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Question to people with bad battery life on iPhone 4S

Hi Everyone,

I think I have narrowed down the problem for battery drainage, even after installing the new update (5.0.1).

My battery drains with a T-Mobile SIM in the UK, but not with a Three SIM or an O2 SIM.

I have noticed that my SIM has SIM Applications on it, but the other two I tried do not.

So, if you are having battery problems (draining in standby), can you have a look in Settings -> Phone, and see if there is a "SIM Applications" menu appearing below the "SIM PIN" menu.

I am interested to hear whether you are having the battery drain problem, together with whether you have this option or not.

It appears to me, that with the option the battery drains, but without it, the battery is perfectly fine.

Also, for me, the SIM Applications do not seem to work. When I press one of them, nothing happens.

Very curious though as to why this is...

iPhone 4S, iOS 5

Posted on Nov 14, 2011 5:59 AM

89 replies

jmgs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 20, 2011 2:47 AM in response to Intagli

+1 for sim lock issues.

I have to restart the phone twice in order to input the sim lock code.

Also if you don't input the code straight away it does not work.

Nov 20, 2011 3:52 PM in response to jmgs

The SIM applications sometimes work for me too actually, just found out. Not very often though. It is almost as though the baseband is freezing for moments at a time, where it just doesn't repond to commands. This ties in with the SIM PIN too, because sometimes it doesn't do anything when you input the SIM, just hangs. If you keep pressing the button, eventually it says PIN Entry Succeeded. I genuinely believe it is an incompatibility between SIM and baseband. Hopefully a software issue, not a hardware one.

Still not heard back from Apple yet about my bug report, but it has only been a few days.

jmgs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2011 12:42 AM in response to FiniteAffinity

I will mention that I am not the only one with the t-mobile issues tonight at the apple store. I'll report back with their findings. I am hesitant to get a new phone as this is my second one already (first one went back for another reason), and the first one had exactly the same issues with rougue usage and battery life.

jmgs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2011 2:50 PM in response to jmgs

OK, I've just got back from the Apple store in Meadowhall. I spoke to the "genius" staff member and mentioned the sim application issues (slow/no reponse, pin and rogue usage stats. They didn't really have much to say on the issue. He plugged the phone into his computer and monitored the battery capacity which was fine.

Concluson - I've got yet another new iphone 4S and a new sim T-mobile simcard. They did a sim swap in store.

Result - The sim applications now work as they should, they load up as soon as you press on them. The sim pin seems to be more responsive as well.

I am now going to leave the phone overnight to see what happens with the usage stats and battery drain.

Regards

Nov 21, 2011 4:03 PM in response to jmgs

That is interesting. Could it be that Apple have different Tmobile SIM cards to the ones the network gives out? I doubt it has anything to do with the new phone, but I could be wrong. Let me know what your battery life is like once you've monitored it. If it is fixed, I might pay the apple store a visit too. Thanks for the info so far.

jmgs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2011 7:48 PM in response to FiniteAffinity

I have had the phone on standby now for 4.5hrs (all features off apart from imessage with cellular activated) and the battery has dipped by 2 percent. Before it would have been 10 percent and about 4 hrs usage. The usage is now showing 5 minutes. That appears to me to be a fix!!!

I really don't think the hardware was at fault as the two phones I had before both showed the same issues with usage and overall battery life.

The simcard I was given yesterday was exactly the same as the one I was given before from the apple store. Same packaging, envelope etc.....I think there must be an issue with the former simcard or the contact between the simcard and the phone. Maybe they are easily damaged when removed from the packaging??

Instore they just did a simswap, the same process they did initially when I went from a normal sim to microsim.

When I use simapplications the response is instant and all of the features work etc....

I setup the phone as a new, and installed the 5.0.1 update over the air. I setup the email accounts using the phone and not by sync with itunes.

I will report back in a couple of days in case the rogue usage comes back.

Nov 22, 2011 2:19 AM in response to jmgs

That's great news so far - I think I might pay the Meadowhall store a visit too, seeing as it is my closest store. Regarding the old SIM though, that is a mystery, because my old SIM drained my battery, until Tmobile disabled it when they posted out my new one. So I don't think it is an issue to do with the contact between the SIM and phone. All I can think, is that there is a bit of variation in the manufacturing process of the SIMs, and that the 4S is having trouble with that (did they possibly switch manufacturers for the SIM reader between the 4 and 4S?).

Other than that I am clueless, but I will get myself a Genius appointment and see what happens.

Thanks for all the info.

Nov 24, 2011 12:43 PM in response to FiniteAffinity

OK. Apple have got back to me regarding the bug report I filed about this.

Their response was, that after looking carefully into it, they have realised that this is a known problem to them already, and marked my report as a duplicate. I have sent a request for the status on the original report, but they haven't got back to me yet.

I have an appointment with a Genius on saturday, so we'll see what happens there. I will try and get a replacement SIM, and see if that works.

But it is at least comforting to know that the Apple engineers have aknowledged that SIM card problems are a known issue...

jmgs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 24, 2011 12:59 PM in response to FiniteAffinity

Since replacing the phone and sim my issues have resolved themself.

As i've said before I believe it is the sim.

Why would a new sim resolve the issue? I have no idea?

When you get the new sim try using the sim applications app and if it is responsive you know there is a good chance you have fixed the issue.

Nov 26, 2011 10:03 AM in response to jmgs

OK - I've been to the apple store to see a Genius. They couldn't understand why, but they have had people with this problem before they said. He tried to say that T-Mobile do a "constant check" using the network, which will drain the battery quicker than some other networks. But I pointed out the problem presists even in flight mode.

He replaced the SIM for me, and the SIM Applications worked straight away. I thought this fixed it.

But now I have got home, the battery has dropped a lot on the way, and the usage statistics are still going up.

The SIM applications have stopped working again.

Could I have a faulty phone that is killing SIM cards?

I will book another appointment and this time ask for a replacement of both.

D.R.C.

Level 2

189 points

Nov 26, 2011 10:37 AM in response to FiniteAffinity

FiniteAffinity asked:

Could I have a faulty phone that is killing SIM cards?

Yes, a faulty phone could cause damage to a SIM.

Can you try putting the (possibly damaged) SIM in another phone and see if it still works? Preferably not an iPhone. That might shed some light on whether your SIM is being corrupted by your iPhone.

jmgs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 26, 2011 11:19 AM in response to FiniteAffinity

Sorry to hear your issues are not resolved. I didnt have drain in flight mode. I would go back and have both swapped at the same time. It's must be getting you down! Good luck.

Nov 26, 2011 3:57 PM in response to D.R.C.

OK - I have tried the "faulty" SIM in an iPhone 4, and after several hours, it only showed 10 mins usage, and the battery is fine. Also, the SIM applications all load fine at all times on that phone.

It seems to be the specific combination of that SIM with my iPhone 4S that is causing a problem, but the iPhone 4S does not appear to be actually damaging the SIM.

Interestingly, when I reboot the 4S, the SIM applications work for a couple of minutes, before stopping working.

Is the baseband crashing? And if so, why? Those are the current unanswered questions. All I can hope, is that the next update includes a new baseband firmware that addresses this, if it is addressable.

Just to check that the 4S is actually OK, I put a Three SIM back into it, and checked it for a much longer period this time, of several hours. The usage showed only around 10 minutes also, and the battery only dropped about 4% in those few hours, which I would say is perfectly acceptable (albeit, a bit faster than the iPhone 4 dropped).

I'm tearing my hair out over this! My next point of action is to try my "defective" SIM card in a friend's iPhone 4S, and see if his battery starts draining or not. If it doesn't then I can see a Genius again and ask for a replacement.

Other than that, I don't know what to do anymore.

Thanks everyone for all the helpful information though...

Nov 26, 2011 4:13 PM in response to jmgs

@jmgs, just out of interest, what does your working SIM card number begin with? My defective ones so far have been 17, 18 and 17, in the order I got them. Just wondered if yours begins with something different?

jmgs

Level 1

0 points

Nov 26, 2011 4:25 PM in response to FiniteAffinity

Both my sims started 18014. Are they contract sims? My usage is still working great. Currently showing 1 Day 8 hrs standby with 4 hrs usage, 21% battery with most services on.

I would book yourself another appointment, and in the mean time see if the sim works in another iphone 4s. Three separate sims showing the same issue points me to the phone. It must be something specific with T-mobile sims and a defect in the phone you have.

Having said that, I had two phones which had rogue usage on the same sim. It's strange! I can't find many people complaining about this issue?

Question to people with bad battery life on iPhone 4S