People are realizing what the iPhone cell’s “E” signal symbol means – it’s not an “emergency” and it’s very important

HAVE you ever spotted a mysterious “E” symbol on your iPhone? It has a strange meaning that might surprise you.

It’s a common sight on iPhones and can reveal very important information about your cellular signal.

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If you look at your iPhone cell signal, you’re probably seeing 4G or 5G most of the time — and sometimes 3G.

But you can also see the letter E or its full name: EDGE.

It doesn’t stand for Emergency as some people think, but is an acronym meaning Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution.

It’s quite a mouthful, which explains why it’s briefly reduced to E.

EDGE is actually a type of 2G cellular data and predates widespread 3G adoption – hence it’s sometimes known as 2.75G.

Deployment started around 2003, so EDGE is severely limited in terms of what it can offer you.

It can only deliver a few hundred kilobits of data per second.

That’s barely enough for proper web browsing, let alone streaming in the YouTube app.

You’ll find that your iPhone defaults to E or EDGE when there’s no good 3G, 4G, or 5G signal nearby.

If you see E or EDGE, it might be worth toggling Airplane mode on and off to see if you can connect to a better signal.

Otherwise, you simply need to move to an area with stronger signal strength from a cell tower that offers 3G, 4G, or 5G.

EDGE coverage is very wide worldwide, so chances are you’ve seen it before.

living on the edge

Unfortunately, EDGE is extremely poor in terms of what you can access.

You will find that web browsing is extremely slow.

And your phone may not even work as usual.

Apple notes: “With an EDGE or GPRS connection, incoming calls may be routed directly to voicemail during data transfer.

“For incoming calls that you answer, the data transmission is stopped.

“Depending on your network connection, you may not be able to receive calls while iPhone is transmitting data over the air – for example, when downloading a webpage.

“Data transfer will resume when you end the call.”

So if you want to use your iPhone properly, your best bet is to try moving to a place with a better signal.

Alternatively, you can simply switch to a WiFi connection.