iPhone says 4G but doesn't seem to do anything

Sort Posts by Likes
A

alakazzam

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 7, 2010
83
0
MA
Over the last week or so my iPhone 4S has been completely dropping out of AT&T's data network. I've only had about 500mb transfer thus far on my billing cycle and I'm still grandfathered in from the unlimited plan.

The strange thing is that it still displays full bars and the 4G symbol next to them. The spinning data will still spins when it's doing all it's work, but when using the "Speedtest.net" app I see less than 0.5 download and basically a flat line for upload.

Is it time to make a genius bar appointment? Anyone know of any issues?
 

TonyC28

TonyC28

macrumors 68000
Aug 15, 2009
1,580
4,318
USA
I had the same issue with mine after the update. Try resetting your network settings.
 
V

vietalogy

macrumors 6502
Sep 17, 2006
402
49
alakazzam said:
Over the last week or so my iPhone 4S has been completely dropping out of AT&T's data network. I've only had about 500mb transfer thus far on my billing cycle and I'm still grandfathered in from the unlimited plan.

The strange thing is that it still displays full bars and the 4G symbol next to them. The spinning data will still spins when it's doing all it's work, but when using the "Speedtest.net" app I see less than 0.5 download and basically a flat line for upload.

Is it time to make a genius bar appointment? Anyone know of any issues?
Click to expand...
If your only at 500mb you shouldn't be trotted until you hit 3gb. You should call AT&T CS and trouble shoot it.
 
S

SurferMan

macrumors 65816
May 14, 2010
1,267
51
South FL
If your getting .5 down and flat uploads on hspa+ either something is wrong with the radios in the phones or you live in one of the worst most congested areas lol. I'd take it back and compare with another one. I live in South FL and hspa+ can be as high as 7-9 down and right around 3-5 down normally especially at busy times (like lunch etc). Never dropped below 1, before hspa+ my 4 never hit 1 down ever.

Try to reset the phone first or restore as new (obviously backup) and see what happens. If that doesn't work, take it back to the store.
 
K

kre62

macrumors 68020
Jul 12, 2010
2,082
729
applefanDrew said:
For consumers, yes. But according to the tech specs, it is not. Heck, even LTE is not 4G technically. Only LTE advanced is.
Click to expand...
What is this, 2010?

The ITU, which created the requirements you are quoting, changed them in Dec 2010. HSPA+ is now 4G, deal with it already.
 
M

MattMJB0188

macrumors 68000
Dec 28, 2009
1,925
426
Would love to say to AT&T: "If its '4G' then why am I getting 2-3 Mbps down?"

It should have stayed as 3G. HSPA+ is NOT real 4G. Really shocked Apple allowed this. The average consumer has to be SO confused with all this fake 4G crap.
 
A

alakazzam

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 7, 2010
83
0
MA
For clarification I know that the "4G" is not LTE - the problem is i'm not even getting "4G" speeds i'm getting 0.5 down and flat 0.0 up using speedtest.net however connected to wi-fi or after a restart the app shows marked improvement with 5-6 down for "4G" and 19 down over wifi

I guess it's an issue with the phone if this is the case. I'll see if apple has anything to say.
 
og3og

og3og

macrumors regular
Jun 16, 2010
104
2
Yonkers, NY USA
It seems like the people who are just saying "it's not really 4G" are missing the point here. I too have noticed that since the 5.1 update where it now says "4G" (regardless of whether it is or not) that my data speeds have slowed down to where it's almost impossible to use any data, in places where they used to be pretty good. It really seems like I'm almost being throttled, but when I checked my usage it was only at 976 MB, and I didn't get any texts from AT&T stating I was going to be throttled. I'm going to try to reset my network settings and see if that helps at all.
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,334
1,708
og3og said:
It seems like the people who are just saying "it's not really 4G" are missing the point here. I too have noticed that since the 5.1 update where it now says "4G" (regardless of whether it is or not) that my data speeds have slowed down to where it's almost impossible to use any data, in places where they used to be pretty good. It really seems like I'm almost being throttled, but when I checked my usage it was only at 976 MB, and I didn't get any texts from AT&T stating I was going to be throttled. I'm going to try to reset my network settings and see if that helps at all.
Click to expand...
Why not just call them?
 
K

kre62

macrumors 68020
Jul 12, 2010
2,082
729
applefanDrew said:
Was not aware they changed it.
Click to expand...
Sorry if I came off as an ass in my comment.

To those with data issues, even with LTE you could potentially get slow speeds depending on signal, traffic, etc. Restart the phone. I've noticed no slowdowns since 5.1.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom