How to Turn LTE off permanently (without rooting, alternative APN or App)

[RayMabry]

So, I know that there are many out there that would like to be able to force their Galaxy S3 to only use 4G as opposed to LTE for the purposes of saving battery or to improve the quality of your Internet experience if you live in a area lacking LTE. Until now I've tried the alternative APN method, but that was poor because the phone eventually would switch back to the old APN. I refuse to root my phone, and did not want to have another app constantly running. Then I found a method that works well. (I apologize in advance if it is posted here somewhere else.)

So basically there are two fairly easy steps you will have to perform to achieve this.

[Step One - Remove Restriction]

The menu that allows you to change the band preference is blocked by default. There is a pretty simple way however to unblock it.

First enter the code *#197328640# (a code familiar to those who have chosen to unlock their phones themselves) into your dialer.

Once you do this, the following menu should appear:

You are going to want to press the following:

[1] UTMS
[1] Debug Screen
[8] Phone Control
[6] Network Lock
[5] RAT_FREE_SUPPORTING ON

You should now see a screen that says "Now RAT Free Supporting".

If you make it that far you have successfully removed the restriction and can now go to Step Two.

[Step Two - Choose Your Band Preference]

Once at the "Now RAT Free Supporting" screen hit your menu key and press BACK twice in the pop up menu (At this point you should be in the PHONE CONTROL menu). Then press

[7] NETWORK CONTROL
[2] BAND SELECTION

(Alternatively you can exit the whole screen and enter *#2263# in your dialer.)

You should--at this point--see 4 options (5 really but I'm ignoring the 5th for the sake of keeping it simple):

[1] Automatic
[2] WCDMA Band Preference
[3] GSM Band Preference
[4] LTE Band Preference

Auto = Is the phone's default setting where it searches for the best band based on your signal and location, WCDMA is 3G/4G, GSM is 2G (EDGE) and LTE is your 4G LTE. If you click on either one, [7] ALL is probably the best way to go although you can fool around with the other bands if you'd like.
I still need to do my research on this but for now, my phone is on ALL. (I wonder if choosing a single option ends up being less taxing on the battery.)

Whatever option you choose will stick even if you restart your phone.

If you want to make changes to your band preference once you restart your phone though, you must follow step one again because the restriction will be back on.





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