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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

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1,022 replies

Nov 1, 2011 1:46 AM in response to Stuart Mchattie

I also have Tele2 Sweden. I have a brand new sim that I got when I purchased the phone.


I try to make a phone call and after some seconds, I get "call failed". The connection bars go from full to nothing to Searching. Then connection comes back, I can make a call or two, and problem starts again.


The worst part is that it shows good connection all the time (unless I try to make a phone call). I have called my phone and it goes directly to voicemail. So, I don't know when the phone is acting up and when it's working.


I tried disabling wi-fi - didn't fix it

I tried disabling sim-pin request- Didn't fix it.

Did a DFU restore as a new phone. Didn't fix it.


Going to the store today to see if the change it for a new one.

Nov 1, 2011 3:18 PM in response to albertqui

I have this same problem on AT&T in the US. AT&T claims they have no idea about any of it. I have tried the SIM PIN on/off trick, but it did not work. The only way I can make my phnoe useable is to turn of Cellular Data. I have replaced the SIM card and the phone. It is happening to both my phone and my wife's phone. If I swap our SIM cards back and forth, both phones work for about a day and a half. I have an appointment to replace both of our phones in the morning.

Nov 2, 2011 6:19 AM in response to idlemind13

I looked and found diagnostics under Settings->General->About and it looks as though the Baseband firmware is crashing. Not sure why or how to fix it, but that is the root of this problem. When the baseband crashes it loses connection and then connects back when the baseband comes back to life. If you are in settings at just the right time, you'll see a new "Carrier" option come up and if you click on it you can turn Automatic Carrier selection on or off. It doesn't do anything but it is a result of the baseband crashing and not knowing what network to connect to.

Nov 2, 2011 7:21 AM in response to super_dracus

Im on Tele2 and have the same problem.

1st time I try to make a phone call, it does not go through and it says "no connection". After a few mins, I can make the phone call.

I tried all suggested things and still did not solve the problem.


Tele2 said that I could send the phone back, and they would give me a new one, but could not give me an estimation how long it would take.

Nov 2, 2011 12:56 PM in response to Stuart Mchattie

I'm on 3's network in Denmark with my iPhone 4S 64 GB, and also loose signal several times every day.

And have to remove the SIM or restart to get it to work again.

Setting it in flight mode is not enough !


I think I will go to a 3 store and get it replaced ;-)


Thanks for sharing. Could not understand what was happening with my brand new phone !


Thanks

Jan

Nov 3, 2011 6:05 AM in response to janhjordie

I have, as many others, catastrophic reception on my new iPhone 4S.I might add that I also have an iPhone 4 and if I put the same MicroSim in this phone then the reception is flawless.The problem is essentially the same as the one that many other experiences, five full bars, and (in my case) Tele2 3G.If someone tries to call me they are immediately sent to voicemail. If I try to make a call it fails, then the bars go down one by one until no service is shown, then the SIM searches for reception and usually succeeds after about 1 minute the bars appear again.Sometimes I then can make a call but nine times out of ten the procedure will just be repeated again.I can of course manually get my bars back again via either reboot or by taking out and putting in the SIM again or by activating and then deactivating flight mode, this does not mean that I get actual reception, I just get the bars and operator name back and the phone seems to have reception. That is until I try to make a new call...One can't turn off 3G in new iOS5, however, one can select operator manually.Carrier settings in iOS5 defautls to "Auto".If I turn off auto and select Tele2's 2G network nothing happens.I can turn off the "auto" but it is just says "Searching...".If I go back to settings and then back again the carrier settings are in "Auto" mode again.I have made several re-installations, both from backup and as a new phone, turned on and off the PIN code, deactivated and activated Location services, made hard resets, etc.Even after the latest beta, which was released developers today, was installed and all procedures were done all over again with this OS the problem persists.It is simply impossible to either make or receive calls with my new iPhone 4S.It can do lots of fancy stuff but as a phone it is completely useless and I am compelled to to go back to using my iPhone 4 for now.You would think that Apple would ensure that at least the telephone part in both hardware and software are operating properly before releasing them to consumers.It's called "iPhone" - not iPod, iPhone, iGame...iPhone is primarily a phone and customers buying it would at the very least require it to be able to make and recieve calls or maybe it's asking too much?What is also very strange is that even if a lot of consumers complain about the above bug, not only in Sweden but all over the world, Apple does not mention this anywhere.Not on their support pages, not in their developer community, not to their dealers who certainly had a lot of support calls from unhappy customers who believe that it is an operator error.Incredibly bad service by Apple to release a phone that can not be used as a phone and even worse to not quickly recognize this error and publish what's causing the error, that they're working on resolving it, and when it will be resolved.I work myself as telephony manager at a company that uses just the iPhone and there are now quite a few new unhappy iPhone 4S, and where I take a lot of support concerningthese bugs and have to get them temporary solutions until the bugs are fixed.I use to commend both Apple and their products, but my conviction on Apple's excellence has been significantly tarnished.This is BAD Apple, hope you get your acts together a.s.a.p. cause both your phone and your service really ***** in this case.

iPhone 4S dropping network and data at random

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