IOS5, iPhone 4S and 2 bars dropped calls without ability to switch to EDGE.

Hi,

I just had the online support on the phone to report the same issue.

IOS 5 disabled the previous feature which allowed us to manually switch to EDGE mode, claiming that the phone was now smart enough to pick appropriate network and datarate based on coverage.

The problem though is that the hand over to EDGE happens based on this (2010) famous "network bar" calculation algorithm which is very slow to respond in sudden network coverage changes (entering a building, driving cars ...)

The result is an increased number of dropped calls and a critical battery drop in poor coverage areas where the phone intends to stick to 3G, bleeding power,while EDGE would be 10x more reliable & battery efficient.

Please use the www.apple.com/feedback to report this problem and enable us to choose what's appropriate for our usage again.

This is an urgent need ! It makes iPhone 4S unusable in low 3G coverage zones !

I submitted feedback. If, by November 13th, there is no fix, my phone will be returned. It is a PHONE. While everything else is cool, the most simplistic of all things being it's a PHONE and I can't make phone calls. I manually switched my phone to E to make phone calls on my 4. I was ready to sell my iPhone 4 but am now holding onto it if I return the 4s. Yes, battery drain is a big issue as well. I remember having to get a battery power pack case for my 3Gs a couple years ago.

I'm having precisely the same problem with my AT&T 4S. Without the ability to turn off 3G and force the calls to 2G, my dropped calls have multiplied exponentially. I live in San Francisco and our hills make getting reliable 3G notoriously difficult. But I'm having problems in my home, which was never an issue with my three previous iPhones. I was on a call to AT&T customer service that got 6 "call failed" in one 15 minute conversation. The rep kept having to call me back and was so embarrassed she gave me a credit on my account. Last night at dusk i was on the phone and it dropped a call 5 times. I don't know what to do. I upgraded my 4 to iOS 5 the day before my 4S arrived and the option to turn off 3G and force the phone to 2G/Edge only was removed by the iOS update and Apple Support told me that I cannot go back to using iOS 4.x, so I'm stuck. I have to hope that there will be a software patch ASAP.

You might find this link of interest from The Guardian (UK) paper:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/28/iphone-4s-battery-apple-enginee rs?newsfeed=true

Also explore the thread at:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3403334?answerId=16423936022#16423936022

And try this, which helped me:

This is from a different but parallel thread here:

Re: IOS-5 battery power drain issue

created by timothy_ in Using iPhone - View the full discussion

HayriC wrote:

Here we go. The solution is below. Hope it will work for you too!

1- Delete your email account(s) in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Your Account > Delete Account

2- Reset Network Settings in Settings > Reset > Reset Network Settings

3- Reboot your phone by holding the sleep/wake (top) button then sliding to off.

4- Re-add the email account Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account…

5- Turn push back on

This worked for me. Prior to doing this was going from 100% to 0% in less than 15 hours without using the phone. Now I am back to normal use, phone has gone from 100% to 99% in 30 mintes much more normal. A lot of the people saying they've tried everything don't actually list removing the email account from the trouble shooting. Clearly the new OS is struggling with the old email connections so try this please.

Others have mentioned removing and restoring mail accounts. Not sure of the logic here but it isn't a hard thing to do, nor very time consuming.

FYI