Verizon phones, as many well know, prevent you from disabling 5G. And even though the speed sucks, if it feels a lowband 5G signal it will force you onto that network. Ever since the launch of nationwide 5G, my speeds have been crippled. It felt like I was constantly deprioritized, despite not being anywhere near my data cap.
Through a lot of searching, I came across an older reddit post where someone linked an app that allows you to force a network band. I want to spread awareness of this, so hopefully more people can find relief from a very frustrating problem. Hopefully someday soon Verizon gives people the ability to choose 4G if they want to.
Credit to u/drewfromOG for the original post, and credit to the original app developer "Ray W" for coming up with this.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ray.samsungbandselection
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good post. vzw lockdown is ridiculous, cant even view servicemode to see connection goodies.
even att allows that much - thats not as good as tmo who simply allows samsungs own built in band selection menu, but still...
You can turn off 5g on a iPhone on verizon pretty easy in the settings. Does the pixel, ect.. not support this? I just traded a pixel 3 for a iphone 12 pro.
The samsung line doesn't.
Yep, people with supported Samsung phones have it easy. You can manually select the bands with "Samsung Band Selection" and only connect to what you want to.
Verizon blocks it.
They block it from the Dialer, but the app discussed in OPs post works.
I use MTK Engineering app on my Android phone to restrict it to use band 5 only. Without it it tries to put me on band 13 which gets poor reception for me. The app is free and is great!
Sounds great, but it hasn't been updated in 4+ years, and doesn't support my Pixel 5
When I try to go to the band selection it's just says "failed"
So only select band 13, 2 ect.? Which ones would I not select to avoid 5G?
When you choose band selection (top option), it brings up network selection. Choose either LTE all or WCDMA/LTE.
Thank you ☺️
How to disable 5g completely with this app?
This must work only for Samsung phones. It doesn't work on my Pixel 5 on Verizon. Unlocked phone. Would I be better off going back to just a 4G/LTE SIM from Verizon?
Works on Galaxy S8!
Thank you so much! I literally won't buy a new phone because 5G sucks in my low populated area. Less than a couple Mbps, if any, on family's 5g VZW devices. Being forced into a 1 bar, slow 5G vs full bar, 40Mbps 4G is rediculous.
Doing God's work
I can't disable 5g on my verizon note 20 Ultra any longer. A long time ago I was using samsung band selection but they stopped it from working and when you use the phone settings to look at connection settings, you can't disable 5g, you can only switch from GLOBAL to LTE /CDMA to LTE/GSM/UTMS but they all allow 5g.
IF 5G actually worked anywhere around me it would be great but this phone has never seen a working 5g antenna. it's just a waste of battery because verizon wants imaginary 5g numbers to report so they can look good on reports
**** I just found a workaround in the samsung band selection app. Open it and go to More Network Settings button. Select Verizon Wireless. Scroll to Preferred Network Type. Then change from 5G to LTE and enjoy your battery savings and for me better connectivity because I dont' have 5g available near me yet.
Thank you!!
You're welcome!