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Janney66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 16, 2011
15
7
Is the iPhone 12 supposed to work with 3G? I have the 12 pro on Verizon and I either get LTE or no signal. Not sure what’s going on but in the cellular data options I can pick between 5G auto or on and LTE. No 3G option and I have yet to get a 3G signal. But I have no signal way more than I used to.
 
Here is a quote from one of Apple specialists: "The iPhone 12 will connect to 5G LTE when it is available. If not, then it will move on to 4G LTE and even to 3G if necessary. Yes, it is all automatic."
So yes, I guess it is supposed to have 3G support.
 
Thank you that’s reassuring although still not sure why my phone isn’t connecting at anything less than LTE. I have Apple support looking into this too...Verizon was no help.
 
Having this same issue. Haven’t seen my 12 Pro switch to 3G at all - signal just drops out completely. Usually a quick airplane mode on/off toggle will help it obtain a weak 4G signal. Please let us all know how you make out with Apple.
 
Having this same issue. Haven’t seen my 12 Pro switch to 3G at all - signal just drops out completely. Usually a quick airplane mode on/off toggle will help it obtain a weak 4G signal. Please let us all know how you make out with Apple.

Apple thinks it’s an issue on Verizon’s end but they were letting their engineers know about the problem as well
 
Verizon's 3G network is it's old CDMA network and it's being shut down.
Hence it's 4gLTE or nothing... :(

True but both Verizon and Apple admit it should work on 3G the phone still supports it. For many areas 3G is still very much needed to fill in the gaps.

So if this article is correct our service instantly gets worse after 2020 in rural areas??
 
True but both Verizon and Apple admit it should work on 3G the phone still supports it. For many areas 3G is still very much needed to fill in the gaps.

So if this article is correct our service instantly gets worse after 2020 in rural areas??
Yep. You'll only have 4gLTE or 5G.
 
I did hear about this. But it still doesn’t explain why if you just toggle airplane mode when signal drops to none, the service comes back instantly...
 
I did hear about this. But it still doesn’t explain why if you just toggle airplane mode when signal drops to none, the service comes back instantly...
I'm thinking the phone hops onto the first signal it finds after being on airplane mode. Then it settles down to a signal it can maintain...
 
The iPhone 12 Pro does support Verizon 3G. From the tech specs on apple.com, the phone supports the following:

5G NR (Bands n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n20, n25, n28, n38, n40, n41, n66, n71, n77, n78, n79)
5G NR mmWave (Bands n260, n261)
FDD-LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 66, 71)
TD-LTE (Bands 34, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48)
CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)
UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)

CDMA EV-DO is Verizon 3G.
 
True but both Verizon and Apple admit it should work on 3G the phone still supports it. For many areas 3G is still very much needed to fill in the gaps.

So if this article is correct our service instantly gets worse after 2020 in rural areas??
Verizon shutting down 3G it’s 4g or better from them for now on
 
That's true but if Verizon is no longer using those frequencies for CDMA(3g) then that's why you have no service. Don't forget that Sprint used those frequencies as well before T-Mobile bought them out. Now those frequencies have been farmed out to 5g for T-Mobile customers(hence their dedicated mid-range service).
 
Be that as it may. The phone should at least try to continue to connect (at some reasonable rate) if there’s no signal. Seems that once the signal completely drops you have to force it to look again. The way it works now can’t be the intended behavior.
 
Depends on your location. If there's no 4gLTE Verizon service and no roaming partner to connect to then the "no service" logo should show on the home screen. Is that what's happening?
 
It’s not really that. You could be on LTE with a bar or two while driving and all of a sudden it goes to no signal. Toggle airplane and LTE comes right back.

To me it seems like the phone is having issues switching towers, that’s my best guess at least.
 
It’s not really that. You could be on LTE with a bar or two while driving and all of a sudden it goes to no signal. Toggle airplane and LTE comes right back.

To me it seems like the phone is having issues switching towers, that’s my best guess at least.

Exactly...at least in my case there is sometimes minutes between when it loses signal and gets the signal back. I think it has successfully worked between towers at times but if the signal is weak at that point and there’s no other strong tower it just loses it. Normally I think it would have just gone to 3G for a bit.
 
Depends on your location. If there's no 4gLTE Verizon service and no roaming partner to connect to then the "no service" logo should show on the home screen. Is that what's happening?

The problem is there is a 3G signal in these areas for me, I have an iPhone 7 for my work phone and it still works fine in areas the 12 doesn’t work at all. And every other iPhone I’ve had including the 11 didn’t behave like this losing signal all the time and never connecting on anything other than LTE.
 
Is the iPhone 12 supposed to work with 3G? I have the 12 pro on Verizon and I either get LTE or no signal. Not sure what’s going on but in the cellular data options I can pick between 5G auto or on and LTE. No 3G option and I have yet to get a 3G signal. But I have no signal way more than I used to.

Because Verizon's 3G is CDMA and they're shutting it down.
 
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There is no toggle to switch between 3G / 4G or 5G?

Due to heat related issues and battery use, I have my iphone 11 pro locked in 3G which is perfectly fine for me since I'm in a rural area with good and fast 3G but spotty 4G. Speed is very good and battery lasts all day ( with 4G around 17:00 in the day I had to recharge it but on 3G at 20:00 and 15-20% battery left)

I'll think twice before i'll get the 12 pro simply for this reason, be it true.
It's really unbelievable to not have this control over your own phone.
 
There is no toggle to switch between 3G / 4G or 5G?

Due to heat related issues and battery use, I have my iphone 11 pro locked in 3G which is perfectly fine for me since I'm in a rural area with good and fast 3G but spotty 4G. Speed is very good and battery lasts all day ( with 4G around 17:00 in the day I had to recharge it but on 3G at 20:00 and 15-20% battery left)

I'll think twice before i'll get the 12 pro simply for this reason, be it true.
It's really unbelievable to not have this control over your own phone.
Only has LTE/5G Auto/5G ON. No 4G access anymore...
 
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Well, LTE is basically 4G ... do you mean no 3G access anymore?
Correct. Here in the U.S. it was called 4G vs HSDPA+ in other countries. My Pixl4 shows H+ when i'm not using LTE. By the way I'm listing GSM standards. Verizon used CDMA and I do remember they couldn't use data and phone at the same time. Some phones had dual radios to overcome that limitation.
 
Last edited:
Hi, Did anyone find resolution to this topic? I just called Apple and Verizon. Apple says the iPhone 12 should be 3G compatible with iOS 13, but not 14. And the Verizon rep. said that people were able to connect with the 12 to 3G after an "update" to the iPhone. I couldn't understand exactly which update. And Verizon says they're phasing out 3G on 12/31/20. So, as for now, it seems that you should be able to connect to 3G through iOS 13. Can someone confirm?
 
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