Could my iPhone 6's 4G possibly be "broken" while its 3G still works?

The question sounds strange I know. For the last few days I have not seen 4G up at the top of the display of my iPhone 6; it's been demoted to 3G.

I'm in the same several locations where I have been, and the signal is always 3 or 4 bars out of 4.

I can't imagine that there are separate chips or antennas for 3G and 4G, so this may be related to my carrier in some way, but I thought I would just check here first in case I'm wrong.

Are there any tests I can do to check this myself? Stand under a tower and use the aluminum foil I normally wear under my hat as a reflector for example? ;-)

My iPhone 6's software is 12.4.3 and I have a notification that 12.4.4 is a recommended update.

Cropped iPhone screen shot (with carrier's name manually blocked out).

Solution 1:

Go to settings > cellular data > cellular data options > turn off 4G and turn it back on.

Another way I use to get my phone on 4G is airplane mode on and off.

Solution 2:

Yes - that is absolutely possible. No there aren’t different chips or antennas, but physical damage could alter the antenna length and the chip could be damaged or another frequency leaking which makes reception on the 4G data rate impossible.

Without debug logs or a signal tracker or opening the iPhone, you only have empirical testing or trying to erase / reinstall to isolate if it’s software which also is possible, but less likely.

Solution 3:

There might be a chance that the service provider is enhancing the network due to which their is tempariorly discrepeancy.