iPhone 4s losing data connection multiple times/day

My wife had this issue as well with her iPhone4s. We first went to the Genius Bar and were told to go home and restore the phone as new and not from a previous backup. as much as a pain it was to do this, it worked for about a week. After that, the issue came up again. We went back to the apple store and the genius said he highly doubts that it's a hardware issue. He thinks one of the apps is the culprit and to install each app one by one until it happens again to see which app is causing this. I did not want to do this cause it would be really difficult to determine which app was doing this. The genius gave us a new phone anyways but he didn't think it would solve the problem. we received the new phone and she hasn't had an issue so far. I guess time will tell if this new phone has the same problem but so far so good. If this is indeed a software issue, then Apple needs to hurry up and fix this problem. There's no point in having an iPhone if you can't connect any data to it. We all might as well be carrying the old flip phones around cause calls and texts are the only things that work when this issue comes up.

I just took my phone out of my pocket for the first time this morning, and notice that I'm experiencing the issue being discussed in this thread (no data connection, despite three bars and 3G symbol).

I noticed something else, as well: Despite no usage of my phone this morning at all, my battery level has dropped 8%. I check my usage stats and, sure enough, my usage time is already at 1 hour 12 minutes, just slightly behind my standby at 1 hour 50 minutes.

This is not a normal occurance, so I wonder if the two are related.

Further, checking Netstat I see zero cellular data connection, just a "LISTENING" on a "Local" IP address...

Same problem here, happens on iPad2, iPhone 4 and iphone 4S.

- German O2 provider.

- preceived the problem since iOS5, never before on iOS 4

Updated to iOS5.1beta3 and thought the problem had gone, but today I lost connection again with full 3G bars shown.

Very annyoing. I'm going with software bug on this since it happens on three different devices.

Mine does this as well, I have gotten a new phone through apple and they all try to tell me it is the carrier. I work for at&t and have had three iPhones all in the same house and have never had this issue. I have a 16gb iPhone 4s and have the 5.0.1 software. My 3G will go away but not cell service but will return in a few minutes. It does this several times throughout the day. Today I would say it did it about 12 times in a four hour period. Really annoying!!!

I've found that turning off the Cellular Data in Settings/General/Network for a few minutes helps to restore mine. I have the 4S/5.0.1,32GB. Either way, if it's an ATT issue or Apple, if its not fixed soon, I think they should be giving us a refund for our data plans or at most a discounted rate. Thiis is rediculous and expensive for a service you can't use.

I've had the same problem as most of you but just recently realized my problem only occurs when I use WiFi on my phone. If I leave WiFi off I have no data connection problems at all. I'm not sure it this will help anyone but leave wifi off for a day and see if it works.

I am having the same difficulties with my cellular data as everyone else. I'm not sure what the trigger is but I do know that when my data drops and I go to my settings menu>general>network, my personal hotspot is trying to connect/start up. I don't use this option so I'm not sure why it's trying to connect/start up. All I know is that I have to turn off my cellular data then reboot my phone. It's more than annoying and I'm looking forward to Apple getting rid of this bug!!

Having similar issues. I have been struggling with the data connection on my iPhone 4s for over a month. I am in a rural area of West Michigan and am using AT&T. I purchased the phone during the first week that they were available and everything was fine until about the 20th of December. I had stopped using wireless at all because Siri would fail when trying to authenticate on my work network which is available all over the small town where I work. My AT&T Data plan is unlimited ( funny or sad?) so just staying connected on 3G all the time and having Siri ready to go was working fine.

Then I lost data at home; nowhere else, just at home. I can drive a circle around my house and get full connectivity; worse is that I always have 4 - 5 bars and 3G and I can see the AT&T Tower 2 miles out my dining room window. We have 3G, 3GS, 4, and 4s phones; the 3G and 3GS are able to use cellular data almost anytime. The 4 has been intermittent and since Dec 20 I have had about a week of data that would work after cycling airplane mode on and off and about a week of perfectly normal operation. I would guess that all total I have had 45 days of perfectly normal cellular data operation on my 4s. If I leave home everything is fine, no complaints. Right now it will connect for 1 minute if I cycle the power on the phone; it will reconnect to cellular data as many times as you would care to cycle power.

What I have done:

Reset the network settings.

Called AT&T and had them troubleshoot and re-register the phone on the network.

Replaced the SIM

Replaced the Phone

Completed 3 service tickets with AT&T with various levels of temporary success. (The last on worked for two days after they called to confirm it had been corrected)

I have wiped and restored the phone from an iCloud backup, from a computer backup, and as a completely new iPhone with no additional applications or data. Nothing- No Change

I have cycled off everything in my house ( routers, server, PC's, Wii, Dish....anything that creates or receives a signal). Cycled the phone off removed and re-inserted the SIM, reset network settings in the phone.

This feels very much like an interference issue but I cannot sort it out, neither can AT&T/Apple. If it was not interference it would occasionally connect.. We need some help; without the 3G and Siri at home (where I work a couple of days a week) I would be just as well off with my old iPhone and the extra cash.

I really feel like it has something to do with downloading content (perhaps behind the scenes like exchange email push) over WiFi, then the phone loses the WiFi for whatever reason and swaps to 3g. I feel like this is where the problem happens. I haven't been able to replicate at home by starting a download and pulling out the wifi power though.

What if you leave Wi-Fi off for a few days? In my case the phone works as I am passing my maibox but stops once I am in the front door (with Wi-Fi Off, 4 to 5 bars of signal and 3G). I would think the swap over to 3G should be automatic and in my case would result in a faster connection. I have also noticed that the 4s almost never shows Edge even when other phones do? Curious.

I can't say it's always the issue, but I know when I left my house yesterday, the phone clearly did not make the handoff from wifi to cellular data. I checked netstat after several minutes of being away from my house and, despite 4 bars and a 3G symbol, there were zero cellular connections shown. I had to restart the phone to reconnect.

It's a difficult issue for me to diagnose, in part because the area of town that I live in has just abysmal AT&T data service to begin with, to the point you can be staring at a cell tower and still have trouble getting a data connection at all (southwest Austin, TX).

Try isolating if it is your phone with the issue. On the same location, try using another IP4s and see if it makes a difference.

It might also be possible that the cell tower is the one with the issue, which is rare.

There's about a half-mile to three-quarter mile stretch down a busy road (and on either side of a highway it crosses) where coverage is just terrible. This particular area includes the gym I workout at, several businesses I frequent, and the grocery store I usually go to. Whenever I'm at any of these places, data coverage slows to a crawl, or simply refuses to connect at all. All the while I have a strong signal and "3G" coverage, according to my phone.

Keep in mind that the issue here isn't just bad data reception. Its a complete loss of data connection that requires a phone reset just to get it back. Like the reception doesn't get better when you move to a good location.

Right, I'm just mentioning why it is sometimes difficult for me to differentiate between the two. But I definitely experiece the problem described in this discussion (although I still often reset my phone when experiencing slow-to-no data, even where netstat is showing a cellular connection, because it appears to help for whatever reason).