Originally Posted by Stereo Steve:
“So if 4G is cranked so that these phones pick it over 2/3G, their owners will not be able to make calls? That's going to go down well. I suppose by then most will be out of contract.”
No different in the USA either, similar problem with 4G/LTE and 3G/CMDA or 3G/UMTS on older handsets.
As long as 2G or 3G coverage is on a similar (or better) frequency there should be no issue, the only problem is for EE if they use 800 and the 2G is on 1800. This could be why EE will only use 800 in rural areas.
I read that there are some Samsung devices (S3 LTE i guess) that use the same Qualcomm modem as the iPhone 5/5c/5s but there is an operator firmware that enables VoLTE somewhere in the world.
I read another rumour that Apple doesn't flash the firmware in the modem chip in the 'field' as there is too high a chance of permanently bricking the device. That would make a lot of sense.