iPhone 4s losing data connection multiple times/day

Same problems here. Country: Italy, carrier: TIM.

List of problems spotted so far:

1) Internet connection randomly lost: even if the status bar shows full bars 3G coverage, it will not be possible to load any web page (or use data whatsoever). The only way to get it back connecting to the internet is turning airplane mode on & off, or rebooting the phone.

2) data connection completely lost during calls. While on a phone call, the status bar indicator switches from 3G or E to blank after 1 or 2 minutes, and it is not possible to connect to the internet. When I hang up, the data connection is restored and the status bar indicator returns to E or 3G.

3) I get edge (E) connection where I should have 3G. It's like it doesn't switch from E to 3G when it should: when I get home I park my car in a garage, where there's little coverage, so the phone switches from 3G to E. Then I walk home, where my wife's iPhone 4 has 3G connection (same carrier I'm on), but mine remains stuck on edge. The only way I can get it to switch to 3G is, again, turn airplane mode on and off, or reboot the phone. My former iPhone 4 would always switch back to 3G as soon as available. Same garage, same home, same carrier, same SIM card, same iOS version (5.0 and 5.0.1).

Problem 1 is the most irritating as it happens randomly and without notice: I have connection, I put the phone back in my pocket, take it out one minute later and I can't connect.

Problem 2 is not a big deal (for me), but it clearly shows something is messed up *badly* in how the phone manages data connections.

Problem 3 is a pain because every time you get E you'll be wondering if there's actually no 3G coverage or if it's just the phone being stuck again.

Two last remarks:

a) my previous iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G worked smoothly on the same carrier with the same SIM card I'm using on this one (I've had it cut down when I switched to 4).

b) I've tried everything possible to fix it: I have no PIN lock, I've restored network settings, I've even completely restored the phone and set it up as a new phone, I've tried with manual carrier selection, I've tried changing APN, all sort of things, but nothing worked.

I'm thinking about having it swapped, but first I'd like to understand if it's a software issue or a hardware one.

I just wanted to chime in with a small update.

I downloaded the 5.01 patch the day after it came out, hoping it would resolve the problem. Initially I still had the problem ... but then for several weeks it went away entirely.

Then, yesterday I had the problem occur 3-4 times in one day.

Very random and sporadic, and in each case, it would show me connected to 3G with a good signal, and I would see the loading icon, with no actual loading. My email would throw an error saying unable to connect and no webpages could be loaded. I had to restart the device to fix ... but as I said, it happened 4 more times in the day, and since the last time yesterday afternoon, no issues.

I got my 4s replaced by the Apple store yesterday.

...problems still persist here in the Toronto downtown core on Rogers. The Apple Store at the Toronto Eaton Centre said they recieve tonnes of complaints each day about Rogers/Fido users not having good data service in the general area. Their solution is to replace teh handset, to deflect blame to the carrier.

The new phone is no better than the old one. (it's running iOS 5.0)

However, I still have not come across any Blackberry users in the same area with any problems on the Rogers network. ..the issue feels like a combination Apple hardware/software issue. (Although Rogers is famous for having horrible coverage in the downtown core).

my 2 cents.

I've reset network settings, disabled SIM pin, reposition SIM into sim slot, selection of carrier manually. I've finally replaced the SIM card. It worked for a few minutes, now I'm losing 3G connectivity again. It's been happening since iOS5.0, now iOS5.0.1. The SIMs were brand new microsim 128K(new model). In my opinion I discard its a SIM problem or problem with carrier signal coverage because It's changing from full 3G to full GPRS without even moving the iPhone from the desk. I believe it's a software bug or some kind of software incompatibility with some hardware component (I think it could be the baseband ).

I hope it get fixed with the next update, if not the phone will be replaced at the Apple Store.

Never had so much problems with my 3GS.

Having the same issues here (AT&T for carrier, btw). It was happening off and on since I got the phone but this past week has been terrible. Toggling airplane mode doesn't seem to help at this point and it feels like I have to powercycle, give it a few minutes to collect itself and then cross my fingers... then it might work for 10 minutes and then it's all back to "signal looks good but nothing's connecting" land again.

Has anyone had the chance to try iOS 5.1 beta? Does it help? Does it do anything at all for this issue?

Nope , it can't fix our problem , beleive me , i 'll sell my ip4s now , so boring about this broblem

I'm having this same issue. Comforting I'm not the only one. I'm going to call Apple Care tonight.

iPhone 4s in Los Angeles on AT&T

3-5 bars, but lagging or dropped data delivery

using Exchange for Gmail

fully updated iOS

Same problem here ....Using a UK iphone 4s factory unlocked in mumbai with tata docomo sim card ..... Edge is working fine but suddenly it stops working ... I can see the full signal bar with the edge logo still it wont work then i need to on off airplane mode to make it start again .... Happens 3-4 times a day ... No idea whats causing this problem ... Any1 with same problem or any solutions will be very helpfull .

Okay, so I've been having the same issues. 4S on 3G showing 4 bars and data connectivity is slow and drops out quite a bit. So, after AT&T advised me to call apple, I decided to troubleshoot it myself. After reading all your ideas on here I tried a few things on my own. I set my gmail to inactive under settings, turned off Siri, The iCloud, and Location Services. Lo and Behold, my data connection is back...I verified using the Speedtest.net app (with fast results). So, I'm turning those services back on (since that's part of the iphone experience, right?) and still no loss. Looking at the number of apps that were allowed to access my location, I'm thinking there may have been a few too many. I turned most of them off, and left on the essentials (maps, weather, etc). I'll keep testing my data through out the day to see when it drops. I may even add back some of those apps to the location settings to see what's killing my data connection. This is all very frustrating, but this gives me a little hope. When I have more time I'll try to pinpoint the culprit, but I thought I'd share what I found today. Hope this helps someone.

^ are you sure its a app which is causing the problem or its the faulty iOS ... Myself feel on my iphone its the sim which is the cause of the problem so just now recived my factory micro sim card will try that today and see if things changes ... And its really annoying i keep waiting for my facebook notifications and my emails but then when i check my phone i realize the edge is down :( by the way i am on 5.0.1 !!

So I had a connection, and now it's gone again. I turned off all the metioned services once more and cannot reproduce my results, so it's back to square one. Very frustrating.

I filled a bug at http://bugreport.apple.com with my Apple ID and now Apple has sent me an email with instructions on how to activate and send them the iPhone Baseband Logs. As soon as I send them engineers from Apple will use the information to solve the problem.

I will activate the logs tomorrow as this issue is happenig to me a lot when I'm at the office.

I encourage you to fill a bug so they will send you the information to activate baseband logs and send them for further investigation about the issue. So, yes they are aware of it.

My bug report number is 10487095.

Same issue here, on Swiss 3G network Sunrise.

Same problem here - 4S on 5.0, AT&T 3G in the Kansas City area. I have to turn airplane mode on and off at least twice a day to restore my 3G connection. It's just 3G, too - calls always work fine.