Can 3G be turned off?

[guineapig]

Actually thats not true

my work where there is no 3G coverage battery life is generally fine..no different than if you could switch off 3G

Apple itself states that 3G is way more power hungry than 2G. Even on the 4S with the new antenna.
Disabling 3G network (and the constant search for 3G in areas with poor coverage) greatly improved battery life on old iPhones. If I were you I wouldn't be so sure that this could not be the case of the 4S too.

@viperGTS: I never believed it was a carrier setting. It most probably depends on the new antenna design and functionalities. Still I regret I don't have this choice anymore.

 

[Gav2k]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

Defiantly not carrier dependant in the uk at least I've tried every network and it's the same no 3G switch! This is an apple thing

 

[BrunoWill]

I think you should use 2G SIM card

 

[guineapig]

Actually thats not true

my work where there is no 3G coverage battery life is generally fine..no different than if you could switch off 3G

Just happened to pass by to say that my battery was brought to new life with 5.1 beta3 where the 3G switch has finally been restored.
From 6 hours tops (on 5.0.1) I am now stable on 8-9 hours of usage on a regular basis.
JUST by switching that infamous switch off when I don't need it.
Cheers!

 

[macbookman83]

If jailbroken you can.

 

[TheSlimOne]

SBSettings lets you turn it off.

 

[apollo1444]

Is it possible to turn 3G off (and have GPRS)?

The only option on my 4S under Settings > Network is to turn the cellular data off. On my previous 3Gs it was possible to turn off 3G and force it to revert to GPRS.

(Why do I want to do this? The 3G data service on both O2 and Orange where I work is pi$$ poor because the single transmitter is serving thousands of people. I want to try turning off the 3G service and reverting to GPRS to see if I can trickle data through).

jailbreak!

 

[guineapig]

As I said, you can also wait for 5.1 where the switch has been restored.

 

[C DM]

As I said, you can also wait for 5.1 where the switch has been restored.

Unfortunately except for those with an iPhone on a CDMA network.

 

[guineapig]

Unfortunately except for those with an iPhone on a CDMA network.

In that case, I guess turning off 3G has never been an option.

 

[C DM]

In that case, I guess turning off 3G has never been an option.

Yeah, unfortunately (again) the option hasn't been there (for some unknown reason).

 

[MarioS]

Yes

Is it possible to turn 3G off (and have GPRS)?

The only option on my 4S under Settings > Network is to turn the cellular data off. On my previous 3Gs it was possible to turn off 3G and force it to revert to GPRS.

(Why do I want to do this? The 3G data service on both O2 and Orange where I work is pi$$ poor because the single transmitter is serving thousands of people. I want to try turning off the 3G service and reverting to GPRS to see if I can trickle data through).

You need to do a jailbreak and install SbSettings