Q: Static in Iphone 4s

Dude this is not about "rights"! this is about a problem with my phone that apple doesn't acknowledge and tell us what should we do. I don't have the time to go to apple 2 days a week to change the phone with a new one that has the exact same problem.

oh and btw, I don't want to buy another crappy samsung,htc, moto whatever, I want this phone .

Got an email form Apple Store, seems like they don't have any clue about the problem:

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After conversing with a couple of the Geniuses here in the store I was able to find out that the issue you had could be the result of two things:

1. TTY

If you see this symbol <305852_1.jpg> in the status bar, it means that TTY is on.

Teletype (TTY) machines are used by deaf and hard of hearing people to communicate by typing and reading text. If you have the iPhone TTY Adapter, available at www.apple.com/store, you can use iPhone with a TTY machine.

Choose Settings > Phone to turn TTY on or off.

2. O2

If turning off TTY doesn't help then it can only be an issue with the network. As I mentioned earlier there are a number of issues that O2 are having with their data network at the moment and this could be related.

As your iPhone is unlocked you could try inserting a SIM from a different network to see what results you get. I would stay in close contact with O2 to see when this can be resolved if the TTY option doesn't change anything.

Thanks again for your feedback and we hope to welcome you again soon to the store.

My business dealing with apple was to get a phone that works properly. It didn't and I could not return it from day one since I was contracted with a telco. My money is stucked with this product. Apple has an obligation since it promised to provide a one year warranty on defects. To me this static sound is a defect because it is not normal. iPhone 3GS was normal as it did not have such static noise. It then becomes our right to ask apple to repair and solve the faulty set. However based on my experience in changing 2 new iPhone 4Ss, apple still could not solve the issue. The issue persisted. Our right is derived from the warranty apple gives us. If apple did not promise to solve any problems with the iPhone within one year from the date I purchased, I will happily relinquish my right to challenge apple for any problem I face with the phone.

You're comparing apples to oranges - a product that results in injury is different from simply saying I want an iPhone that doesn't produce static or a yellow-tinted screen is the question.  You don't have right to a working product - you DO have legal recourse if a product causes injury - that is not the same question at hand.  As you said that is your opinion - but that is not reality in this case - the laws are clearly not going to support an assertion in that manner.  And you agree with me, you have time to return the product if it's quality is not up to your standards.

I think if you dropped the iPhone or accidentally let water sipped in, that results in "a product that results in injury" caused by yourself. When that happens I think you have voided your warranty and results in paying for the repairs yourself.

Apple did revert to the yellowish tiny issue. They said that it gives a warmer color. (Then why not you standardize the production to all have warmer colors?)

However has apple reverted to the customers on this static issue formally and explained if it is a quality standard that is unattainable or some other explanation that explains that a static buzz during calls is an acceptable quality standard of something normal on phones. With this formal explanation and an advertisement to prewarn customers of that static, apple would have disclaimed all warranty and liability legally to that problem. And that should have been done when the business transaction was done not after.

Jeff you need to read this to understand more about consumer right:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Consumerrights/Yourconsu merrightswhenbuyinggoodsandservices/DG_182935

Especially this line

When you buy an item from a trader (eg a shop or online shop) the law says the item must be: of satisfactory quality – last for the time you would expect it to and be free of any defects

Ok, the "rights" conversation apart....

Wanted to share something. I was in Dallas over the last couple of days using the 4S on ATT. I did not get any static. I was on 3G all the time, doing all kinds of things with the phone. Calls, internet usage, maps, etc. No static. Period.

Flew back into Phoenix this morning (where I live) and sure enough, I get static again.
Dallas is one of the major markets for ATT and they have done a lot of network improvements over the last couple years. I guess the static is somehow connected with the network. Not saying that this is acceptable. But network has somehow a part to play in the equation....         

Pretty big german page covering the issue:

http://www.apfeltalk.de/forum/content/2863-iphone-4s-nutzer.html

I spoke to Apple customer service named Chen today. By the way, I am on my 3rd iPhone 4S 16GB Black on AT&T US. According to Chen, the iPhone backup has a problem. If I restore as a new phone, all the problem will go away. I reminded him that lots of users did factory restore and problem still there. And also I reminded him - it's their s/w who took the backup in the first place! Why it is corrupted now? Didn't you test before you release the product? No answer. I also asked about 5.1 release. No comment.

I have 3 problems now:

  1. Annoying static noise - even the Chen guy heard how bad it is and he confirmed that it's a problem.

  2. Dropped calls - 80% to 90% calls are getting dropped.

  3. Outgoing call - no sound. When I redial - it always work.

If I don't do factory restore as a new phone - Chen told me that they are not going to replace the phone anymore. What do you guys think? It's a pain to set everything up again. Should I wait for the elusive 5.1 release and pray that 5.1 will magically fix all those problems?

they won't replace it again? did he offer you a full refund? that's what i would like to know. if they're not going to give us a phone that works properly they DO owe us a refund. we're all outside of the 14 day return policy and most of us have cell contracts with these phones. is Apple going to say "screw you, live with the static"?

at this point i'm going to just wait it out. let them fix the issues or replace my phone with one that works or give me my money back.

Till I do a factory restore - they won't replace it again - that's what I was told. I didn't ask for the refund yet. I am also out of 14-day return period. This is ridiculous. I really like Apple products - but this silence from Apple is driving me nuts.

I think the reason to get you to do a factory reset is to ensure that no other application that you may have installed is causing the static sound.

I'm not sure it is the network issue but I just had 3 drop calls just now. After each drop, i got a "call failed" on the screen. And then "searching" for the network. Afterwhich it finds the network with 4 bars! So my location is ok. This happened yesterday calling other persons from the same location. So the called location was different. Likely to be the called location weak signal is unlikely being in a urban city location.

Oh yes (a big no actually), static was still present!

I'm going to report this to apple feedback now..

It's not only factory reset was suggested. Setup the phone as a new one! And, don't restore from backup! This way you need to install all the apps, setup the e-mails and .... It's like re-imaging your PC/Mac.

Basically you need to do a factory reset to get the firmware and OS to be exactly like when it was the time you bought the phone.

You need not install anything else like email, etc.

If you can resimulate the problem, they should do a replacement for you.

Btw, Siri is turmed off by default when you buy the phone. So you may want to turned it on.