iPhone 4 keeps saying "No Service"

Thanks for the advice but this is not a problem caused by signal streght. And cannot be fixed by resetting the network. The no service issue occurs consistently once phone battery has drained. The no service will occur every 5 seconds and does not matter the location. Seems to be a program issue. Once phone is reset to factory and restored from backup, issue goes away. Your adviced had already been tried, previously by many others, and did not work. The reset to factory was the only thing that got my phone back up and running.

Hi Vegast - actually I think you should see the "no Service" message not as the problem but as a symptom. No service can be caused by many different underlying problems and so different solutions will be needed in different cases - but from my experience do try replacing the sim card

HI , i had the same problem no-service i got a new sim card and the problem is gone.

This problem started for me on Friday Dec 30th. I took my phone in to Apple store the next day (Dec 31st) and they replaced it since I have Apple Care. Then when I did the back up it started doing it again. So all New Years Eve no one could get a hold of me. I then took my phone to AT&T and they gave me a replacement Sim Card. That didn't work but it was needed since I had an out dated one. I then went back to Apple where they restored my phone and did the update to 5.0.1 and my phone has been working fine, until today. My phone froze and it started doing the searching no service and then finding service for a few minutes before losing it again. My battery wasn't dead or really that low. When it first started doing this it was because it froze and now I have to go back to Apple to figure out what is wrong. I also didn't use the back up on my iTunes cause they said it was corrupt and so I re-synced my phone with out a back up and having to reorganize everything. The last time I went to Apple they said they have been having this issue because AT&T had to much of a demand for the 4S and their service can't support it, but who knows what this really issue is as long as my phone gets fixed, cause I'm getting frustrated.

For the benefit of so many frustrated owners, I have to insist: this has nothing to do with carriers or SIMS. I am a very frequent traveler around the world. The problem is independent of carriers or countries. I always carry more than one phone, being continously monitoring 4 different carriers from as many countries. When the problem of NoServcie in the Iphone occurs I normaly load the SIM on an HTC and the problem disappears instantly - I immediately have full service on the HTC. Eventually the Iphone wakes up again - without me doing nothing else but restarting.

So, my firm recommendation is: do not waste your time with complicated workarounds: without any doubt whatsoever this is a design flaw of the Iphone.

Its been four days since my iphone 4 started displaying No Service message, I have been travelling across different countries during the holiday period and have just come back to the UAE. I have tried all suggested guidance such as reseting the network settings, reseting the entire phone to factory settings but the iphone continues to display No Service. It does not except incoming calls nor does it let me make any outgoing calls.

Frustrated to the extreme! Need help. Don't know where to go in Dubai to get this fixed or how to fix it myself. The OS is 5.01.

All this time I was thinking "No Service" issue is with my iphone only but on searching over the internet I see so many people having exact same issue. I too is facing the exact same issue with my iPhone 4S and the same story being told to me.

I went to Apple they said they have been having this issue because AT&T had to much of a demand for the 4S and their service can't support it. I immediately went to the ATT store just opposite to iphone store in the mall and ATT store representative said it’s the phone issue.

Not sure how to address this, it’s really troubling so many of us and no official work around seems to be available. No one is ready to take responsibility either.

I feel like changing both mobile and carrier.

Hi , i had the same problem with my 4s , in my country we have 2 companys ALFA and MTC , with my ALFA line my 4s worked for fine for 2 weeks, after that i begun having the problem with it NO SERVICE , so i bought another line with MTC from that time my 4s is working fine ......

Hi,

I have the same problem with an iPhone 4 16GB Factory Unlocked. I tried 2 SIM Cards, restored it multiple times, reset network settings, turned phone on and off, airplane mode on and off, upgraded from iOS 4 to 5.0.1, and still have the same problem. The most it kept the signal was up to 9 hours, than it started repeating the problem.

Sometimes the phone drops signal to one bar and comes back up to full signal; which does not really bother me, since its only about 5 seconds without signal. But the main problem is, when the phone is idle, on the table or pocket (so it is not the case of covering the anntena with hand), it drops the signal and it shows Searching for some seconds and then it says No Service. Sometimes the Airplane Mode On Off works or Turning Phone On and Off. Additionally, the problem also occurs with using the phone with other apps.

I don't have an Apple Store in my country, and the local phone repairs said that we can't do anything. One phone repair shop said it must be a hardware problem, and that he can TRY to fix it (the part try was a little risky for me).

Phone was never dropped to ground or anything of that nature. The reception of signal from local carriers is very strong all around the city.

Any help is really appreciated.

hmmm the symptoms sounds very similar to those I had when my sim card died, I wonder if might be the contacts between the sim card and the phone? To understand more of what is going on it might be worth looking at the "Phone" settings (about 4 below "General" on the setttings screen) and see if you lose the information about your SIM card at the same time as the "no Service" message appears. On my phone when things are working right there is a load of info on there including eg Call forwarding and SIM PIN but when the no service message appeared (or if I remove the SIM card) then all that is left is the phone number - and sometimes not even t hatft

For me the issue got resolved after replacing my old iPhone 4 with the new iPhone 4. I have never faced issue after that. So for me, the issue was with the iPhone only.

I am completely put off the whole Apple and Iphone experience now. I've had my iphone 4 for over a year now and until recently, never had any problems. About 5 weeks ago, a new mast was installed nearby our workplace and I started, along with others to have problems with my iphone. It would search for a network, find it, and display no service continually. My iphone continued to have these problems while others recovered. I tried my sim card in my wife's identical phone (same network) and it worked fine. After trying all the resets, reboots, re-installs and generally wasting hours talking to my network provider (Orange UK), it was decided I had a faulty handset, so I had it replaced (bearing in mind it was out of warranty).

The new phone arrived and I inserted the sim card and restored it from my backup. It worked fine for a couple of days and then started to exhibit the same problems of losing signal, searching and basically flattening the battery. I phoned Orange UK and they sent me a new sim card which took 3 days to turn up. The new phone and new sim card have worked fine until this afternoon, and now I have the same problem. Orange UK are sending me yet another phone tomorrow, but insist the problem is with Apple's equipment. In other words, I'll have the same problem again.

I have absolutely no confidence now in Orange UK, nor Apple Inc. I've wasted hours and hours speaking to recorded answering services, resetting equipment which should be working properly and I've done absolutely nothing to make this happen. All I do know is my boss can never get hold of me, my customers are always complaining because of the lack of communication, and I can't blame anyone but myself for choosing this product.

According to my experience and what I read on the net, it is an hardware problem of the iPhone which happens to some phones over a period of time.

Whereas, Flossterini made me think that the problem with the replaced phone that had the same problem as his old phone with No Service and that it was draining the battery comes from setting up the phone from a back up. I guess the symptoms are stored on the back up for the iOS, and when synced with the new device it reacts the same.

The battery drain problem is solved easily, you just need to remove all your mail accounts and set them up again. Mail accounts from a back up keep syncing all the time and it uses a lot of battery.

Whereas for No Service, I have no idea how you can fix it.

Don't say that man... If its a hardware issue I'm a goner :'(

I have had the same problem for close to a week now and am fairly sure it is a combination hardware/software issue. It all started when I updated the software version to 5.0.1. The behavior is fairly constant. My phone is original equipement - no hacking, no added sugar, no preservatives.

1. I receive or make a call

2. Within 30 seconds to 1 minute the call drops

3. The network is lost and error message, "No Service Available"

4. If I reboot (Longpress both the power button and the home button together until shut down and then wait until the Apple icon appears) then it does re-discover the network

5. As soon as I make or receive a call I loose the call and the signal and get the "No Service" message

6. Repeat steps 1 through 5, ad infinitum, or until consumed by rage

Attempted solutions:

1. I have changed the SIM card to no avail

2. I have done a DFU re-boot and then completely restored the phone - the phone was no longer recognized by iTunes and it took me six attempts to restore the phone - what a productive afternoon THAT was!

3. I have turned off the automatic network search function

4. I have hired a voodoo priest to repulse the devil from my phone - well, just kidding, but certainly willing to try at this point

Anyway, my best guess is that their is a serious hardware problem that is triggered by the software upgrade. My phone is 4 months out of warranty so I will need to pay Swisscom for a new phone. (Add fowl language here) Apple support - like all others - is pretty worthless when it comes to complex issues. Not to mention that they want to charge me for a support call - since my phone is now a wopping four months out of warrantly. I am assuming that at this stage paying up for a new iPhone may potentially leave me in the same situation. After reading all of these other post I am seriously considering ending my 3 year Apple experience - on a bad note :-(((