Q: iPhone 4S - Outgoing call no audio

i went to apple store to try to exchange my iphone 4s 64GB.

apple store would only give me a refurbished phone because

i bought my iphone from att online. i did not accept the

refurbished iphone because i prefered a new one. the tech

support at this store told me the problem is on the earpiece

receiver which is a hardware issue. i suggest to exchange

your iphone within the 30-day period.

augustofromsan diego wrote:

 

i went to apple store to try to exchange my iphone 4s 64GB.

apple store would only give me a refurbished phone because

i bought my iphone from att online. i did not accept the

refurbished iphone because i prefered a new one. the tech

support at this store told me the problem is on the earpiece

receiver which is a hardware issue. i suggest to exchange

your iphone within the 30-day period.

I bought mine from AT&T online but Apple replaced mine for me. I asked if it was refurbished and they said it was not but I did not see him open the box up so I don't know if it was in a regular retail box or not. I am assuming it wasn't but am not 100% sure. He did say that there are no refurbished units out yet because of the recent release of the 4S and the serial number on the replacement matches the format of the serial number on the phone they kept.

Same here, I bought mine thru a corporate AT&T account, but Apple replaced it.  The replacement phone was NOT in a retail box, but was in a sealed container which she explained were simply new replacements.  She said refurb replacements were not available yet.  I guess it's a question of trust, but my replacement appears brand new.

All the iphones that ever come from the genius bar are equivalent to new phones.  But as you said, it boils down to an issue of trust and once people set their mind on the quality of the replacements there won't be much that can be said to change it, especially because every Genius you talk to says something slightly different about the quality of these parts.

The truth is that I know of many people who distrust these phones so much that they choose to hold on to defective phones for fear of losing money on an inferior replacement.

gregomac wrote:

 

All the iphones that ever come from the genius bar are equivalent to new phones.  But as you said, it boils down to an issue of trust and once people set their mind on the quality of the replacements there won't be much that can be said to change it, especially because every Genius you talk to says something slightly different about the quality of these parts.

 

The truth is that I know of many people who distrust these phones so much that they choose to hold on to defective phones for fear of losing money on an inferior replacement.

Technically they can use refurbished parts but you're right about it being a matter of trust. Do I wish Apple was more clear about exactly where these phones come from? Sure. Does that mean I won't take a replacement if my current one is messing up? No way!

From the e-mail receipt I got for my iPhone 4S swap today (emphasis mine):

Thank you for choosing AppleCare for the repair of your Apple Product. To ensure the highest level of quality and reliability, all work is performed by AppleCare certified technicians using genuine Apple parts. Additionally, all repairs are backed by Apple’s 90-day service limited warranty, or the original one-year limited warranty, whichever is longer. Note: The items identified above have been exchanged by Apple for new or refurbished parts or products. Any applicable cost is indicated adjacent to the part(s) or product description. Service parts are subject to tax.

i went to the apple store today and i was informed by the

tech support that the problem was on the earpiece receiver.

i hope he was right on this.

May i know that,,, all the problem that you all are having is only in iphone 4S 64gb..... or also with 16gb and 32gb....?

I get mine replaced yesterday at GeniusBar, the guy told me he was aware of this problem... He change my 4s 16g without even ask me to reproduced the problem !

He told me it was a problem with the mic/earpeace switching...

No problem up to now ! I'm convince it is an hardware problem !

We are maybe a couple of thousand who have this problem... There is about 8 Millions 4s sold already

Go switch yours in an AppleStore ! Good luck !

It was suggested that I simply "Reset Network Settings".  This did fix the problem for me, at least for now.  My guess is that there is a bluetooth device that is not behaving nicely with the phone which causes the phone to think it's still hooked up to that bluetooth device. 

Just to add another sad story: same problem with the 4S. In my case, it's 100% fail on voice dial through the car's bluetooth system. I can hear the phone ring, I can hear the person talking, but they can't hear me. Hit rate for regular dial is maybe half, same symptom. And yesterday on an outbound call I couldn't hear a ring or the person answering until I turned on the speaker. One comment to Apple: C'mon, man....

Follow-up from my last post.

Into day 3 of first replacement 16GB black iPhone 4s (not new out of a sealed box, but out of a black container at the Apple store) and knock on wood, no problems. Made tons of calls and all have connected properly. Made BT tooth connections and used Siri. Phone seems to be holding up. I'm now inclined to think this is a hardware problem as a software problem would be more rampant.

One thing that popped into my head given the way the phones are behaving is that maybe its a faulty headphone jack? The phone seems to think there is another audio input/output source other than the earpiece and the mic. Perhaps some phones have problem jacks that are causing this.

I seem to have created the issue when I changed the Generalk, Siri setting Raise to Speak to off.  Every call I made would not connect the first time.

Since I turned it back on, I don't seem to have the problem any more.

I called the Apple Support Desk yesterday, I'm getting mine replaced today at the Genius Bar. I did do a bit more trouble shooting yesterday and this was that latest discovery: When placing a call on bluetooth the banner screen that gives you the optrion of Bluetooth/iPhone/Speaker came up and for less than 1 second showed Bluetooth, then swithced to speaker. Toggling back and forth did not fix the issue. Lt was like the buttons on the banner screen were dead. I'll get my new phone this afternoon and report back on if that fixed it.