My iPhone 4 signal issues are gone...

Well, like many of people here I had the obnoxious signal loosing issue that is affecting a staggering amount of iPhone 4 users. However, I never realized I inadvertedly fixed the issue until just 10 minutes ago. I had signal issues since Day 1.

Bear with me thru this small story. I saw here a thread on MacRumors about a user experiencing camera issues on his iPhone 4. Said issue was that the camera showed a green spot in the center. I was sorta curious but never really paid much attention to it. This was 4 days ago. Flash forward to yesterday.

I was on the Apple Store picking out a new case for my iPhone 4, along with the respective screen protector. While I was doing that I saw an empty iPhone 4 demo unit and I decided to test drive FaceTime. I fired up both my iPhone 4 and the demo unit and connected. Disaster struck, my iPhone suffered from the same green spot effect as the iPhone from the user on MacRumors. Knowing full well, it was a hardware problem I set up an appointment for today at 6:30 PM.

Flash forward to today 6:30 PM. I got there at 6:15 and the Genius helped me out right away. He saw the problem, diagnosed my phone and concluded as previously stated it was hardware problem. Obviously warranty kicks in. He takes out my Micro SIM card and puts in the new iPhone (this was a brand new, not refurb unit). He activates it and hands it to me for mini inspection. first thing I do is check the camera, and against ALL odds, the same issue plagued this new phone. The Genius and I were, to say the least, shocked. Same issue, different phone. Now, how does this relate to the signal loss? Well, I am getting there so hang on tight.

The Genius does a comparisson between my iPhone and replacement unit to find the exact spot. He then pulls out his and does the comparisson to find his iPhone 4 too suffers from the dreaded green blob/spot. He then tells me there is no other replacement unit for my iPhone and that I had 2 choices. Take my current iPhone and wait if a software fix comes along, or take the replacement phone with me. I decided to wait and keep my phone (it is a hassle to resotre everything to previous state). So the Genius reswaped the SIM card to my phone back and handed it to me. (My iPhone spent 15 minutes with out SIM card while the Genius did all his tests on my and replacement unit, and while he asked for 2nd opinions on the green blob issue)

I went on my merry way, but realized something now. No matter what position I held my iPhone 4 in, the signal never decreased. I held it the many ways I know the signal issue pops and nothing. No bar loss, no signal loss, no call drop. NOTHING. So there you have it.

I am theorizing that moving the SIM card had something to do with the signal issue, because the only thing I have done to my iPhone 4 differently is take out and reinsert the SIM card. Other than that no other changes to it. No setting change, no software change no nothing. Just reinsertion of the SIM card. Now, to prove my theory, I need people who can test this and see if this fixes their iPhone. I know it did on mine, but on yours?

Check it out.


PS - No, I did not have the green blob issue fixed.

My original thread is found here:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=955742


Many users are claiming (me included) the signal issues being fixed.

MacBook Late 08, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 2.4 GHz

Posted on Jun 29, 2010 7:48 PM

Reply
13 replies

Jun 29, 2010 7:55 PM in response to jav6454

everyone is different people saying there phones dont do it actually do do it. thing is everyone has different continuity in there body depending on several things. I tested it on several phones mine and a few other peoples it doesnt go down, anyone elses goes down with them touching both black lines. I say touching more like gripping entire bottom half of phone tight in my hand.

So in apples defense with there probaly very small group of people using the beta phones and covered in cases so no one could see them, they probaly never came across that problem atleast not the way all of us have.

Message was edited by: reality_150

Jun 29, 2010 7:54 PM in response to jav6454

I cannot test this fix for myself since I don't have an iPhone 4 but maybe it'll work for those that are having issues. Apparently the sim card contact comes in contact with the sim tray which in turn is connected to the outer band of the iPhone. Since the sim tray is connected to the outer band of the iPhone, when you touch the opening on the outer band, you lose reception. So the fix is to make sure the sim card contact isn't touching the tray. You can read additional info here:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=955742

I do not take any credit for the find, just trying to see if this is in fact the reason why reception can be diminished when using the so called "Death Grip".

Jun 29, 2010 8:37 PM in response to jk_baller23

I have "death-grip" issue. Just ejected SIM card to test SIM contacting the SIM tray issue. I have a 10x loupe and inspected the area in question (SIM card gold contacts touching tray) and I found that there is a space between contacts and SIM tray. Under 10x magnification you can easily see how precice my SIM card was made and cut. There's also a relief rout around contact area. Also there is a thin film of some non-conducting material between SIM card and SIM tray where the tray supports the card. This SIM tray even has the IMEI and Serial number etched on it and under 10x magnification you can appreciate the fabrication and close tolerances even this SIM tray is made to.

I followed all instructions on the macrumors forum and this "DID NOT" solve my "death-grip" issue and I can verify with 100% certainty that the SIM contacts are not touching the SIM tray anywhere.

I do hope this helps others but I am still hoping that this can be rectified with software.

Jun 29, 2010 8:40 PM in response to jav6454

It's funny....with every other cell phone in the past, the first thing I would always suggest is to remove the SIM card. You never really think about it with iPhone, mostly because there usually isn't any service issues with them. Can you try to figure out the proximity sensor issue? LOL. Mine was fixed temporarily, but now appears to be at it again and I'm fresh out of ideas.

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My iPhone 4 signal issues are gone...

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