iPhone not locking to 4G when travelling rurally

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Aucklandjafa

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#284539 29-Apr-2021 08:11

I noticed the other day, when travelling from Welly to Palmy, that my iPhone 12 would regularly drop to 3G whilst my mate's S8 was firmly locked onto 4G - both on Spark.

Just seeing if other people have this issue too?

konfusd

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#2699812 29-Apr-2021 18:40

It might be a different story now, but I was in telco retail when 4G was rolling out and this was a common complaint we would get. Turned out that iPhones would drop down to 3G if it would offer better performance (strong 3G, weak 4G) while Samsung phones would refuse to drop to 3G if there was a 4G signal - even when it was so weak that it wasn’t actually usable.

You could have a look at Spark’s coverage map and see if there is weak/patchy 4G coverage showing in the areas that your iPhone was dropping to 3G, if so then this is most likely the culprit.

MaxineN

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#2699818 29-Apr-2021 19:02

konfusd: It might be a different story now, but I was in telco retail when 4G was rolling out and this was a common complaint we would get. Turned out that iPhones would drop down to 3G if it would offer better performance (strong 3G, weak 4G) while Samsung phones would refuse to drop to 3G if there was a 4G signal - even when it was so weak that it wasn’t actually usable.

You could have a look at Spark’s coverage map and see if there is weak/patchy 4G coverage showing in the areas that your iPhone was dropping to 3G, if so then this is most likely the culprit.

Anecdotal but I see this as well but on Vodafone. My apartment building will make any iPhone drop to 3G in the elevator but if you had a phone that could lock to 4G it would stay (and be much more rock solid and have great performance) but just swap bands vs dropping 4G.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

DjShadow

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#2699819 29-Apr-2021 19:08

I've seen this also from my time on all 3 main carriers, Spark would hold 4G pretty well in rural areas but both Vodafone and 2degrees spent most of their time on 3G. However I've not done a big rural trip since 2degrees finished (I assume its finished?) their MoRAN project so hopefully its better.

coffeebaron

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#2699825 29-Apr-2021 19:23

Having an Android phone that I can lock to 4G is fantastic!

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sbiddle

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#2699957 30-Apr-2021 08:06

There are still plenty of sites from all telcos that are not 4G capable. Certainly far more from Vodafone (in the past few months they've added 4G to significant numbers of sites that didn't have 4G even around the Wellington region) but there are still places from all 3 where you will find yourself still connected to 3G because it's all they offer.

dafman

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#2699976 30-Apr-2021 08:58

I commute between Kapiti / Wellington and my iPhone 12 regularly drops to 3G on the train and struggles for connection whereas my partner's Samsung is fine.

It's my only complaint with moving to Apple from Android.