iPhone 4S drops 3G, have to restart phone to get it back

Still waiting for my new phone ... But mine started to do no service this time .... Really annoying when you are working on a transaction with a client -.- i hope apple will tell us whats the problem .. The software or the hardware.

I have just written to BBC Watchdog, I suggest everyone do the same. After the shambolic 'antennagate' with the iPhone 4 I thought Apple would have learned their lesson come the 4S, clearly not! Apple should halt all sales until this issue is resolved and customers with faulty handsets have their working replacements.

I have the same problem. After a while in stand by the iphone 4s (with ios5) drops all the bars and it does not help to switch on/off the flightmode. After i reboot the phone the coverage comes back again for a little while. Very annoying! I have now tried to disactivate the PIN-code to see if it helps!

My carrier is Telenor, Sweden and there is good 2G+3G coverage in the area!

Just got an iPhone 4s last week on meteor network. When i leave my house where the phone is using wifi it won't connect to 3G without a reboot, I've tried airplane mode but that won't work. This happens every time I leave home.. Any suggestions.

Well, this is exactly the same I'm getting as described in my new topic. I'm using Vodafone in The Netherlands.

Interesting detail is that I swapped my iPhone 4S for a new one. The new one has the same problem! It seems software. Luckily it's happening only at my university where the signal is quite weak on other devices too. At home I don't have ony problems.

I will try to solve this problem by disabling the PIN.

It's supposed to be a bug in the comm center app, so doing anything that resets that app, sim pin, airplane mode, etc, should reset it.

If you do a restore of the phone, make sure you tell itunes to setup as a new iphone, so it doesn't restore the bad comm center file

Same problem here.

According to tech support through my cellphone provider in Sweden (Tre), the "no-reconnect" issue is due to faulty firmware in some phones.

His recommendation is to leave the phone in for service to have the phone re-programmed by Apple, but that due to the high demand for iphone service at the moment they would probably elect to simply replace the phone instead.

A related problem is that when switching from a wifi-connection to a 3G-connection (i.e. leaving the wifi catchment area) - the 3G symbol will show up but your phone will not automatically connect to the 3G network. He argued that this was "normal" and even acceptable for iPhone... which led to a bit of an exchange of opinions regarding what is "acceptable"... never had that problem with other iPhones before.

So - i've managed to get a replacement phone from the Trafford Center Apple Store, restored it from the cloud and so far, touch wood, it seems better.... The only problem is, it keeps asking me for some random guys apple ID password, oh that and it WIPED all my playlists when I plugged it into iTunes!!

3 weeks into my life as an iPhone owner and so far it's been ****! Things can only get better I assume.

I work in IT, understand all OS's and software, Windows, Linux, Andriod, you name it, I understand it. But when it comes to iTunes, i'm completely lost, it has a mind of its own!

same problem I am on three network have to reboot 4s to be able to use phone.

I ran into this problem too, shortly after purchasing my iPhone 4S.

After a reboot the phone connected to 3G immediately and it hasn't been a problem since (about a week.)

therealikt wrote:

It's supposed to be a bug in the comm center app, so doing anything that resets that app, sim pin, airplane mode, etc, should reset it.

If you do a restore of the phone, make sure you tell itunes to setup as a new iphone, so it doesn't restore the bad comm center file

That is great information I will take over to a different thread (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3437795) that may directly relate to us (if you can read through those posts and confirm that it is the CommCenter app). In researching the CommCenter app, I have come up with a few questions:

1. How does it go bad?
2. Can it be repaired without jailbreaking?
3. Is there another solution without starting from scratch...which is a bit painstaking?

I have the exact same problem in Canada on Rogers.... so happy to hear it's just not me. Apple store reset my phone yesterday and now they want me to come back to have the phone replaced. Will see how it goes.

I have the same issue with Tele2 Sweden. It drops signal completely from time to time even if the signal in that area is very good.

Bought the phone online from Apple Store in Sweden. Upgraded/restored backup from a iPhone 4.

Will try do disable PIN to see if that helps....

Your phone is being replaced? How bad was it for you - how often did the signal drop? Did your 3G icon disappear?

Well I got my brand new replacement Iphone 4S yesterday.

I set it up as a new phone to avoid any possible bug transfers, just in case, and promptly lost ALL my text messages going back over 2 years.... Everything else was there bar them... really disappointed as a lot of them were from my Dad who died last year and I had kept them... I guess it was going to happen one day....

Anyhow, new phone, signal is good, although the sim pin is still disabled at present. The signal bar gauge does go up and down lots despite being in a fabulous o2 area. All good so far... apart from wish I had put on a glossy film protector again rather than anti glare which I am not keen on, but was expensive....