iPhone 4s losing data connection multiple times/day

Thanks 5D Mark, and to everyone else that responded. So, Mark, you just kept requesting replacement phones until you got one that worked correctly? Has anyone else had that same success?

I finally solved my issue recently. I went and swapped out my sim card with AT&T and still had the problem for the next 3 days. I then scheduled a meeting at the genius bar and had my phone swapped out. I then restored from back up and the problem was still there.

I then wiped the phone clean and started from scratch. Slowly adding apps and multiple email accounts everyday. Finally after a week with no problems I had all my apps back and my email accounts and the phone was set up with the prefs that I like.

I then synced my phone to itunes by usb and had no problem. My plan was to use wifi sync once everything was set back up but I never got around to doing it. Now I'm fearful of using wifi sync because my problem is solved. I have no idea if wifi sync has anything to do with it but I don't want to break what is working.

A couple of months back I did a complete restore and that didn't help at all on my old phone. So I'm not sure how I fixed it but I was having to reboot multiple times a day and now never. Good luck.

Yes, I kept at it with tech support on both sides (carrier as a start and then to Apple). It was terrible but I tried really hard to be patient and to work the ATT/Apple case ID system. I can't tell you how frustrated I was at times and I am certainly not saying the "system" is perfect...far from it. Luckily I found the "eagles" within ATT and Apple that helped me resolve the issue, 3 replacement phones later.

Given my location and full time employment, I did not have access to an Apple Store. Interestingly enough, on my second return, I had an option to visit an Apple store to faciliate a speedier replacement, but I elected not to do this. ATT indicated that even though an Apple case ID had been set up and an "exception" (replacement phone) had been authorized and confirmed, Apple Stores are not required to honor an "exception".

Believe me, I was ready to wait for the Galaxy III and divorce Apple. I have 10 current Apple products BTW, so I can't tell you how disappointed I was and am. My entire experience continues to paint a very disappointing view of this return process IMO.

Thanks - Good luck.

Glad it worked for you tvartboy. I experienced the same issues on one of my replacements. I followed your exact process and, unfortunmately, after about 36 hours, my phone reverted to the connectivity issues.

One item I wanted to share, which is disappointing, is regarding the SIM swap. I'll never forget this. My carrier rep told me this verbatum..."We swap out SIM cards just to placate customers. It normally doesn't do anything, but in your case, it just may work".

It eventually did not work for me. The carrier representative who said this was actually very helpful to me and I still see him to this day, but talk about an interesting thing to say from a customer service standpoint.

Good luck. Hope everything works out for you.

I have done two things in the past two days.

1) I emailed Tim Cook directly about this thread. 🙂 I did receive a phone call back from someone in the execuite support center. I need to call him back this morning. Not sure if this will help escalate this issue.

2) I am having my phone looked at, again, at my Apple Store in Austin TX. I'm actually sitting here right now in the genius bar waiting for the tech to check his system if it exists in Apple's database since this was the first he had heard of it. I'll report back if I get a new phone or if they send me on my way.

Tech here said there was nothing in Apple's support system about this issue.

He said he could reinstall from the base firmware which was differnet than just doing a full system reset. I have no idea what that means. He said it may fix the issue, so I am trying that now.

I don't have much faith.

Quick update.

I had to do my first reboot (after losing the data connection) on Sunday since my last post. Ironically it happened hours after I switched on wifi sync in itunes. Of course I'm not positive that has anything to do with it but I figured I would reach out to see how many people are uing wifi sync and if they have had any issues.

Thanks.

Michael

My own tests lead me to believe it is related to wifi sync. I do not use wifi sync anymore. Still working perfectly.

I found the fix! This may not work for everyone but it's worth a try for those who are frustrated. After spending hours onthe phone with Apple and my carrier and following all their instructions nothing worked. I was still dropping data many times through out the day despite having full bars. After much trouble shooting here is what worked for me. Ready? In Settings go to GENERAL-->NETWORK--> and turn off ENABLE 3G. I did this a week ago and I have not had an issue with dropped data since. Why does this work? I don't know.

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BE AWARE THAT THE NEW 5.1.1 OS BY DEFAULT TURNS ON 3G EVERYTIME YOU RESTART YOUR PHONE, EVEN IF YOU TURN IT OFF MANUALY

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While my fix is not the best alterantive to a properly working phone it does seem to solve the issue.

Next step if it works for you? Call Apple and tell them how you fixed the problem. I think this is an OS software glitch in OS 5.1.1 that Apple needs to be made aware of.

Another Iphone 4S here with the same problem and it is becomeing frustrating (I am in Seattle, WA). The only solution in my case is to restart the phone when it lost the data connection.

FYI this problem is much older since I had it more than 6 months ago (for months) with my 3GS as well.

Almost at page 20 of this post!

I am on my 5th phone, 2nd sim card. Problem still persists. I have tried the trick of turning off the cell location and that did not help. I have had the phone lose connections all over California and Las Vegas. Doesn't seem to be a network specific issue. I've worked with AT&T and they've re-provisioned me twice. I've been escalated and AT&T is at the point now where they say that for sure it's the phone. I have two 4s phones in the house. Only one shows the problem. I had the other phone replaced for an unrelated problem and that phone shows everything is OK as well. I have treated all of them as new phones and built them up clean. I have also tried all OS and the problem is not dependent on OS up to 5.1.1.

One thing I did notice was that my latest phone (phone number 5) did not have all of my email accounts since I have not done a backup restore once. My latest phone did not have the problem for ~3 weeks. I went ahead and put my work email back on, which is an exchange server, and the problem started almost immediately. I've had to reboot my phone twice daily ever since adding the exchange account. I have it set up to do mail, contacts, calendars, and reminders. I sync 3 days back and push inbox. I'm trying to limit to 1 day to see what happens since I receive ~2000 emails a day.

Is everybody having this problem also connected to some sort of enterprise mail server?

yep, also connected to enterprise mail server via MSExchange...

I have been using an exchange account as well. My phone is still working though. I also tried your method of syncing only limited time frame and quantity. On my final phone replacement I stuck with show 1000 messages, push data every 15, and mail days to sync = no limit. For calendar I am syncing events and reminders to one month back. These settings are still working fine today and I continue to have no issues with my phone.

Bottom line, your replacement should work the way you want it to. Send it back for another.

- Good luck

I also am using an Exchange Server for my work email.

I am speaking to a Tier1 Apple Support he diagnosed my phone that they saw a network communication error from the actual Exchange Server from my company.

So I am suspicious now that that there is an actual HW/SW problem with the Exchange Sever.

Anyone else having this problem with drop signal, can comment if you are connecting to an Exchange Server?

Same here, Exchange user with data issues (though they've chilled out a lot since I turned off some of the location stuff... could be coincidence). Come to think of it, I recently changed exchange server. I wonder if that could have anything to do with my better luck.