No Service - 3G off - Service - 3G on No Service

Sometimes a reboot (hold the sleep/wake & home button until the Apple logo appears while ignoring the slide to turn off) will take care of this.

I wouldn't call it a bug if a Reset fixes it. The phone is a computer and like all computers if they are on (and "sleep" is on) long enough without being cycled off then on (or Reset) the can start doing odd things.

It may be enough just to turn it off (hold the top button until you get the slide for off message and do it) to restore its sanity.

It the phone does this a lot it could be a defect in your phone or a bad OS load (for the latter try a Restore).

Phil

It's not a bug. The iPhone is basically a palm sized computer and like any computer, it needs a periodic reboot.

Interesting I had the exact same problem.

Was wandering around a mall and then noticed my iPhone saying "Searching...." checked my wifes normal ATT phone and she had FULL 3G. Restarted the phone and went in to EDGE mode, we'd moved by then and in fact there was no 3G available around where we were. Everything seemed fine until I moved back in to the 3G area and the iPhone stayed with EDGE and refused to go back to 3G. In the end I rebooted one more time and this time it came back up and found the 3G. Weird. Since then i've had no more problems with it (although I'm in a different area now).

I was in a HSPDA area when this happened, and am not normally in an area with this high speed 3G. I wonder whether it has something to do with that ( I know its news! ).

NB: The only way I knew I was in a HSPDA area is that my wife's phone was saying "H" instead of 3G.

I don't agree with the others that seem to think all computers need a periodic reboot.

But, there is no way to know if this is bug or not. There could be many things at work here - it is possible that there was some type of 3G carrier signal but no service - some network setup that would keep you from switching to Edge.

If it happened all the time, I would call it a bug, but if it happens on occasion it could be an environmental issue that you have no insight too.

But rebooting for no reason other then superstition is not logical. If there is a memory leak or runaway process then you may have to reboot a computer. You don't just reboot devices because they are computers.

I had a similar problem today. For no apparent reason, I got the "No Service"-message. I have a legal, vanilla iPhone 3GS bought through NetCom in Norway.

I have always used it on Edge only (3G disabled) because it conserves quite a bit of battery. I have always had good coverage where I work and where I live.

Today, a few hours ago, I noticed the display said "No Service", which was odd. I rebooted the phone, same message. I tried a different SIM-card (which worked in a different phone, an iPhone 3G to be exact), and the same message. I then tried my SIM card in a Nokia-phone I had lying around -- and that worked perfectly, with no 3G.

I backed up my phone, and reinstalled it via iTunes. After the reinstall was done, everything worked again - I had signal. Great! So I clicked "Sync" to get all my music and such back, and when the sync was done.. "No Service". What was going on??!

As a last resort, I Googled some more and found this thread - switched 3G ON, and now everything is peachy. I turn 3G OFF, and I get "No Service" again.

Seriously - what the **** is going on?!

My problem is exaclty like yours, gloom909.
When I turn my 3G off I get the "no service" or "searching" message.
Also, when I am in an area which does not have 3G coverage, it loses the signal and rarely comes back, even when I return to a 3G area.

And it is not a rarely occurred bug, because it happens always, and the only way to get signal back is by reseting the phone.

I have had this happen a few times and when I called AT&T it turned out that their 3G tower/network was down so the phone would only work on 2G. I turned mine off of 3G and in a few days after reporting the problem, it was fixed. If it's just certain areas, that may be the problem.

I agree with PurpleV... I had this problem in Albany, NY once.. When I shut off the 3G it would work and then on it would not allow data service and such..

However, I gave it a few hours and moved around (meaning I traveled and hit a different spot with different cell towers) and I could use 3G no problem.

Most of the time when this occurs its a AT&T cellular network issue..

Kind of like when you can't login to your eMail server... The service provider is sometimes doing things... Just have to give them time, or call AT&T via the 6-1-1 number on your phone and inquire about it.

But definately not an iPhone problem per-se.