iPhone Tip: Understand Connection Icons in Status Bar

Last night, I got an email from one of my readers. He asked,

“When I am at home, I get used to surf the web using Wifi. But how do I know if my iPhone is connected to the Internet via Wifi network instead of 3G?”

It’s a simple but a very good question. He reminded me the mistake I made when I first got my iPhone 2G. Dated back to Oct 2007, I bought my iPhone 2G. Like most of you, I was amazed by its features and how flexible I could download iPhone application via Installer after jailbreak (App Store was not available at that time).

After unboxing the iPhone 2G, I connected it to my home Wifi network. Then started to check email and download free iPhone app from Installer. I found the download speed was pretty slow. That was really strange. I wondered why it’s so slow. But I didn’t do anything to stop the download and just keep waiting until the download finished.

Guess what the problem is? Yes, actually the iPhone was not connected to Wifi. The Wifi was turned on but it just sucked! The iPhone couldn’t pickup any IP address from the Wifi router. So, the iPhone automatically switched back to GPRS/EDGE network to download the iPhone app. This was a horrible experience when I received my bill from carrier. The charge was 10 times more than my usual one!

So, how do you know the type of connection your iPhone is currently using? Simply refer to the status bar. The connection type is clearly displayed in the status bar at the top of the screen with different icons:

3G – The 3G icon shows you’re using the carrier’s 3G network and you can connect it to the Internet over 3G.

E – The E symbol shows you’re using EDGE network, which is slower than 3G connection. Normally, when your area doesn’t support 3G, iPhone may automatically use this type of connection.

o – The o icon shows you’re using GRPS network, which is even slower than EDGE. So, when 3G & EDGE are not available in your area, iPhone will use GRPS for connecting to the Internet.

– This is the Wifi symbol. When it’s shown, you’re connecting to Wifi network.

– Finally, the aeroplane symbol means you have the aeroplane mode enabled. You cannot receive/make phone call or connect to the Internet in this mode.

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