How to enable 2G and turn off 3G / 4G on Airtel network

Apple released iOS 8.1 that brought back the feature to switch between network bands on iPhone. Most of the networks in India supports this with their appropriate network provisioning. But Airtel decided not to support 2G toggling at all on iPhones in their network. Why does getting back the 2G toggle matters?

1. 3G and 4G (LTE) are battery intensive and drains your iPhone in no time
2. Airtel’s 3G/4G coverage is patchy even in Metros. Your iPhone will try to cling on to a low-available 3G/4G signal instead of switching on to 2G automatically, thus reducing battery life.

How to get the 2G toggle back?

• Switch to a different network. You can make use of the MNP (Mobile Number Portability) if required
• Install any of the following patches on your iPhone. These patches are harmless and can be installed on any iPhone (Tested up to iOS 8.1). Installation is simple. Just open these URLs on your iPhone’s Safari browser and hit the install button on the webpage. The 2G toggling patch app will appear on your home screen. Try any of the following patch links:-
• China3GPP
• UnlockPro

It works for me and let me know if it does for you as well.

[update] There’s a downside to this tweak as per it was reported by @direstraits_. 4G connectivity will be restored only after a full reset after using this tweak. Toggling between 2g/3G does not pose any issues though.