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Light ticking or crackling from iPhone 4S earpiece when on a call

Hello all,



Received my white 4S on launch day and absolutely love it! However, I've noticed a faint ticking/crackling type of noise coming from the earpiece when I'm on a call. It's not distortion as it stays at the same level regardless of volume. It seems to happen when the screen is turned off by the proximity sensor. Almost sounds like an interference of sorts. I tried turning off wifi on both the phone and my router at home but that didn't solve the problem. Any ideas what this could be? It does go away at times and it seems to be more pronounced when I hold the phone to my left ear oddly enough.


I'll probably just end up bringing it to the Genius Bar when I have the chance but just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this.


Thanks in advance.

Posted on Oct 17, 2011 7:48 PM

Reply
96 replies

Oct 31, 2011 4:32 AM in response to ABSjazz

I have a similar issue, though it's different from what most people are describing. My call quality is fine to begin with, but a portion of the time, several minutes into the call I will suddenly get so much static that I can barely hear the other person and vice versa. Hanging up and calling them back solves the problem. This is an intermittent issue, but it's started happening about twice per day since I upgraded from the iphone 4 to the 4s about a week ago. Anyone else seeing a similar problem?

Oct 31, 2011 4:55 AM in response to myaffee

Absolutely. That is another problem I have been having. I actually have experienced this problem with AT&T over the years, but was kind of very very rare until I got the 4S. I was sort of blaming AT&T only but started to realize it only started happening with the new phone. It starts with the person I'm talking to hearing bad call quality AND then Hearing themselves back to their phone. On my side it's just very staticed call quality. Have to call back and is fine.

This problem is happening in many different locations and not just a certain tower or area. This 4S has too many issues!

Oct 31, 2011 11:03 AM in response to ABSjazz

I am having the same issue. I'm guessing its a shielding issue around the speaker in the phone (sort of obvious i guess). It could be its not shielded enough from the bigger processor, or from radio interference. it is a faint intermittent buzzing in the phone's earpiece that i hear when it is checking for email on 3G network, or when i am talking on the phone. There also does seem to be a correlation when on the phone, that static in the earpiece occurrs when i am speaking in the mic.


So far pretty frustrated by the 4s so far. I am having problems that my 3+ yr old 3g didn't have. (I also am having some battery issues like a lot of others)


I am going to do a system restore tonight and see if that helps at all, although i am assuming it is a hardware problem and it won't change the issue - i will update here when i have done that to see if it helps.

Oct 31, 2011 1:30 PM in response to Jared7651

Restore and back-up in case they replace your phone... with a new one that has the same problem. That's what I'm working with, sadly. And not only is the phone still fuzzy, but my static-cling screen protector is all bubbled and funky now because I moved it from my one-week old phone to the crappy replacement. 😟


Since I had switched from the Original iPhone of 3+ years, I didn't realize that the new ones keep apps/programs open. Once I started double-clicking the home button and clearing out lists of past-used programs, my battery life increased. Also, not allowing the phone to push emails all the live-long day helped the battery last a little more.

Nov 1, 2011 9:14 PM in response to Kliffy

It's strange though ecause I have an iphone 4s 64gb white, and I experience this buzzing sound also when speaker reproduces a certain pitch from the person whom I'm talking with. But when I record a memo and play it through the ear speaker (as it plays through the loudspeaker by default until you click the speaker button), the sound is perfectly clear without a trace of distortion? You guys notice this as well?

Nov 2, 2011 2:04 AM in response to ABSjazz

I'm waiting day by day about 19.00 ( 10.00 Pacific Time ) for upgrade because I want to make usefully my brand new 4S. iP4 has great battery life, reception etc on iOS 5. This is last time I have bought a new, not tested by users device. Not sense to send 4S to service and have a refurb one according to this thread.

Light ticking or crackling from iPhone 4S earpiece when on a call

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