iPhone 3G S - Calls not coming through. Text Message Delays in NYC

Is your phone showing 3G or E next to the signal bars in the upper left corner?

i have the same problem i got voicemail from my brother 12:04 pm i checked the recent calls there was no incoming calls from him plus i was outdoor same thin with messages they got delayed and some times comes in twice the same message its really bad the 3G didn't have all these issues

If you say calls go straight to voicemail, and the phone seems slower than the old one, then you definitely have a software problem. Try doing a full reset without restoring from backup. I bet it will work.

I had this issue in NJ and NYC - and at home (NJ) I keep it on Edge and I no longer have this problem. In NYC I've noticed recently that reception was much improved on 3G- however if you are in an area with bad 3G coverage switching to Edge should alleviate these issues. I've read that some of the towers in new york use the 850 mhz (or something like that) which is better for reception through obstructions. Edge runs on 850 and that is why getting calls is easier with Edge. If switching to edge & and rebooting your phone doesn't help - then do a full restore on your phone.

I've been having the same issues:

1) Text messages are delayed going out -- they often go in Bulk at whatever random interval they decide...

2) Some calls are going DIRECTLY to voicemail; not showing up in RECENT calls

3) MANY Voicemails are not showing up as having been left UNTIL AFTER I make another phone call or check another voicemail (as if the phone has to connect to some server to download them)

I'm running a 16GB 3G model; I started noticing this issue AFTER the update to OS 3.0; never had it before...so i suspect it is an OS issue not hardware...

Just got off the phone with an iPhone tech at AT&T.

She had me reset my Network connection by going to

1) "Settings"
2) "General"
3) "Reset"
4) "Reset Network Settings"

This rebooted the phone and apparently reset my phone with the AT&T service; test phone calls and voicemails are now coming in properly -- with notifications of voicemails happening in a timely manner. The test TEXT messages I have sent to my blackberry seem to all be going out in a timely manner as well. I'll consider this SOLVED for me for now...

hope that helps you all...

This has nothing to so with Apple, it's AT&T's terrible network. New York City is a big place with lot of people who have phones and iPhones. AT&T has failed to upgrade their network to handle the traffic load. iPhone users use 10x the data of regular smartphone users by the way. And if you are getting a good sign that only indicates your connection to the cell tower and not how many phones are connected to it, how speedy it is, and how it's backhaul system (system between the cell tower and Internet) is doing. AT&T's network is shot, they have neglected to upgrade their system because iPhone users pay them regardless because of a contract. Apple needs to get the iPhone on a network such as Verizon or Sprint that the 4x the 3G coverage of AT&T.

Your asessment is quite accurate, however Apple has no plans to create a CDMA version. Maybe in 2011 when carriers will start to switch to LTE (a.k.a 4G). AT&T has many network issues and I fear that it will only get worse. AT&T just announced that they will be the wireless 3G carrier for the new Barnes & Noble e-book reader. So they are planning to saturate their towers more without solving the 3G issues they currently have. I know Apple doesn't really have a choice. It's either T-Mobile or AT&T and T-mobile's 3G network is very small, but I don't know why Apple doesn't demand that AT&T upgrades their network and get off their collective butts & implement tethering & MMS already. AT&T actually found a way to make the experience for iPhone users even worse, when iPhone customers are the only reason they are not having financial difficulties.

I am seriously disappointed here.
I own the black 32GB iPhone 3GS and have been an iPhone user since the original iPhone 2G in 2007. I have upgraded my iPhones every year and religiously use Mac products. I am not a fan boi. Mac products work for me.
Except the 3GS.
I need so help here.
I purchased the 3GS not because of the 3G data advantage but because of the video recording features and the compass and the general battery life enhancement.
Let me give you a run down.
I have 4 email accounts: MobileMe-Push, AOL- Fetch, Yahoo-Push and Gmail on fetch.
I have 1,465 songs, 13 videos and 1497 photos. Of those, only 5 were taken by the 3GS' camera. I have 17GB free. I don't rush to fill space. I have 46 application installed.
Now there are three things that are happening that never happened on the other phones that have me deeply disturbed and praying that Apple issues a fix because this is serious!!!
I got the phone about 3 weeks after its launch.
It burns through the battery and that incoming call issue.
I use the term 'burn' because the phone does get hot and it has never lasted more than 1 day in standby.
However, all of that stops when I turn the push notifications and push email off.
When I turn push notification off for Beejive and I turn push off for Yahoo! and MobileMe and restart the iPhone, I realize on a full charge it lasts long. I get all my calls and text and everything.
But that is an inconvenience.
I, like many iPhone users, have opted to not sync my contacts through iTunes but use MobileMe instead. Not only that, but Apple's MobileMe 'Find My iPhone' feature only works with the push services on.
All of this is with 3G services turned off in the Network settings. I prefer to use the Edge as I have a 10 Mbps wifi network readily available and I don't require the speed for YouTube so much as I listen to music and rarely use the online video service.
With Push email on and Beejive push notifications on, I do not receive any calls. Callers hear my line ring twice then it goes to voicemail. I don't even get the voicemail notification until hours after. Same thing with text. I always get delayed text whenever I make a call.
Wasn't it Apple's idea to do push notification as compared to background processing to save battery life? So must I chose between push notifications and push email and being able to receive my phone calls? And what's the use of use push notifications when it eats battery life anyway? How come the 3G and the 2G running 2.2.1 give this problem. And Apple insults people when they tell us to turn Push notification of! I NEED my push emails. I do business with contacts in IM and if they didn't want to give us background processes why make a big deal about push notification and profess that it doesn't use all that battery life? Why is it 2.2.1 never gave these problems.
AT&T ***** but it is not all their fault. I know this is an iPhone issue because when I put the SIM card in another phone, it works perfectly.
I did not upgrade to 3.0 to have to chose between push email and receiving calls and battery life. The 3G worked just fine. The 2G worked just fine.
I seriously hope that 3.1 addresses this because this is utter nonsense!
The iPhone is the best in it's class otherwise I would have seriously ditched it long time and gotten a Pre or an Android phone but they are not close. Their app offering ***** and the iPhone's keyboard is really good. (I'm a God with that thing!)
Give me a 2.0 for my 3GS and let me at least live with push email and be able to receive calls.