iPhone 4s, echo when using apple headset during a call

Just a quick update to say I called my service provider today, O2 (a big player in the UK, btw) and they said they hadn't heard of nor had they received any complaints about this 'echo' problem nor the diminishing battery power issue with the infamous 4s.

How can I put this....where the (insert one's own expletive) have they been? !!!!!

And while I'm on the stand, I've noticed that not only has the echo for the 'other' caller been prevalent of late I have also noticed a significant echo effect from my end......I fear it's getting worse.

Having the same problem, both with and without the headset. Happy (I guess) to know that I'm not the only one...

Have exactly the same issue. However I wouldn't describe the issue as an echo, rather that everything becomes garbled on a call, whether voice, background noise, etc... This occurs somewhere between 5 to 10 minutes into a call... In each instance this has occured whilst on conference calls where I am a participate dialing into my "external" conference line number... All participants in the call get scrambled and nobody can make sense of anything anyone is saying, it's not just my voice that is "scrambled"... Problem is instantly halted by the removal of the headphone. However issue reoccurs after another 5 - 10 minutes on reconnecting the headset...Making the phone useless on calls lasting more than 5 - 10 minutes... Went into apple store in Exeter and very helpful "specialist" knew nothing of this issue, only the battery problem, which I am also suffering from... I will be returning my 4s on the cusp of the 14 day return period and getting a replacement... I will do this until the patch for iOS5 is released and I am satisfied the issues are resolved, else it's return time for the 4s for good for a refund and I'll await the 5 with hopefully better luck!!! This is a phone costing £500 after all...

dcouns, thanks for pointing this out. Agreed, it's much more like a garbbled sound. You're right, it's not like an echo at all. In my case, the person on the other end of the call can hear it too. I'm also averaging 5-10 minutes.

I get disconnected a lot of times during a call. I think it has something to do with switching between different data connections (like GPRS, 3G and WiFi).

I've tried "Reset network connections", but I don't think this will help.

Also often I hear nothing or digital noise.

Dutch:

Ik ervaar afgebroken verbindingen met T-Mobile bij (volgens mij) overschakeling datanetwerk (GPRS, 3G of WiFi). In Vlissingen gaf mijn toestel zelfs Edge aan, dat hebben we toch helemaal niet in Nederland.

Ik heb "Reset Network settings" geprobeerd, maar ik denk niet dat het verschil maakt.

Geen geluid en ruis heb ik ook al diverse momenten ervaren.

Thanks for the fix. I get the garbled voice when I first make the call. I don't get an echo but the other person I am talking to does when I have my headset plugged in. They say that it has a two second lag and is really loud.

I have the same problem as well and I am not on hand-free!!! Apple needs to fix this or the phone has to go back although I really enjoy it 😟

Having the same issue for a few times now, about 10min into the calls. It's as if the inbound audio got fed into the outbound audio, so the person on the other side started hearing echos of their own voice.

In my case, the person on the other side uses speakerphones, so the noise/echo got louder and louder in a snowball effect.

Toggling the speakerphone on the iphone kinda "reset" the problem, but starts to happen again every few minutes.

Hello,

I have the same problem with my hands free headsets. Callers are experience very bad reverb/echo whenever I am using a headset with my iphone 4S. It happen after a couple of minutes talking. I went to apple store and they re-installed the iOS5. But, it has not solved the issue. Second time, I went there and they replaced the phone. Very annoying! The new iphone has the same issue. I am really exhausted. I spent a lot of time going to store and trying to fix the problem. Apple should have tested this product before marketing.

Using headphone is a basic feature of any phone. We need help!

I have a 32GB Black 4S also. Same problem. And, the speaker phone fix does seem to fix the problem temporarily. However, I'm plugged in to a lot of sales calls and unexpectedly screwing up the call is not cool. I've basically had to bail out of the conversation on three sales calls because the echo appears randomly.

This is the most expensive, subsidized phone I know of. This issue combined with the problems accessing Siri, it's time for me to return the phone to Apple. A phone should, at the very least, be able to handle a phone call.

Back to Android.

I have exactly the same problem. It happened 5 minutes after the beginning of the call with the headset. Very annoying!

I have exactly the same problem and yes the echo can be resolved by pressing the speakerphone and then it goes for a while...What I have noticed is that the microphone is still on the phone itself when you use handsfree which from my experience is possibly the reason for the echo as you then have 2 microphones working in conjunction...Anyone else noticed this??

Is everyone else, I also has this issue. With an extra twist...I also have had issues when listening to and audiobook on my phone. Anyone else who has had that aswell?

Seems like it's not just related to calls, more of a "sound out" kind of issue. I sure hope iOS 5.0.1 will fix this, otherwise I will return my phone right away!

You can tell if the issue is the mic by placing the call on mute and you will notice the echo and hissing will go away.

That can't be the thing since I experience the issue also when playing audio from the Music-player, like when I listened to one of my audiobooks. At that time the mic isn't in the equation.