Problem with iPhone 4s searching for signal, than to full signal, and back again?

Trash the lame conspiracy theories. If you bother to read the entire thread you're posting in, you'll find that this is occuring in various parts of the world where there never was unlimited data plans and no throttling. Saying that this is happening only high data users on AT&T unlimited plans is pure fabrication.

I dont have unlimited data, i have hotspot and am unable to get it. The data transfer would have nothing to do with losing your signal. Even if there was NO data transfer set, you would still have full signal, you just wouldnt be able to do anything.

I can see how you may have come to that conclusion, but data speed throttling wouldn't affect signal strength. And I'm in Canada (no AT&T here and yet I still have the problem) - so the common denominator here is the phone not the carrier.

VallejoSean wrote:

Again this is an MMS issue. If you do not want to continue having the problem, dont let anyone send you mms until this is fixed. Apple knows about it..

They need to mark this as SOLVED. This has been solved. If you are getting other types of signal loops that are not consistant, you have another problem that has nothing to do with MMS and is probably because of your location.

Anyone who needs help getting their iphone 4s out of the signal loop can email me for help, I have 16 years of tech experience.

This problem is NOT SOLVED. And it is much bigger than MMS. MMS may be a problem as well but it's not the defining factor. There are clearly much larger issues with the iPhone 4S.

I'm doing my own independent testing with my factory unlocked iPhone 4S. I went out and bought SIM cards and plans with 5 different carriers and guess what? This signal bullsh!t is happening with all of them.

I spent 5 hours of my day today driving from the northernmost point of my city to the southernmost point of my city, stopping at major city blocks to test signal strength and service with all of the carriers. I got stuck in the "signal loop" twice. Once with Fido, once with Telus. And don't try to tell me it's MMS because nobody is sending me any messages because I have 5 new numbers that nobody knows except me.

Furthermore, there is a ridiculous SIM slot issue where the phone is unable to detect the presence or absence of a SIM card at all. I posted a video to show it...here it is again: http://youtu.be/-s40zIuggw0

Found some more videos on youtube of other iPhone 4S users from around the world having these signal issues.

http://youtu.be/b7mnFro0xvg

http://youtu.be/KHlLSxIoExA

http://youtu.be/4KTIsWQt0dk

http://youtu.be/zJvmBpGTt24

http://youtu.be/tTHOa8hd3Dc?t=1m44s

This is very upsetting. It's not enough that iPhone is super expensive, but to provide us with a faulty phone? I've swapped sim cards. I've restored a million times and I've updated from 5 to 5.01 (9A405) to 5.01 (9A406). No improvement, but bad battery issues now. I'm hoping for a fix in 5.1, if not I'm going to have to send it back to Saudi Arabia just to exchange it. How convenient!

Hi!!

I'm having signal reception issues as well, I used to have an iPhone 4 and after I purchased the 4S I gave my old 4 to my girlfriend, and when we are together only my 4S has signal reception problems, it goes to NO SERVICE suddenly and sometimes signal comes back, others I just have to turn it off and on, just setting airplane mode on doesn't work, actually sometimes it makes it worst, for example, usually at nights I set airplane mode on and then in the morning when I turn it off, my iphone 4S doesn't get reception at all and goes NO SERVICE when my girlfriends 4 is full with signal. And also when SEARCHING for signal, my iphone 4S takes longer than my girlfriends iphone 4.

Apple please help!!!

@SYoussef, I feel your frustration. I was having battery issues too. My phone battery would die rather quickly, in fact my 3G had better battery stay then the 4s. If you're still under the Apple 1 year warranty, I suggest taking it the Apple Store and swapping it for a new one.

The first time I took it to the Apple Store, a tech checked it and told me the battery wasn't corrupted but the iso5 was and suggested I reset the phone back to factory. I did that but the battery still had problems. I would be at full charge but 6 hours later I'd be at 90 and I didn't use the phone. I took it back again and they gave me a new one.

I stil have battery issues. I had 100% this morning and now I'm at 59% for Standby 5 hours, 22 mins. Usuage 1 hour, 18 mins. Don't think that's norma for and hour and a half of usage. 😟

yaay!!! Well as soon as I updated to 5.1 all is fixed. Hopefully for good 🙂

Mine was going to searching 24hrs after every iOS restore, now with 5,1 it worked for 3 days and now it went back to searching mode. It shows searching even if I remove the micro SIM. I also noticed that the modem firmware information dissapears while that problem happens.

The only way to take the phone out of the searching mode is by doing a new restore or by letting the battery drain completely.

I've been waiting 5 weeks for Apple Brasil to send me the paid shipping code to send them the item, I love Apple, but in this case I think I will proceed with legal actions.

Well, I've beend dealing with my 4S going into searching randomly and out of it again. I was able to lessen the frequency of the "searching" occurence by turning off the system location services such as compass calibration...those listed there in that spot. After 5.1, I re-enabled all of them again to see how things would pan out. Well, yesterday, I noticed the signal on my 4S was only 1 bar then watched it as it went into "searching again" for about a minute or two then signal came into full signal.

I've been to the Apple store more then once on this issue and they couldn't do anything because for some reason my 4S was NOT keeping logs of call completetions, call drops, network disconnects, etc. So they couldn't tell when my 4S went into "searching" mode. I'm hoping 5.1 fixed that particular issue and will allow the people at Apple to see when and maybe why my phone is doing the "searching" thing.

hi there, im not sure if its in the terms of this forum to point out links to youtube videos. i made one that was screen capture after screen capture for about 3 minutes of the variation of signal bars, 3g, E, searching, no service loop

if you have the wearwithall, take a bunch of captures of your variability and take it back to them.

It sounds like you are just outside of one of their towers reach. The problem with the searching loop everyone else is having still gives all bars. The service goes out for a few minutes, comes back with full range for about 30 seconds and goes out again over and over. Your problem is just bad service in your area.

Its not that. I live 1 block away from their tower and this issue happens wherever I'm at.

Hey guys! I found an easy fix (even though it may just be temporary). Just turn on 3G when the phone goes to "searching..." or "no service", and it will get full bars within seconds. You can turn off 3G once you connect to the network and the signal will still be strong.