Turn off GSM?

[Nermal]

Is it possible to turn off GSM on a 4S? My desk phone at work emits a buzzing noise when my iPhone is too close, which never happened with my older HTC or Sony phones. Evidently by default the iPhone will search for GSM networks, despite having a working connection and GSM not being offered by my carrier...

 

[Dwalls90]

It is on the 5.1 beta and if you jailbreak.

 

[Nermal]

Thanks, I can wait for the proper release of 5.1

 

[dontwalkhand]

Buzzing noise with 2G/EDGE. Doesn't seem to happen on 3G

 

[ValerieDurden]

Buzzing noise with 2G/EDGE. Doesn't seem to happen on 3G

Yeah I have never heard a buzz while on 3G only 2G/EDGE.

 

[Daveoc64]

It is on the 5.1 beta and if you jailbreak.

That has an option to disable 3G (UMTS), but not to disable 2G (GSM).

That would not help in the OP's situation.

Most other phones have the option to switch between:

GSM Only
UMTS Only
Both

The iPhone doesn't have that.

 

[takeshi74]

Buzzing noise with 2G/EDGE. Doesn't seem to happen on 3G

Your carrier is probably using 850 for 2G and a different band for 3G.

 

[Nermal]

That has an option to disable 3G (UMTS), but not to disable 2G (GSM).

That would not help in the OP's situation.

Thanks for letting me know, even though it's disappointing. I guess I'll just have to put up with the buzzing (and keep the iPhone further away from my desk phone).

Your carrier is probably using 850 for 2G and a different band for 3G.

I have WCDMA (UMTS) at 850 MHz here. A competing carrier has GSM at 900, but I can't connect to that. Still, I wonder why the iPhone is apparently trying to search for a GSM network when it's not required.

For reference, I'll quote the original post from another forum that led me down this path in the first place. I might actually be going down the wrong track!

That's because your handset is working in both 2G and 3G - even while connected to 3G it will scan around for 2G - GSM causes the interference, while WCDMA does not.

 

[Nermal]

My desk phone at work emits a buzzing noise when my iPhone is too close

I haven't heard this noise since updating to 5.1. It was intermittent but it looks like it may have been fixed

Edit: It's not fixed. I've had it intermittently for the past year or so but today it was bad enough (due to fog?) that I decided to try hunting down a fix again and came across this thread.