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iPhone 4S dropping network and data at random

Hi,

I've been using an iPhone 4 on a Vodafone contract for the past 16 month and just bought an iPhone 4S direct from Apple. It arrived on Friday morning and I got it set up correctly as far as I can tell.

When I first turn it on, it works lovely and exactly as I would expect, able to make calls, send texts and access the internet via the cellular network. However, at what appears to be random, the network will disappear (no bars of signal) stopping me making calls and texts, but still allowing me to access the internet. Sometimes, the Internet goes, but I can still make calls and texts. Other times, everything is gone and I get "No Signal" where it normally says Vodafone UK.

So when trying to fix this problem after it's noticed, I try putting it into Airplane mode and back out. The phone scans for a network and goes back to the same state as before I tried this fix. I have tried resetting network settings, but this doesn't change anything. The only thing that actually fixes it temporarily is turning the phone right off and back on again.

At this stage I assume this is a bug with the software, but I wondered if anyone else is experiencing anything like this? If no one is, I will take it up with Apple, but I don't really want to do that as I love the new phone so much!!

Cheers, Stuart

iMac (late 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.3), 27" i7 Quad-Core, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD

Posted on Oct 16, 2011 2:53 AM

1,022 replies

vZ10

Level 1

7 points

Nov 13, 2011 9:09 AM in response to falk1984

The same issue, can't change or disable PIN

nesse10

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2011 9:12 AM in response to katakulli

Spoke with a rep at The PhoneHouse here in Sweden. There is a slight chanse that all the problems could be because of the sim card.

Here we have 4 major operators that support Iphone, Tele2, Vodafone, 3 and Telia. Telia and 3 have not experienced any of these problems, but Tele2 and Vodafone has had busy days with angry customers.

At the PhoneHouse, their theory was to do something about that iphone 4s has doubble antennas, with wrong sim card they do not work together, instead they compete for the signal...

I don´t really know if there is anything to back this info up, as it is a theory they had.

Dweazer

Level 1

0 points

Nov 13, 2011 9:13 AM in response to Stuart Mchattie

As earlier mentioned I also have the issue and I also have an old 64k sim, cut to microsim format.

Tomorrow I will try to get a 128 sim.....

Nov 13, 2011 9:16 AM in response to Dweazer

but my carrier doesnt offer 128k sim card:/

Nov 13, 2011 9:21 AM in response to Sebastian Cochinescu

Nice update: Solved battery problems after update to iOS 5 on my 3GS.

Everything working perfectly including network connections and WIFI - here in Norway !!

Nov 13, 2011 9:42 AM in response to maczter

Regarding the issue of the ios 5.0.1 update and not being able to make or receive phone calls. Apparently people could hear me, but I could not hear them or voice mail. I did a restore and reset network settings and continured to have the same problem. I called apple at 1-800-MYIPHONE and they are sending me a new phone because they said most likely it was a hardware malfunction during the upgrade. Thankfully I am still within my year warranty. In the mean time, if you are having this issue, try using the headphones plugged in. It worked for me, but is by no means a permanent fix to the problem.

Everyone who is having this issue needs to call Apple and make them aware of the problem.

Nov 13, 2011 10:55 AM in response to Stuart Mchattie

After 5 hourse of use w/ 128k sim card, I confirm that the problem is finally solved.

Nov 13, 2011 12:30 PM in response to vZ10

I could not disable nor turn off SIM lock. Unlocked the SIM from another phone but it didn't help.

Nov 13, 2011 12:35 PM in response to Benpalmason

Neither can I, the softswitch the others are mentioning is just not where they say it can be found.

Nov 13, 2011 12:36 PM in response to MuGeN PoWeR

Are there operators who do not offer both sim cards?

MondasM

Level 1

4 points

Nov 13, 2011 12:48 PM in response to serhanfromistanbul

serhan, thanks for the heads up, i will get my sim replaced tomorrow...

çok teşekkürler... 🙂

Nov 13, 2011 2:53 PM in response to Stuart Mchattie

So it works if you get a 128k SIM card?

Can someone with Tele2 Sweden confirm that it's working?

Nov 13, 2011 3:07 PM in response to Stuart Mchattie

Guys any word from Apple on this issue? Im seeing that some people are saying that if you which the SIM Card to a 128 SIM Card it works fine O_0.... i dont even know it had 128 sim cards and dont know whats the difference.

TomL100

Level 1

20 points

Nov 13, 2011 3:35 PM in response to Stuart Mchattie

I have a new iPhone 4S with ATT, and it also started showing No Service until it was turned off, then back on.

Only happened that one tiem, so far.

Nov 13, 2011 4:58 PM in response to Stuart Mchattie

here is photo for the micro sim i got today from Vodafone Egypt to make the iphone work after 5 days of no network finally it's work perfect

final report after 12 hours from replacing the sim card iPhone 4s have a strong signal reception than iPhon 4 at the same place i become able to talk freely for long time without need to go out near to street 2 bars or 3 bars always it's perfect, why Apple didnot inform about the problem for old sim card and let people looking for answers, as you see in the picture for the new sim it's diagram is different than old one, hope this will help all here, Regards🙂

iPhone 4S dropping network and data at random