iPhone 5 How do I know 4G works?

Barks

Barks

Barks

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I've got a Vodafone 4G contract. I was in various parts of central London yesterday but still only got the 3G icon showing at the top status bar. Shouldn't it be saying 4G?

There's no mention of it in settings either it just has the option to turn 3G on/off.

Cheers
 
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Definitely not there.

There's sod all on the internet in terms of help although I'm seeing articles claiming that 4G doesn't work with O2/Vodafone on the iPhone 5. If this is true I'm going to be absolutely livid having just signed a 12 month Sim-only contract with Vodafone.
 
Brilliant.

Well lets hope the one they're announcing later today supports the Vodafone 4G. I wonder if this can be solved by software or whether it's the hardware providing the limitation.
 
Barks said:
Brilliant.

Well lets hope the one they're announcing later today supports the Vodafone 4G. I wonder if this can be solved by software or whether it's the hardware providing the limitation.
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Was always the case on release sadly. Apple limited the 5's radio to the frequencies that were available in certain markets, probably on grounds of cost.

I expect the 5S will have a much wider compatibility, much like 2G/3G with the original iPhone's release.
 
Barks said:
Brilliant.

Well lets hope the one they're announcing later today supports the Vodafone 4G. I wonder if this can be solved by software or whether it's the hardware providing the limitation.
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I imagine it would do. The issue really is with Voda and o2 using uncommon frequencies (relative to the rest of the world) - during the time the iphone 5 launched there was a big drama over the 4g spectrum auction being delayed again potentially so its not hard to see why there's no support for a spectrum that -might- be in use -maybe- within 12 months.
 
So basically if I want to use 4G I'm going to have to shell out £500 for this new iPhone coming out today.

I wish I hadn't signed a Sim-only now. FS.
 
Yep, that's about the size of it. Caveat Emptor... :( Should have been explained to you by the person you spoke to though!

When did you sign the contract btw? If you're in the cooling off period, you can cancel it.
 
Full specs from Apple:

GSM model A1428: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17)

CDMA model A1429: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz); UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)

GSM model A1429: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5)

You want 4G on Vodafone your going to need an Android 4G handset or by the looks of it as its just been released an iPhone 5S
 
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Barks said:
I've got a Vodafone 4G contract. I was in various parts of central London yesterday but still only got the 3G icon showing at the top status bar. Shouldn't it be saying 4G?

There's no mention of it in settings either it just has the option to turn 3G on/off.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Welcome to Vodafone marketing.

As said, 5 will never work on Vodafone's current bands. 5S will support Vodafone and EE 4G bands.
 
Try cancelling but Vodafone might claim it was your responsibility to check your phone was compatible.

I fault Apple too as their marketing for 4G has been misleading too. The iPad3 was claimed to be a 4G device, but doesn't support any 4G in the UK. The iPad4 like your iPhone 5 was marketed as a UK 4G device but will only support EE (and probably Three as the above poster says).

EDIT: Actually, thinking about it, Vodafone are clearly at fault here. They must have supplied you with a Nano-SIM when AFAIK the only device currently on sale that uses it is the iPhone5 so they knew you had an incompatible device.
 
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It's quite silly really. I've seen quite a few posts from my friends on Facebook complaining why Vodafone and O2's 4G does not work with the 5 (heck, their customer support doesn't explain why either: http://i.imgur.com/uv4MAyg.jpg). Both Apple and the networks should've properly pointed out that they were not compatible with each other.

The 5S/5C supports more 4G bands, but...

http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2013/09/th...work-on-half-our-networks-according-to-apple/

Despite an erroneous help sheet on Apple’s website right now, which claims that only EE and Vodafone’s 4G would be compatible with the new iPhones, all four major UK networks have confirmed to us that they’ll be carrying the new iPhones, and yes, 4G will work.

For now, it seems that Apple’s not-so-helpful guide to which networks the iPhone 5S will work with is just plain wrong, as both O2 and Three have confirmed that they’ll be carrying the new iPhones, and that they’ll be compatible with their networks.

That agrees with the tech specs, where the international iPhone models are both shown as being compatible with the 800Mhz, 1800Mhz and 2600Mhz LTE spectrums — the full range of spectrums used for 4G in the UK. We’ll update when we have work (or a correction!) from Apple.
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Hopefully it's just an error on Apple's description, and that it will work with all UK networks.
 
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They're absolute ******s.

That said I get unlimited minutes, texts, 8GB of data (was 4 but they text me this morning and said theus double it for free) for what works out as £20 per month after Quidco cash back. So things could be worse. And Spotify Premium which I was paying £10/month for previously.
 
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Morfik said:
EDIT: Actually, thinking about it, Vodafone are clearly at fault here. They must have supplied you with a Nano-SIM when AFAIK the only device currently on sale that uses it is the iPhone5 so they knew you had an incompatible device.
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No they're not, he bought a sim only contract the phone it's going to be used in is nothing to do with them.
 
It's not their fault if we're being completely honest. Then again you can't blame me either for assuming that a state of the art phone would just work with all the 4G networks here in the UK. I'm sure some bright spark could probably sue Vodafone for not making this information more readily available.

3G is fine for now. It's still rapid enough to stream music on Spotify so I'm fine with it.
 
I don't really think Vodafone are particularly shy about letting people know that 4G needs a compatible handset, and Apple definitely weren't shy about letting people know what bands the iPhone 5 worked on. I think you've just been tripped up by emerging standards.
 
I signed up to Vodafones 4G network a few weeks ago and the guy asked me if i had a 4G compatible phone, when i told him which one i had...he checked and said yes its perfectly fine and will work on their 4G network. I can tell you its not an iphone though:p.

This morning got a text and ive got an extra 4gb of data on top of my 4gb which came with my tariff...so 8gb of data for the next 12 mths. Not bad and very pleased, just wish spotify or sky sports mobile was available for my phone though :(
 
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