IPHONE 4s call failed??!!!

Hi, I have the same issue, a lot of my call drop after 30 sec. it's very frustrated. I tried everything, disabled wireless, disabled Siri, changed the Iphone, upgraded to 5.1, restored by default with no backup nothing works still having same problem. When I changed it the tech said I lost 10% of my calls. I'm tired of that problem. Hello Apple, because I will THINK DIFFERENT...

I've been to three differerent Apple Stores already. They've all been taught to drink the Apple "kool-aide," and pretend there is no problem, I've shown the store managers all the posts in this blog and they all uniformly refuse to read them and dismiss everyone as "complainers" and say the posts are not relevant to helping me address my problem. All very well trained to read only from the Apple corporate script. Apple knows. Either there is not enough noise and bad PR to get their attention until the next iPhone comes out, or their "brlliant"engineers have no idea how to fix what is likely to be a problem caused by the first ever dual GSM/CDMA chip they designed. A phone that can do everything but make and receive phone calls is a $600 paper weight. Make LOTS of NOISE! Stop being passive nice guys.

I just had a frustrating, but interesting, experience yesterday. I have the 4S with iOS5.0.1 (9A406).

I was at work in an area where I've never had call problems before. I uninstalled some software that required a reboot. After the reboot I got "no service" for a few minutes - I thought the software uninstall had gone wrong but it turned out to just be a coincidence. Eventually after 15 minutes my 3G carrier (Orange) showed up again and I had a good signal. However I could not make any calls. Trying to make a call would take a long time until I eventually got "call failed". I also could not receive any calls and also had no data connectivity.

Eventually I was able to send an SMS but still no calls (including voicemail). However oddly enough I was able to call Orange technical support from my cellphone without a problem! They told me that they had a known issue in that area that would take several hours to fix and that as a temporary workaround I must goto Settings, General, Network and disable 3G Data. Then calls should work again. They said to enable it again when I get home that evening.

On my phone the only setting I have is "Cellular Data" - there is no specific setting for 3G Data. In any case I disabled it. Still I could not make any calls.

Now my phone is jailbroken and I have SBSettings installed so I have two toggles related to data: Data(H) that now showed as disabled, and also 3G that was still enabled. So I disabled 3G. Now calls started working again without any problems (but of course no data).

So here is my first question: Do some users only have the option to toggle "Cellular Data" but other users have an option to toggle "3G"? Is this menu option controlled by the networks? This subtle distinction might explain why toggling this setting helps some users but not others, since not everyone is in fact changing the same setting - they just think they are.

Later once I got to another city, I turned on 3G and Data and immediately data connectivity was restored and calls still worked.

I noticed during all of this that my carrier is ether displayed as "ORANGE" or "orange". A subtle difference but it seems upper case is used for 3G and lower case for 2G. This would be carrier (operator) specific, but is something to look out for next time things are/are not working.

In this case the problem was due to the network and not due to my iPhone, but after thinking things over I came to the following conclusion: The 4S supports both 3G as well as older 2G networks (and of course CDMA). Usually it will operate using 3G, but when the cell is congested (many users) then no 3G is available and the phone should switch to 2G. Here it seems lies the bug - the phone fails to switch to 2G unless the user actively turns off support for 3G.

The phone will show a good 3G signal but calls will fail since the 3G network is too busy. Other phones will automatically switch to 2G and the call will not fail. The 4S fails to switch down to 2G and the call fails.

Usually, I only have failed calls at home where 3G is often erratic but 2G always works. Of course I could be wrong about this, but it seems that nature of the bug is that the 4S fails to automatically switch to 2G when there is a strong 3G signal but 3G is unavailable due to congestion (or a glitch that is the carriers fault).

What do you think?

Maybe Apple added the 3G toggle to 5.1 to enable users to have a workaround for the "call failed" problem, since they were unable to fix the bug? What reason would anyone have for turning off 3G except if they were experiencing problems wih it?

Nope.... Maybe they just brought it back because before i phone 4s and the new version 5 there was same thing then they removed is and now its back so it's nothing to do whit the bug.The logical reason is because of the expensive roaming taxes have you thought about this? Cheers !!!

I have the same issue. I have been through 9 iphone 4's since January this year and they all resort to called failed, no service, can't hear the other person after like 10 minutes on the call and then comes back, echo of myself (when I make a call it makes a weird noise in the earpiece and then I can hear myself in my own earpiece and it shows I am on the call but am not). Other than those issues it's a great product. But am getting a bit tired that not even one of those issues have been resolved at all. I have been dealing with higher tech support for help and they even escalated my case. It seems to take them forever to get back to me tho. My carrier has renewed my contract again putting me into another one to see if that would help and nothing still same problem. I even know how to duplicate the called failed issue when I need to show someone. Anyone from Apple on this convo? What is going on?

Got 2 iphone 4s in December. Lots of call failures. On Vodafone in the UK.

Replaced both handsets last week - same problem.

Solution:

1/ Dsable 3G. The phone will go to Edge if it is available. Since doing this - no problems.

2/ Bought a Sure Signal box from Vodafone. Provides a perfect 3G signal at home - location of most of the problems. Probem was still had occasional issues out and about - back to solution 1.

Switch off the 3G - what do you really need it for? Edge does the tick. Wifi for big downloads. Switch on 3G if you need to go to the internet and no wifi.

I actually had the same problem today and got it fixed fast 😝 here's a little guide for those who haven't found the solution yet.

Just remember these 2 steps:

1) Settings > General > Date and Time > (Here, switch off "Set Automatically" and manually select your hometown). Then manually set the date and time.

Apparently the SIM and carrier wont work if date and time aren't set well, make sure date and time are the current ones

2) Settings > Phone > Show My Caller ID > Switch ON

and do like my comment if u able to solve your prob by this solution 😉

I actually had the same problem today and got it fixed fast 😝 here's a little guide for those who haven't found the solution yet.

Just remember these 2 steps:

1) Settings > General > Date and Time > (Here, switch off "Set Automatically" and manually select your hometown). Then manually set the date and time.

Apparently the SIM and carrier wont work if date and time aren't set well, make sure date and time are the current ones

2) Settings > Phone > Show My Caller ID > Switch ON

and do like my comment if u able to solve your prob by this solution 😉

you may think this solved your issue, but your "solution" has nothing to do with anything. you played with some settings, and you think you solved the problem. your imagination is amazing. what a joke.

I have the exact same problem sometimes it takes me 5 attempts just to ring one person, this is a daily issue and apple need to solve it.

at first I assumed it was just certain numbers or maybe a specific network that caused the problem for me but I have had this issue with people on different networks and landlines from time to time.

Apple need to get their act together we don't pay for problems we pay for quality and performance. to me this should have been fixed a long time ago.

Hi all. I've been experiencing problems with my iPhone 4s since for 4 days now. But oddly my husband's 3GS has also playing up with identical issues as me and this thread! Makes no sense. I have booked a genius bar appointment for tomorrow. Hubby didn't think he needed one but he can't receive calls now. Goes straight to voicemail despite having nearly full bar of reception. Texts are fine. Have had to use the home line to call out this weekend. I've always updated my firmware. Hubby only updated today and thought it was working again until a moment ago.

Just tried turning 3G off each of the phones in turn and it seems to be when it's on the phone won't ring out! Just as others have posted! We can now ring each other without it failing. For now anyway. If it works still tomorrow shall cancel genius bar appointment, as it's a 40 min drive before you get parked up to nearest apple genius bar.

Problems

Call Failed.. (normally takes 3-5 attempts just to ring someone)

Call Ending.. (sometimes it does not tell me call failed and its just froze on the Calling mobile.. screen when hitting end call it just grays out the end call button and says Call Ending.. and nothing else happens.

The only way I have been able to end a call when this happens is to "First Hit end" then hit the home button, then go back to the end call screen by tapping the green bar at the top "Showing that you are in a call" then hit call end again. and basically repeat this until it ends.)

Redirecting to Voicemail (This is a more recent problem which has been about 4 days old now where some people attempt to ring me and they go straight to voicemail yet again at first I thought this was a problem with the network despite have full bars just like Hunnipot yet other people have no issue's contacting me)

Black Screen (this happens to me when I end a call and then attempt to redial the screen goes black but I can hear it ringing. this is another new issue that's started to occur and has happened about 3-4 times in the past week)

Frozen Answer Call (this happened once yesterday and with the way things are going am assuming its going to happen more often. Basically someone rings you and you are unable to hit the Green button that answers the call. the only way I was able to answer the call was to lock my screen which ended the call and then I rang that person back am not sure yet if this is going to be a recurring situation as I have not bothered with the phone since that issue it has just annoyed me to much.)

So I am going to try and fix what I can if possible and if all else fails take it back to the store and get something sorted .. I paid £50 up front to receive my phone that day on top of that my first bill was £38 due to pro-rata and at the moment this phone has been a big disappointment.

If I find a solution I will re-post here although I am fairly certain it's the firmware itself causing the problems.

have you tried a "hard reset?"

have you tried restoring your phone and setting it up as a new phone?

if your phone is deemed faulty, you can get it replaced at an apple store or via mail in service. it shouldn't be a major issue to get it replaced if it is in fact defective.