Cellular internet not connecting: 3G/4G showing on status bar at top of Home Screen

[uandme72]

Even though the 3G/ 4G symbol is displayed at the top of the Home screen in the status bar, yet the cellular internet data connectivity breaks intermittently.
In such a situation, it reconnects only if Airplane mode is toggled on and then off, or if the mobile is switched off and on.
This happened in regular release of iOS 10.3.1 as well as on all the Betas including the latest 10.3.2 Beta 5.
Any idea on why it happens and whether it is normal for it to happen once in a while.

 

[Justaguy48]

There are a few things that could be wrong.

1) what phone do you have? If it is a SE, 5, 4S, or 4, then check the antenna bands around the phone and make sure there are none that might have a dent in it. Since it is the antenna a dent in this band could cause issue, however it is likely if there was a dent you wouldn't be able to connect to cellular at all. If you have a 6 or newer still check for dents around the antenna breaks, but this is less likely a problem.

2) it's your location and cell towers. Does this happen in any location you go to? Does it only happen in a certain location like home or work? If so it is probably the cell tower you connect to. The reason airplane mode, or cellular toggle work is because when you turn it off and back on, iOS rescans and connects to the "best" cell tower. So you probably have a bad cell tower that your phone is connecting to and causing this problem. This is most likely what the issue is.

3) you mentioned it happens on the official and beta releases so it isn't likely a software issue. If neither of the suggestions above fix or help you then take your phone to the Apple Store and have them run diagnostics on it. Because if the other two aren't the problem, then you have a hardware problem.

 

[uandme72]

There are a few things that could be wrong.

1) what phone do you have? If it is a SE, 5, 4S, or 4, then check the antenna bands around the phone and make sure there are none that might have a dent in it. Since it is the antenna a dent in this band could cause issue, however it is likely if there was a dent you wouldn't be able to connect to cellular at all. If you have a 6 or newer still check for dents around the antenna breaks, but this is less likely a problem.

2) it's your location and cell towers. Does this happen in any location you go to? Does it only happen in a certain location like home or work? If so it is probably the cell tower you connect to. The reason airplane mode, or cellular toggle work is because when you turn it off and back on, iOS rescans and connects to the "best" cell tower. So you probably have a bad cell tower that your phone is connecting to and causing this problem. This is most likely what the issue is.

3) you mentioned it happens on the official and beta releases so it isn't likely a software issue. If neither of the suggestions above fix or help you then take your phone to the Apple Store and have them run diagnostics on it. Because if the other two aren't the problem, then you have a hardware problem.

I have a 7 which is encountering this issue.
I have got the phone tested at the Apple Store, who have confirmed there is no issue in the hardware.
This issue occurs randomly at any location. It also occurs at any location at some of the times, and does not happen at the same location at other times.

 

[Justaguy48]

Do you happen to be on Verizon? Now that I think about it I have a 7 Plus on Verizon and had the same thing happen to be about a month and a half ago. It has bene resolved now and I no longer have the problem, but I did for a while.

If you do have Verizon the either their carrier firmware is buggy and causing the problem, or they are working on towers.

If you don't have Verizon then it could be the same thing, an issue with the carrier firmware or a problem with certain towers.

I know ATT has a app where you can report locations that you have cellular problems, so if you have ATT maybe you should report those issues in that pp when you encounter them.