iPhone 4S is dropping network contiously

I have, as many others, catastrophic reception on my new iPhone 4S.I might add that I also have an iPhone 4 and if I put the same MicroSim in this phone then the reception is flawless.The problem is essentially the same as the one that many other experiences, five full bars, and (in my case) Tele2 3G.If someone tries to call me they are immediately sent to voicemail. If I try to make a call it fails, then the bars go down one by one until no service is shown, then the SIM searches for reception and usually succeeds after about 1 minute the bars appear again.Sometimes I then can make a call but nine times out of ten the procedure will just be repeated again.I can of course manually get my bars back again via either reboot or by taking out and putting in the SIM again or by activating and then deactivating flight mode, this does not mean that I get actual reception, I just get the bars and operator name back and the phone seems to have reception. That is until I try to make a new call...One can't turn off 3G in new iOS5, however, one can select operator manually.Carrier settings in iOS5 defautls to "Auto".If I turn off auto and select Tele2's 2G network nothing happens.I can turn off the "auto" but it is just says "Searching...".If I go back to settings and then back again the carrier settings are in "Auto" mode again.I have made several re-installations, both from backup and as a new phone, turned on and off the PIN code, deactivated and activated Location services, made hard resets, etc.Even after the latest beta, which was released developers today, was installed and all procedures were done all over again with this OS the problem persists.It is simply impossible to either make or receive calls with my new iPhone 4S.It can do lots of fancy stuff but as a phone it is completely useless and I am compelled to to go back to using my iPhone 4 for now.You would think that Apple would ensure that at least the telephone part in both hardware and software are operating properly before releasing them to consumers.It's called "iPhone" - not iPod, iPhone, iGame...iPhone is primarily a phone and customers buying it would at the very least require it to be able to make and recieve calls or maybe it's asking too much?What is also very strange is that even if a lot of consumers complain about the above bug, not only in Sweden but all over the world, Apple does not mention this anywhere.Not on their support pages, not in their developer community, not to their dealers who certainly had a lot of support calls from unhappy customers who believe that it is an operator error.Incredibly bad service by Apple to release a phone that can not be used as a phone and even worse to not quickly recognize this error and publish what's causing the error, that they're working on resolving it, and when it will be resolved.I work myself as telephony manager at a company that uses just the iPhone and there are now quite a few new unhappy iPhone 4S, and where I take a lot of support concerningthese bugs and have to get them temporary solutions until the bugs are fixed.I use to commend both Apple and their products, but my conviction on Apple's excellence has been significantly tarnished.This is BAD Apple, hope you get your acts together a.s.a.p. cause both your phone and your service really ***** in this case.

iPhone 4S, iOS 5

Posted on Nov 3, 2011 5:55 AM

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7 replies

Nov 3, 2011 2:08 PM in response to lovehelmet

I have the exact same concern. I have been an iPhone believer since the 3G and have had great success with the 3G, 3GS, and the 4 (with the exception of the phone requiring a cover/case to mitigate the antenna issues). I am definitely an agressive user talking more than 6,000 minutes monthly so a few things matter to me that may not to others. I am disappointed with the 4S and will probably return it this week because of three things.


1. the iphone 4s has terrible reception, worse voice quality, and drops more calls than even the 4 did.

2. the iphone 4s has reduced battery life "8 hrs of talk time" not even close... however i would be able to live with this if the "phone" qualities were as top notch as Apple explained in the key note. I don't believe the "intelligent switching" actually works. The 4S is worse than the 4 when it's supposed to be better...

3. I have not been able to get an intelligent response about either of these issues after a few calls to apple support. in fact, the support person i spoke with the last time told me that he would probably take it back and wait untill all the kinks were settled. I was under the impression that apple, unlike other android phone manufacturers, doesn't send out beta test phones. I paid a great deal for this phone and i will not look at apple again until they fix the call quality

Nov 3, 2011 4:50 PM in response to lovehelmet

i am having the very same problem i live in dublin ireland and i bought my FACTORY UNLOCKED iphone 4s in the belfast apple store. At first i thought it was the phone itself so i traveled all the way back up to belfast to change the phone. So i got home still the same story. So then i went to my carrier (METEOR) and i got a new sim card. The phone seemed fine for all of about half an hour and im back to the same predicament 😟 I am a very big fan of apple and everything i use is apple but this is just not acceptable!! not only is it an inconvieniance that my phone cant do what a phone should i also did alot of traviling and time wasting trying to do things to fix it when really there is no way i can fix it. Basically have to wait for aple to fix it. 😟

Nov 16, 2011 12:25 PM in response to lovehelmet

I have the exact same problem and i live in california. I was so convinced it was just my phone's problem since i did the same and swapped my sim into a iphone 4 and it works perfectly fine. I went to exchange it at the store and they claimed they have never heard of this issue before and continues to blame it on the carrier which doesnt make sense since my sim works fine is an iphone 4. apple really needs to recognize this problem. I thought it improved with the new phone but it still the same. It's hard to believe their support team have not heard of this issue at all.

Nov 16, 2011 12:37 PM in response to lovehelmet

Hi guys,


Well, I'd reckon this lies more less with the MNO.


My 3GS hat lots of issues with my old MNO--Orange--, but after switching to a different one, no worries at all any more.


Now, actually since yesterday, I've got my brand new 4S, and it simply is working like a charm! Even in rooms where my 3GS refused to maintain the connection (eg. the office elevator), my 4S runs smoothly as a clockwork!


Only nuissance I can't assign my voicemailbox number to the voicemail button in the phone app. 😟


Cheers,

M.

Nov 25, 2011 12:15 AM in response to lovehelmet

I've gone to great length and put lots of hours into this matter trying to figure out what's causing this problem. And as you can see in my earlier posts I've tried everything and have had extensive contact with my operator (Tele2) in this matter.


I finally caved in and returned my iPhone 4S to Tele2 and they sent it to Apple which in return sent me a new phone a week later with iOS 5.0 installed. And TADAAHH!, Everything worx like a charm.


Note, I have the same exakt microSIM, a new phone with supposedly same hardware but iOS 5.0 instead of 5.01 and making and receiving calls and messages now works like a charm.


This is my tip, return phone and get a new one with iOS 5.0 on. This saves you a lot of time and headache.


Conclusion It's not the choice of operator and not the microSIM that's causing this problems. It's either the hardware in the first iPhone 4S that was sent out to customers (like mine), the software, or a combination there of.

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iPhone 4S is dropping network contiously

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