The iPhone uses a pretty simplified and minimalistic interface which is great 99% of the time, but occasionally it does show some icons that come without labels which I don’t understand.
For instance, I was trying to figure out what a solid blue square in the iPhone’s status bar meant. And sometimes it appears as a capital “E. Well, it turns out that the “E” means that the iPhone is connected to the EDGE network.
The solid blue square indicates that the iPhone can’t find a nearby EDGE network, and is instead connecting via standard GPRS. Generally, GPRS offer slower data transfer rates relative to an EDGE connection. Funny thing is, I seem to get these icons appearing when I’m 100% sure that I’m not connected to EDGE or GPRS.
Update:
To disable GPRS (or disable EDGE), here’s what you need to do:
Jailbroken / Unlocked iPhones
Download and install the Bossprefs application on to your iPhone. it’ll help you manage all your connection settings (which includes GPRS/EDGE). Using that, you can set GPRS/EDGE to “off”.
Un-jailbroken iPhones (Contributed by Lor)
Go Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network: Set the APN name to DISABLED (or any other random name). Whenever the iPhone tries to switch to GPRS mode, the connection will be failing (and you will not be charged). Simple is good 😉
Make sure you also disable “Data Roaming” from the Network menu. Also, in “Fetch New Data”, disable the “Push” and set “Fetch” to “Manually” (this last step should not be required, but do it just in case).
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Hi,
Just curious, do i get charge whenever i see that capital E on my iphone even i didnt make any connection?
Thanks
If you didn't then you shouldn't. I find that the E always appears now and then, but I know I don't have a connection on.
i have the [G] icon on the top left of my screen. am i getting charged for GPRS? or only when i connect to an application?
thankyou
gprs is only chargeable when there's data transfer, but it's always a good practice to turn gprs off because it consumes battery (same as wifi or any other transmission/receiving of data)
On my new iphone i notice the general reception bars are allways low till i make a call, is this anything to do with the gprs?
nope, gprs shouldn't have any effect on your reception, but it does depend on your reception though, as it's making use of the GSM network as well (the same network that you use to make calls with)
Cheers, it would seem after searching that apple has been having problems with some chip in the phone. This appears to be the problem for crappy reception. Still love the thing though LOL.
Alvin said: "it’s always a good practice to turn gprs off"
Nice tip, but how can I do this? Tried to browse around the menus, but couldn't find such an option...
Do u have a jailbroken, unlocked iphone? if you do, try downloading the bossprefs application. it'll help you manage all your connection settings (which includes gprs/edge)
Thanks for the response. I don't wanna go low-level into jailbreaking, so I found another way: Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network: Set the APN name to DISABLED (or any other random name). Whenever the iPhone tries to switch to GPRS mode, the connection will be failing (and you will not be charged). Simple is good ;-)