4G is a lie!!!! IPHONE will not do 4G speed!!! [ Edited ]

[rokkit0]

I purchased an Iphone 4s with 4G service from At&t. I began looking for the 4G service on the phone by service maps and the phone itself by watching the 3G icon in the top of screen. It has never appeared. I contacted Att and was told the iphone was on 4g even though it did not show in the screen and Apple was creating an update that would add the icon. I wanted proof the phone was on 4g and asked the cs rep to prove it. He told me to pull the sim card out and it would show 4g!!!!!! I laughed and told him that the 4g was nothing more than a screen print on a small sim card an it did not cause the phone to be 4g. I was escalated to his manager an was guaranteed the phone was on 4g. Still asking for proof, she told me to contact Apple. I did. I spoke to a tech there an was told repeatedly that," No iphone will work on 4G." 4G is a protocol speed that the iphone is incapable of downloading at. There is no iphone that can download at 14meg and the ATT network is nothing more than accelerated 3G. I bought a phone from Att because they sold it as 4G and Verizon stated that their iphone was not able to work on 4g. Verizon was truthful about the iphone issue and did not mislead me or others to buy and Iphone 4s to get the 4G Blazing speeds that it will not do. I ask any one to look at the display of your iphone 3, 3s, 4, or 4s and tell me if you see anything more than 3G. [Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].

[johninsj ACE - Wizard]

The iPhone4s is not advertised as a 4G phone...

Cellular and Wireless

• World phone
• UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz);
  GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• CDMA EV-DO Rev. A (800, 1900 MHz)⁴
• 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz only)
• Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology

On the AT&T site there is this:

4G*

HSPA+ with enhanced backhaul

So it will do HSPA+ if you happen to be near one of those towers

[aristizzle]

The AT&T iphone 4s is a HSPA+ compatible device. It doesn't show 4g on the screen because Apple didnt push an update to show the 4g indicator, but if you have the HSPA+ network available in your area (which you most likely do), then you are connecting to the HSPA+ network. It is 4g.

[graphite07]

4S has never been 4g,AT&T HAS NEVER SAID THE 4s was 4g.you need to read

[aristizzle]

I don't need to read, I work for the company. AT&T's iphone 4s is an HSPA+ phone, hence 4g.

[johninsj ACE - Wizard]

" HSPA+" this is the "4G" the iPhone 4s will do, assuming you are near one of those towers,

[aristizzle]

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johninsj wrote:

" HSPA+" this is the "4G" the iPhone 4s will do, assuming you are near one of those towers,

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Which you most likely are, HSPA+ was being rolled out all of 2011. It's not available in all areas, but if your curious to see if its in your area you can go to http://www.att.com/network to find out.

[E the P]

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graphite07 wrote:

4S has never been 4g,AT&T HAS NEVER SAID THE 4s was 4g.you need to read

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The issue comes down to semantics.   AT&T claims that the HSPA+ standard is 4G, others claim that the new LTE standard is the only “true” 4G.  IMHO a case can be made for both arguments and I don’t have the technical skill to have an informed opinion.  But because of this dispute, you will hear many claim that the 4S is, or is not, 4G. 

[johninsj ACE - Wizard]

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rokkit0 wrote:

I bought a phone from Att because they sold it as 4G and Verizon stated that their iphone was not able to work on 4g. Verizon was truthful about the iphone issue and did not mislead me or others to buy and Iphone 4s to get the 4G Blazing speeds that it will not do. I ask any one to look at the display of your iphone 3, 3s, 4, or 4s and tell me if you see anything more than 3G.

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If this is the basis of your concern, fear not. The iPhone4s on AT&T is the FASTEST iPhone4s you can get, due to the HSPA+

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396597,00.asp

"The AT&T iPhone 4S outperforms its Verizon and Sprint counterparts in data download and upload speeds," Metrico found. "Moreover, the AT&T iPhone 4S outperforms the iPhone 4 in download speeds by a considerable margin." Web browsing was also faster on AT&T.

This is due to the "4g" HSPA+ on the 4s vs all previous iPhones (the iP4 doesn't do it) and no support for LTE (only CDMA EVDO Rev A) on Sprint/Vz. So rest assured, you bought the fastest iPhone4s available.

[BadBadLeroyBrown ACE - Warrior]

The ITU has classified HSPA+, of which the iPhone is capable, as a 4G technology. You can argue about whether it's "real 4G" or "fauxG", but it's a semantic and theoretical discussion.

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rokkit0 wrote:

I purchased an Iphone 4s with 4G service from At&t. I began looking for the 4G service on the phone by service maps and the phone itself by watching the 3G icon in the top of screen. It has never appeared. I contacted Att and was told the iphone was on 4g even though it did not show in the screen and Apple was creating an update that would add the icon. I wanted proof the phone was on 4g and asked the cs rep to prove it. He told me to pull the sim card out and it would show 4g!!!!!! I laughed and told him that the 4g was nothing more than a screen print on a small sim card an it did not cause the phone to be 4g. I was escalated to his manager an was guaranteed the phone was on 4g. Still asking for proof, she told me to contact Apple. I did. I spoke to a tech there an was told repeatedly that," No iphone will work on 4G." 4G is a protocol speed that the iphone is incapable of downloading at. There is no iphone that can download at 14meg and the ATT network is nothing more than accelerated 3G. I bought a phone from Att because they sold it as 4G and Verizon stated that their iphone was not able to work on 4g. Verizon was truthful about the iphone issue and did not mislead me or others to buy and Iphone 4s to get the 4G Blazing speeds that it will not do. I ask any one to look at the display of your iphone 3, 3s, 4, or 4s and tell me if you see anything more than 3G. [Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].

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[isurus]

hspa+ is consider more like 3.5g
but in the end it doesn't matter. 4g has lost it's meaning because of these stupid carriers marketing the word "4g"

[seajohn]

The original specification of 4g, created years ago by the ITU, was that 4g would at a minimum provide speeds of 100 Mbps on a mobile device.  LTE Advanced and WiMax were the technologies which would provide these speeds.  These technologies are not expected to be available until 2014.

The cell carriers  meanwhile were and are in competition to be able to say that they have the fastest data speeds.  TMo decided to use HSPA+, a modified version of 3g, to increase its speeds. AT&T followed suit.  Verizon and Sprint worked on installing new LTE equipment.  AT&T followed suit.  

Here's where we are now:

ITU 4G (nobody): 100 Mbps

LTE (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T): 5 - 12 Mbps avg

HSPA+ (TMo,AT&T): 1 - 6 Mbps avg

3g (everyone): 1-2Mbps

None of these carriers has 'true' 4g speeds.  The ITU originally tried to stop the carriers (here and abroad) from saying that their network is 4g, but legally there was nothing the ITU could do to stop it, so in Dec. 2010, the ITU gave up and said that the forerunners of LTE Advanced (Verizon's, Sprints, and AT&T's LTE) and "other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed" may use the term '4G' to describe their network speeds.

AT&T's iPhone 4S supports HSPA+, so according to the ITU, AT&T may call it a 4G device.  However, I don't recall ever seeing AT&T doing so in their advertising; the store rep was probably just trying to make a sale.  And, Apple has never claimed that its iPhone 4S was 4g capable.  That's why you'll never see a 4g notifier pop up on your phone.

If you're in an HSPA+ area, then you'll probably get faster service on your AT&T 4S than you would with a Verizon 4S.  Otherwise, it's just another 3G iPhone. 

[youngjm ACE - Professor]

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E the P wrote:

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graphite07 wrote:

4S has never been 4g,AT&T HAS NEVER SAID THE 4s was 4g.you need to read

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The issue comes down to semantics.   AT&T claims that the HSPA+ standard is 4G, others claim that the new LTE standard is the only “true” 4G.  IMHO a case can be made for both arguments and I don’t have the technical skill to have an informed opinion.  But because of this dispute, you will hear many claim that the 4S is, or is not, 4G. 

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HSPA+ and the current version of LTE are both "4G" technologies.  A second flavor, LTE Advance, is the faster LTE network which was the original standard that met the previous definition of 4G.   The ITU then modified their definition to match what Verizon and ATT are rolling out and marketed as 4G even though at the time they were more like 3.5G technolgies.

[sandblaster]

This is what you get when there is no real industry wide agreed upon definition of exactly what constitutes 4g. Back to the OP's issue, I wonder what sort of download speeds he's getting and what exactly is he expecting...or is he upset only because the iPhone does not display 4g?

[JaTaN]

AT&T has "4G" (HSPA+) and "4G LTE" -- HSPA+ isn't true 4G, but it is faster than 3G so I think of it as more like 3.5G. AT&T used the 4G term for marketing purposes to compete with other carriers and when AT&T came out with their LTE network they couldn't also call that 4G so they used "4G LTE" for that

iP4S supports HSPA+ so AT&T wants to call it a 4G phone and also wants Apple to put a 4G indicator on the phone, but Apple isn't buying it since they know HSPA+ isn't true 4G (next iPhone should support LTE so there will be a 4G indicator on there). Since Apple wont classify the iP4S as a 4G phone, AT&T ends up marketing the phone as "capable of reaching 4G speeds" or "fastest network for the iPhone"

HSPA+ is a GSM technology so AT&T and TMo have it, but TMo uses a different frequency so the iP4S is not compatible with TMo's HSPA+ network (iPhones on TMo are stuck on Edge speeds). VZ & Sprint are CDMA and dont have HSPA+ so the iP4S is stuck with just 3G speeds on those networks

AT&T's HSPA+ is the fastest network for the iP4S even though its not true 4G

[Kerry78]

I bet the next iPhone will have full 4g
But apple will also have to provide 2x phones
Cos some country's still use 3G

I live in the UK as some know anyway
there's talks of 4g rolling out end of this year
but it's likely it's next yr before we even get it !

I know 3 have been trialling it on there network
And O2 in some areas but still feels like we're in the dark ages here at the min without it

Hope it arrives soon

Btw my 4S seems pretty fast on 3G
Orange aren't the fastest data as like Vodafone
But it's actually more reliable

[sandblaster]

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Kerry78 wrote:
I bet the next iPhone will have full 4g
But apple will also have to provide 2x phones
Cos some country's still use 3G

Not necessarily. Just look at the current LTE phones being offered, they work fine on both LTE (4g) and GSM (3g). If the next iPhone is LTE, it will still work fine on existing 3g GSM networks. Now whether or not they can produce one phone that works on LTE, GSM and CDMA remains to be seen.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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sandblaster wrote:

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Kerry78 wrote:
I bet the next iPhone will have full 4g
But apple will also have to provide 2x phones
Cos some country's still use 3G

Not necessarily. Just look at the current LTE phones being offered, they work fine on both LTE (4g) and GSM (3g). If the next iPhone is LTE, it will still work fine on existing 3g GSM networks. Now whether or not they can produce one phone that works on LTE, GSM and CDMA remains to be seen.

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technology capabilites for a GSM/CDMA/LTE combo is already there, suspect that the holdup is the physical size of the device

[Kerry78]

AT&T do have some pretty kewl handsets
On there LTE service I didn't think you could use them
Outside of the US I guess if people buy those they have the unlocked prob again hah

Btw interested to see how the next iPhone will arrive
There's been a few leaked photos and people saying that it's going to be thinner and have a 4 inch display
But never believe anything till apple spill the details

I prob won't get 5 anyway it prob be more likely the 5S
I go for so I hope LTE is working here for me then

[SLIKRICK]

Semantics and assumptions aside, the iPhone has never been advertised as a 4G network phone. If you're looking for 4G performance from your iPhone you're going to be disappointed. Some of the confusion comes in when 4th generation (iteration) hardware is discussed, but there's never been any claim that the iPhone is capable of 4G network performance.

[chinhyongpark]

This post and you people are funny. I am glad my contract with ATT ran out so that I could switch to Verizon. If it is not this ridiculous post, it's another post about a guy who frivolously got unwarranted discount from ATT for not getting his iphone 4s on the 4s launch day.

Man, I just use my iphone knowing it's limitations. I was scanning the posts to see if there is any major technical problems and what do I get? This kind of post and some guy who complains about minor things to get Customer rep so that he can get free stuff.

I paid my dues by staying with ATT and paying my full bill each month for the duration of my contract. I could see why ATT is going downhill...it's because of the kind of customer it attract!

[dk0654]

They're also glad to lose customers who can't SPELL..... Have fun on VZW when you realize you can't talk and surf on your phone. 

[iphoneFL]

So, does this mean on our unlimited cap that has been capped at 3 gigs that it should be 5 gigs since the 4S is allegedly now a 4G phone, not a 3G???

[JFizDaWiz]

5GB only on LTE 4G phones

[dlcaron]

FYI, my AT&T store told me my 4S won't run 4G too.  But now, my 4S shows 4G on the top line.  Don't know what that means yet.

[youngjm ACE - Professor]

Here is a summary of HSPA+ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolved_HSPA

From the artcile "Currently both HSPA+ and LTE are termed as 4G technologies by the industry."

We may not think of it as 4g but the industry says it is!

[youngjm ACE - Professor]

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dlcaron wrote:

FYI, my AT&T store told me my 4S won't run 4G too.  But now, my 4S shows 4G on the top line.  Don't know what that means yet.

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What the store probably meant is that the 4S does not do LTE and that is correct.  The 4S does do HSPA+ whichis considered a 4G technology!