says ALL Unlimited Plans: https://about.att.com/story/2020/att_5g_nationwide.html
 
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