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iPhone 4S loses signal

TL;DR: iPhone loses signal completely with no apparent reason, rebooting helps, but 4 times in 8h is a bit too often.


Hey there,


I was very excited when I got the new iPhone 4S today. Unfortunately after 30min it didn't get any signal anymore. I live in a big city and have normally a very high signal strength. I let the iPhone search for the network provider a few times, but it didn't find anything (the iPad2 lying next to it had full signal strength).


Rebooting helped, but after another hour or so (and disrupting a call twice) it couldn't find any signal again. So I rebooted and there it was again. So all in all I had to reboot the phone about 4 times in 8 hours.


I couldn't find any similar problems in the forum so is this a unique problem? Is it a hardware or software problem? can I do anything against that?


Here are some additional infos:

Location: Frankfurt, Germany,

Network provider: T-Mobile

iPhone 4S with and without Bumper

iPhone 4S-OTHER, iOS 5

Posted on Oct 14, 2011 1:51 PM

Reply
87 replies

Nov 16, 2011 12:19 AM in response to heartsanddeath

Same with me. Upgraded from 4 to 4S few days ago. Connection is obviously worse. I'm now in a 4.6 mln city with dense mobile network and usually good connection.


Usually it happens as follows: the phone suddenly switches from 3G to Edge then to GPRS (a circle sign next to signal strength bars).


While the phone may still show strong signal, actually it's off the network. If I try to browse, text or call, there's no connection or network error.


Reboot always helps, but as it was already mentioned above, several times a day is too much for a gadget priced at $800+. The worst thing is that I never know if it's on or off the network unless somebody pops into my room or calls me on another line shouting why my phone is switched off.


Any help is highly appreciated. Thanks!


Location: St. Petersburg, Russia

Provider: MegaFon (North-West)


I'll check with different providers (SIM cards) in other countries next week. However, it seems the problem is not provider specific

Nov 16, 2011 1:59 AM in response to heartsanddeath

I called apple and logged a call.


the responce I got was frustraiting but some what helpfull.


I had an Iphone 4 before my 4s. Apple technical support says that the microsim from the apple 4 isn't compatible with the 4s, they told me that all the providers in europe were told about this before the lunch and they should give out new sims.


Now I explained that I was in Kazakhstan for the moment and wanted to know the differances so I could tell the local providers. They did not have this info but they told me to try with a card that had not been used on any other phone.

I did this 40 min ago, so far it does work ( the line use to drop every 5-10 min )

Will post agin if this does not work

Nov 16, 2011 9:39 AM in response to roidupetrol

If that is true (that you need a brand new SIM, never used for any other phone), then I'll return the phone to Apple.


And I believe that many people will do so. I travel a lot and have a bag with dozens of SIM-cards that I use interchangebly with my iphone, normal phone and ipad depending on the country and roaming fees.


So let's hope it's just a technical glitch that will be fixed by a software update.


I think that piece of info that you just mentioned here (if true) would be picked by media with interest, especially now when competition with android devices gets tougher

iPhone 4S loses signal

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