Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

If you got yourself a new Android phone or a new iPhone, you might be surprised to spot an “E” icon appearing on occasion on the top of the status bar on your phone screen. Coincidentally, your phone’s data connection also slows down to a crawl whenever that happens. If you’re wondering what the “E” symbol means on your phone, we’re here to answer your query in this article.

The “E” symbol on your smartphone means your phone is connected to your carrier’s 2G network. This usually indicates poor reception, as you would otherwise be connected to a 5G network, a 4G network, or even a 3G network before falling back to 2G.

With 2G, your internet connection will practically be crawling to a halt, as you can get a maximum download speed of just 384Kbps, which is almost nothing these days. App experiences will suffer tremendously on any modern smartphone on 2G. So if you can connect to a Wi-Fi network, we recommend that you do so.

EDGE vs 3G vs 4G LTE vs 5G: What’s the difference?

There’s a world of difference between these technologies, as each practically represents a different era of mobile network communication.

EDGE is a 2G technology (often considered as pre-3G) and insufficient for the needs of today. 3G is the next step up in speed and bandwidth and what many regard as the bare minimum needed for a working smartphone experience.

As we go up the generations, the experience vastly improves. LTE and 4G are the most commonly found networks these days, providing a great smartphone experience. 4G is better than LTE, but both are often synonymously used and even referred to as “4G LTE” together. Then there’s 5G, the latest technology for cellular telephony, providing the best speed and bandwidth available right now, but at the cost of limited range.

Why is my phone not connecting to 4G LTE or 5G?

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

4G LTE is practically everywhere in urban cities worldwide, while 5G is also rolling out reasonably quickly to urban areas. Your phone will attempt to connect to 4G LTE or 5G networks (as per your device settings), and if those are not available, only then fall back onto 3G and 2G EDGE.

It usually means two things if your phone is not connecting to 4G LTE or 5G. One, you are in an area with poor network connectivity (like a sparsely populated rural town). Or two, if you are in a place where you usually get 4G LTE or 5G but are not getting connected to either right now, it usually means that your carrier’s bandwidth has been completely exhausted and the network capacity is full (as it usually happens in a crowded stadium during a major sporting event or concert).

As mentioned, 3G is what many consider the bare minimum, but that may not be sufficient for your needs if you are trying to access social media or upload photos or videos. If you are getting only a 2G signal, your experience will be even worse, and we would recommend that you stick to phone calls for your communication needs.

FAQs