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iPhone 4S has a thing for 2G/Edge Over 3G

A

ajns23

Guest
Original poster
Sep 20, 2011
22
0
Hey All!

My iPhone 4S is on vodafone and im at the top floor of a office. my phone is always on 2G signal or EDGE signal. and it won't default to 3G. the only way i can kick it into getting over to 3G would be to restart the phone and it will default to 3 bars of 3G signal. this is annoying because 3G signal is there i can see it. i leave it in standby for say 10minutes come back and its back on 2G signal / EDGE and i am forced to do the same thing again.

my question is anyone else noticed this issue? am i alone? its so annoying!!

Thanks.
 
Typically, this is not an issue with the phone; rather, it's an issue with your network.
 
jessica. said:
Typically, this is not an issue with the phone; rather, it's an issue with your network.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. do you have a 4S and are you having the same issue?

i don't know anyone else on Vodafone with the same issue.
 
ajns23 said:
Thanks for your reply. do you have a 4S and are you having the same issue?

i don't know anyone else on Vodafone with the same issue.
Click to expand...

I'm on Vodafone UK, but my 4S is arriving tomorrow. I'll report back then. ;)
 
ajns23 said:
the only way i can kick it into getting over to 3G would be to restart the phone and it will default to 3 bars of 3G signal.
Click to expand...
Haven't had this issue. I read another person's post who said they just needed to put the phone in airplane mode for a second and then turn airplane mode off. Still not much of a solution, but quicker than turning the phone off.
 
dave420 said:
Haven't had this issue. I read another person's post who said they just needed to put the phone in airplane mode for a second and then turn airplane mode off. Still not much of a solution, but quicker than turning the phone off.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

Its abit of a pain having to do this what is causing it? might go to apple shop today to ask them to take a look?
 
ajns23 said:
Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

Its abit of a pain having to do this what is causing it? might go to apple shop today to ask them to take a look?
Click to expand...

I know with AT&T they removed the option to turn 3G off. Not sure if it is the same there. Maybe the new phone wants to stay on 2G if there is a bad 3G signal to prevent the battery from draining when searching for a 3G signal all the time.
 
dave420 said:
I know with AT&T they removed the option to turn 3G off. Not sure if it is the same there. Maybe the new phone wants to stay on 2G if there is a bad 3G signal to prevent the battery from draining when searching for a 3G signal all the time.
Click to expand...

I heard that the lack of a 3G switch in Network settings is due to the new baseband chip, which can't selectively disable 3G. My flatmate's 4S doesn't have it and it's a UK unlocked iPhone bought from Apple.

Mine is arriving tomorrow, so I'll be able to confirm on mine as well.
 
ajns23 said:
Hey All!

My iPhone 4S is on vodafone and im at the top floor of a office. my phone is always on 2G signal or EDGE signal. and it won't default to 3G. the only way i can kick it into getting over to 3G would be to restart the phone and it will default to 3 bars of 3G signal. this is annoying because 3G signal is there i can see it. i leave it in standby for say 10minutes come back and its back on 2G signal / EDGE and i am forced to do the same thing again.

my question is anyone else noticed this issue? am i alone? its so annoying!!

Thanks.
Click to expand...

For whatever it is worth, I notice the same behavior on AT&T in the USA with an iPhone 4 after it was updated to iOS 5.

I do not mind because when I have to tether it seems the device reverts to the weaker 3G signal in order to get better data speeds. (At least I am supposing this is a deliberate behavior in iOS 5.)

I have not noticed, yet, how it handles the receipt of an MMS with a large amount of data.
 
Same thing in Canada. The problem is NOT a network problem.

I've been using 3G on i3G, i3GS and i4 before buying i4S. In 3 years, I've seen the Edge icon probably a dozen times. I've seen it more than that on 4S in the past 2 days. I still have the i4 and i3GS around and both are running iOS5. Not a single problem staying locked on 3G.

My suspicion is that the new chip + iOS are calibrated to switch networks upon a slight drop in signal strength. Most likely they will resolve this in a software update and I hope this is not a hardware issue.
 
crimsontwo said:
Same thing in Canada. The problem is NOT a network problem.
Click to expand...
I've never seen it drop to EDGE on Rogers any more frequently (ie almost never) than on any previous version of iOS.

And of course, the Bell/Telus network doesn't have 2G so there's nothing to drop down to.
 
frumpsnake said:
I've never seen it drop to EDGE on Rogers any more frequently (ie almost never) than on any previous version of iOS.

And of course, the Bell/Telus network doesn't have 2G so there's nothing to drop down to.
Click to expand...

I'm with Fido, which is Rogers. Not sure where and how you use the phone, but, like I said, 3 years of using 3G on iPhones, I've rarely seen Edge turning on in the city area (usually inside elevators in highrises). I have 2x4S (and 1 returned because of the hissing/crackling noise in the earpiece, which is a common issue apparently... came across many complaints about it this week). It has been happening on all 3 of my 4S devices. 3GS and I4 never leave the 3G network.

There are reports about this on apple forums and elsewhere from people around the world. Here's one from Kuwait (!): http://www.248am.com/mark/kuwait/follow-up-review-on-the-iphone-4s/

Anyway, it looks like this is something that can be fixed with a s/w update. When the signal falls below 3 bars (my observation), the phone switches to Edge. It takes time before it switches back to 3G.
 
terraphantm said:
I've yet to see an edge signal on this phone, but my 4 would always drop down.
Click to expand...

Tried to solve this issue on my own and so far so good. did a full flash within itunes and reset everything not from backup and got vodafone to send me out a new sim and so far so good.

Maybe this will work for other people? :D
 
Similar issues ... while the office i work in is somewhat marginal ... when i do get a 3G signal here its 3 bars (O2 btw) ... but yeah ... whenever i pick up my phone its seems to be always back on GPRS (no edge here)
 
I'm on Vodafone, too. It's not your phone IMHO, it's just fluctuating 3G and the phone is moving to the stronger 2G signals it is detecting.

I get better reception on my 4S than on my 4 anyway, so I've actually found I'm getting usable 3G in more places. It does still tend to drop back down to 2G though, Vodafone's 3G coverage in Canterbury is pitiful.

Try complaining to Vodafone :)
 
miniConvert said:
I'm on Vodafone, too. It's not your phone IMHO, it's just fluctuating 3G and the phone is moving to the stronger 2G signals it is detecting.

I get better reception on my 4S than on my 4 anyway, so I've actually found I'm getting usable 3G in more places. It does still tend to drop back down to 2G though, Vodafone's 3G coverage in Canterbury is pitiful.

Try complaining to Vodafone :)
Click to expand...

I wish i was in your position i'm the opposite. on my iPhone 4 I use to get 4-5 bars of 3G however on my 4S I can only get 1-2bars sat in the same location in the office. its so annoying!! and when it goes down to 2-1 bars it will default to full signal GPRS.

Driving me mad, this 4S will be going out of a 3rd floor window soon.
 
Kyotoma said:
Try a Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings.
Click to expand...
Good suggestion :)

If 3G signal stays poor you could really do with seeing if a different handset can get notably better reception in the same location at the moment. If it can, maybe your 4S is playing up after all.

Given Vodafone's performance lately in a number of areas around me I'd find it much easier to believe it's them though! :(
 
While out and about my 4S gets a good 3G reception on Vodafone. Like you wouldn't believe better, especially when compared to my old 3GS on O2.

When at home the 3G signal is not that strong where I live and what I have noticed a few time is that my 4S on Vodafone is usually on 5 bars of edge but sometimes when its been asleep for a while and I go to use it I don't have any data connection at all. Going into airplane mode and out again restores it back to normal with 5 bars of edge signal.

So a similar problem, not related to 3G reception only.
 
Ip4s

Dangerous Theory said:
Sounds like it's barely scraping the air for 3G radio waves.
Click to expand...

I am getting my replacement tonight from Vodafone so touch wood.

this new replacement will work perfecto. signal is suppose to be better on the IP4S better than IP4. touchwood i just had a dodge one.

Thanks.
 
I have a 4S and even though the reception seems better in terms of dB attenuation, the 3G symbols pops up far less that it did in my old 3GS. I'm using a battery case, so there is no reason to believe this is an antenna issue. I'm on Orange UK. I'm not too bothered about it though, for there is WiFi virtually everywhere I go these days.
 
I have exactly the same problem as the OP on my 4S.
When I open Safari and want to surf the web my iPhone keeps using EDGE.
The only solution is to turn airplane mode on, wait ten seconds, and turn it off.
Then I connects with 3G (mostly only 2 bars but still much quicker than 4 bars EDGE)
When I leave it 5 minutes on standby it switches back to EDGE.
So my iPhone always prefer 4 bars EDGE over 1 bar 3G.
But when I want to surf, 3G is much quicker!
And when I want to call, the 4 bars EDGE is better...
I just want to choose without airplane mode toggling or waiting 5 minutes!
 
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