Bad Signal after 4.1 update (no it'snt an hardware issue)

My wife is in the same boat as you guys. 3GS upgraded to 4.1 gets terrible service in places she had no problems before with 4.0.1. I had thought it was the jailbreak that caused the issue but after multiple iOS downgrades/upgrades/jailbreaks and restores the problem persisted. Baseband is crap. She has the wrong bootloader so she cant use Fuzzyband to revert basebands. Last night I shut off 3G as suggested in an earlier post and that has given my wife some hope. Not only did she have bars but she could actually use the phone to make & receive calls. Temporary fix til 4.2 or a fuzzyband update comes out. My iP4 has no issues in the same location but i'm on 01.59.00 BB. She is running 05.14.02. Her phone is now back to 4.0.1 with 3g shut off and a much more usable phone. My wife was ready to throw out her phone. Hope this gets resolved soon. FWIW we are in FL.

I have the same problem. Dropped calls, weak signal, slow slow slow, and when someone calls me and i try to slide to answer it takes two or three times to answer the call. Makes me want to switch to VERIZON AND GET A DROID...4.1 *****.

I even called apple and they told me that if i was due for an upgrade to go ahead and get a new phone,*** IS THAT. I just want my phone to work right again its not a hardware problem, FIX THIS PLEASE I DONT LIKE PAYING EACH MONTH FOR SOMETHING THAT DOESNT WORK RIGHT,MIGHT AS WELL PUT MY SIM CARD IN MY OLD RZR PHONE ATLEAST I COULD HAVE A CONVERSATION THEN. OH DID I MENTION 4.1 IS THE WORST UPDATE YET!!!

Yes, I have the same issue. It's ridiculous. Service here in NYC is so bad anyway that it took me a while to figure out what was going on.

After updating I had at a minimum the following issues:

+ insanely fast battery drainage…100% drainage in less than 8hrs of me sleeping and the phone doing nothing
+ a gradual (over a couple of months) increase in lack of network connectivity…from about 20% to 95% downtime with constant “Searching…” and “No Network”
+ constant “No Data Network” message and inability to use web services with full bars and 3G
+ unable to make phone calls or send SMS with full bars and 3G
+ randomly able to send SMS and make calls with half a bar and no 3G
+ old, deleted voicemails and text messages showing back up in lists
+ useless GPS
+ probably more but that’s enough

*I found out yesterday that turning of 3G in Settings fixes the first two issues.* I’m able to use my data apps and I get full bars and connectivity everywhere. And while I’m using Edge, the data reliability is much, much higher.

BTW…I live in Brooklyn, NYC…but I confirmed it was my phone and not AT&T when I spend a few days in Boston and had same issues. My cousin has a 3GS that he hasn’t updated and he was getting full bars and functionality where I would get "No Network".

I had this problem some time ago (see my post at the top of this thread) and I realized that some of my colleagues who also have a 3GS had upgraded to OS4.1 without having this issue. So I called Apple and I sent my phone into after-sales service. They replaced it with a new one, running on OS4.0. I upgraded again to 4.1 and everything works fine since.

Strange that some phones seem to have it and others don't.

did you have any warranty left?

I guess so. Did not really check.

up

It's strange, there is a thread with some iPhone 4 users having similar problems with 3G... I think that demonstrates that this isn't a hardware problem as it's across devices... Must be iOS issue. Just really odd that it only affects some phones with no apparent common factor apart from them being updated to iOS 4

So...went to Apple store today. They tested the phone and tried a different SIM card and blamed a faulty 3G antenna. They gave me a new 3GS...I was 2 weeks out of warranty. So, we'll se how it goes. So far so good. I really do think the 4.1 update fried it though...was fine before that. Well, as fine as an iPhone on NYC AT&T could be.

My wife's 3GS is also having the reception issues others are having in this thread. She started having issues with iOS 4.0.2, and they persist in 4.1. So far this is what we have done:

-- Reset network settings (several times)
-- Disabled/Enabled 3G
-- Did a restore from backup
-- Did a full restore not from backup
-- Got a new SIM card from AT&T
-- Got a new device from Apple
-- Did another full restore (again, not from backup)

None of these things have helped, and she is frequently unable to receive calls or send SMS's in places she could before the issues began. For some reason (at least according to a 2nd level support person from Apple) there are no reported issues going on, so they must either be ignorant of these threads or not willing to admit the issues in their software/hardware.

I have an iPhone 4 and while it doesn't get great reception, it's good enough that I can make/receive calls when I want to, which is even more frustrating for both of us because there really isn't any reason why the older phone shouldn't be working. We love our iPhones, and really don't want to switch to a different phone, but at this point we don't see that there is much of a choice. I can't see that Apple would drop support for their older phones, as they would be losing customers (like my family) that don't want to upgrade to something new just because it's new. I just hope someone at Apple is looking at this so it can be fixed in 4.2.

How true!!!!! How true!!! I never thought i would see the day but its here!! I need a phone to save me from my phone.... No signal...not reliable...Its a brick... Oh goody i turned off 3g...It works!!!....this *****!!!! c'mon apple!!! dont become microsoft!!!

I was freaking out after I upgraded today. By accident I did something which I believe fixed my problem!
My phone wasn't receiving or calling, even when there were bars showing! Go to Settings- General - Network - And where you see Cellular Data, turn it off. Then turn it back on. That fixed my problem.
Now, I did try someone else's suggestion first of resetting the network settings. That by itself didnt seem to help. But for sure, after resetting network settings, and then turning off and turning back on Cellular Data, it has fixed this problem (at least for now)!

Add me to the list. I've been trying to find a significant thread on this forum about this issue. This seems to be the place. I'm trying to figure out if the new iOS 4.2 is taking on this issue or just wifi connectivity and speed. I'm hoping that being able to use my i"PHONE" as an actual phone will be addressed! Good and bad that there are others in the same boat...at least it may not be a device issue, which I'm hopeful about since I'm out of warranty, but sorry others are experiencing this-really, really inconvenient. Kind of an expensive inconvenience too I might add.

I also am having the same service problems. I have 1-2 bars max, in places I used to have full service before upgrading. I have tried all the suggested fixes, but none have worked.

I only recently decided to upgrade my phone OS, and now I have to say that I regret it. If anyone has found any new information please pass it along.

hi guys i guess we are all in the same boat ive been losing signal everytime ive tried to use my 3gs and its all down to the 4.1 upgrade im in ireland and im on the meteor network ive been given a new sim card still same problem ive restored my 3gs and even restored it on a different pc to see if that would solve the problem but no joy is there any sign of apple fixing this problem as we spend lots of money on there products they should be able to fix this problem asap