Does wifi override 3G?

[stahl7639]

Just as the question asks, if I don't disable 3G service, yet I turn on wifi, will the wifi connection automatically disable the 3G connection?

 

[Echthros]

Yes, it will. I'm not sure if it's the same with iPhone 4's, however it wouldn't make sense if it changed.

 

[stahl7639]

Thanks a lot!

 

[cemmastajay]

and whats about running 3G & Bluetooth at the same time? i guess thats possible..

can someone try to do the death grip with turned on bluetooth and tell me if it changed something? does the connection still go down or maybe not...?

 

[Wetwipes]

Well I've had the wifi symbol on my ip4 when I've been using it at home, but today I've discovered this useage is being logged as 3g useage by my carrier. Will disable the 3g tonight to see what my bills says tomorrow !

 

[mgamber]

Wifi does NOT disable a 3G connection. Most data will move via wifi if it's enabled, connected and capable of moving data but it doesn't turn off 3G. If any of those aren't valid, it'll eventually fall back to 3G and some functions of the phone use carrier data regardless of the wifi setting. One easy example is sending stuff via MMS. It's still data but it won't use wifi even if it's enabled. If the phone has any problem with the wifi connection, it may still show it as connected but it's using 3G. As far as I've been able to tell, the "wifi bars" simply indicate that it's gotten an IP address from something.

 

[Wetwipes]

Wifi does NOT disable a 3G connection. Most data will move via wifi if it's enabled, connected and capable of moving data but it doesn't turn off 3G. If any of those aren't valid, it'll eventually fall back to 3G and some functions of the phone use carrier data regardless of the wifi setting. One easy example is sending stuff via MMS. It's still data but it won't use wifi even if it's enabled. If the phone has any problem with the wifi connection, it may still show it as connected but it's using 3G. As far as I've been able to tell, the "wifi bars" simply indicate that it's gotten an IP address from something.

Excellent answer - thanks very much. I haven't used mms on the phone yet though so I know it can't be that. Tonight I'm going to turn of 3g, tomorrow night I'm going to turn off push notifications, and if the useage is still being logged on my bill as 3g useage then I don't know what to do!

 

[mgamber]

Excellent answer - thanks very much. I haven't used mms on the phone yet though so I know it can't be that. Tonight I'm going to turn of 3g, tomorrow night I'm going to turn off push notifications, and if the useage is still being logged on my bill as 3g useage then I don't know what to do!

You can't just turn off 3G, it'll simply fall back to EDGE. You have to disable cell data completely. If you have an iPhone 4 you can go to Settings->General->Network and turn off Cellular Data. If not, you have to turn off the cell radio entirely and only leave wifi enabled (Not airplane mode, that turns off everything).

MMS was just an obvious example that wifi doesn't even always override 3G, let alone disable it. From what I gathered from reading, the phone has diagnostic and positioning functionality that always phones home via cell data, also.

 

[goombah88]

Wifi does NOT disable a 3G connection. Most data will move via wifi if it's enabled, connected and capable of moving data but it doesn't turn off 3G. If any of those aren't valid, it'll eventually fall back to 3G and some functions of the phone use carrier data regardless of the wifi setting. One easy example is sending stuff via MMS. It's still data but it won't use wifi even if it's enabled. If the phone has any problem with the wifi connection, it may still show it as connected but it's using 3G. As far as I've been able to tell, the "wifi bars" simply indicate that it's gotten an IP address from something.

Incorrect. MMS WILL in fact use WIFI to send the picture texts. This was confirmed to me while on the phone with ATT trying to fix a problem where I could text to one person on my family plan but I could to everyone else.

 

[mgamber]

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/950105/

That's what I've been reading for two years and I don't see any activity on my router.