Internet randomly drops from IPhone 4S requiring reboot.

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Internet randomly drops from IPhone 4S requiring reboot.

There are 4 people that I work with that updated to the IPhone 4S over the last few months. They are all reporting that they have had issues with their internet connection randomly dropping and iMessage not working (due to the internet being down). I thought it "sucked to be them".

I had a IPhone 4 that worked perfectly. I upgraded to the IPhone 4S (32gb) last week and now I'm having the same issue as the other people at work are having.

We all have iOS 5.1 and all on the AT&T network. Our phones say we have 4 or 5 bars of signal and "4G" internet (not really 4G, but that's another story). The only way you can tell something is wrong is that you can't browse the internet, you don't get any iMessages, no emails get synced and none of your internet dependent apps will work but the voice telephone and standard SMS work just fine.

If you try sending a SMS message to another IPhone user, it tries to send via iMessage and fails. It doesn't try to send via SMS.

In order to get your internet back up and working, you have to reboot your phone. This usually happens once or twice a day for me. Some of my co-workers have to reboot their phones up to 4 times a day.

I searched around google and found people with a similar problem, but it was related to iOS prior to 5.1 and/or having a SIM PIN set. All of us are on iOS 5.1 and don't have a SIM PIN.

One common demoninator is that we all upgraded from IPhone 4 to 4S and restored our IPhone 4 backups to our new IPhone 4S. Don't know if the issue is related.

Thanks for any input.

James

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1

Posted on Apr 4, 2012 10:55 AM

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Answer 1

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diesel vdub

Level 7

22,178 points

Apr 4, 2012 12:19 PM in response to JamesSacto

Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.

Try reseating the SIM cards... although this really shouldn't be necessary... it's worth a shot.

Verify with AT&T that there are no issues with the account or network, possibly the devices are provisioned incorrectly on AT&T's side.

As a last resort, restore as new and test for a few days to see if the problem reoccurs... it may be an issue with the backup from your iPhone 4's being loaded on the 4S.

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Answer 2

lurgee

Level 1

5 points

Apr 6, 2012 11:30 AM in response to JamesSacto

I have the same issue as the OP.

Also, the WiFi signal icon says I'm connected (and strongly connected), but in fact I'm using my data plan! didn't realize until I got 2 notices about going over my low data limit and, after bumping it to the next one up I got a message I was about to hit that one just a few days later! (didn't help that I downloaded a huge album to my phone thinking i was on the wireless network....)

So, bascially, something is amiss. I 'feel' like this started with 5.1, but I can't be sure. I've never been close to my data limit (i'm near a wi-fi point all the time).

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Answer 3

AFear

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Apr 11, 2012 4:52 PM in response to JamesSacto

I'm having the same issues as everyone here. It does feel like it was introduced with iOS 5.1.

The issues seems to happen when you have connected to 4G, connect to a wifi, then leave wifi and it cannot pick up the 4g connection again. I have called AT&T 7 times to complain and I returned my iPhone 4s for a new one and that didn't help.

AT&T rep also said he's heard of this and recommended disabling wifi and or resetting network settings.

This is ridiculous we need apple to comment as I suspect it's an iOS problem.

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Answer 4

JamesSacto Author

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Apr 12, 2012 3:52 PM in response to diesel vdub

Thanks Diesel,

I tried this on the day that you replied. I've just been testing it out for a few days to see if it resolved my issue.

I only tried resetting my network settings and did the same with a few of my co-workers. For me, it made my connection quite a bit more stable. I still have had to restart my iphone due to lost internet, but not as often. I was having to restart at least once a day, but now it's like once every few days.

James

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Answer 5

JamesSacto Author

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Apr 12, 2012 3:56 PM in response to AFear

AFear,

I agree with you about the iOS 5.1 and connecting back and forth from AT&T's internet and WIFI. I find it pretty funny that AT&T's rep recommends just disabling WIFI on your phone. I would have told the AT&T rep that I would disable my WIFI if they gave me unlimited internet back.

James

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Answer 6

AFear

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Apr 13, 2012 8:08 AM in response to JamesSacto

I actually tried today doing a complete phone restore and over. I wiped all settings out and added apps one by one.

Sure enough, after I left my house's wifi today and was on the 4G network, the phone cannot get access to any data.

I have owned 4 different generation of iPhones and I can truly say that this is the first time my phone is worse and I have lost confidence in Apple's ability to delvier a quality product.

We really need someone to jump into this thread which knows exactly what is going on.

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Answer 7

JamesSacto Author

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Apr 13, 2012 8:53 AM in response to AFear

AFear,

That was my next option. I was going to do a factory restore on my phone and not restore my IPhone with a previous backup. Then, go to the app store and download the app's one by one and manually enter in all of my email and preference settings again. My thought was maybe there was some compatibility issues between by IPhone 4 backup and restoring it on a IPhone 4S. (Both my phones were iOS 5.1)

I guess if you tested this out and it doesn't seem to fix the issue, I guess I won't waste my time.

James

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Answer 8

AFear

Level 1

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Apr 13, 2012 9:54 AM in response to JamesSacto

James

Yes I just did that last night and no luck.

I am starting to get really concerned that the 4G/HSPA+ chip in this iPhone 4S is broken.

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Answer 9

AFear

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Apr 17, 2012 8:43 AM in response to JamesSacto

Hi All

Let me give you my update as of yesterday.

I visited my local Austin Apple store and explained the problem. The Genius Bar tech suggested we try a new SIM card and a new phone. I realized that when I switched out my first iPhone 4S that was not working, the Best Buy rep had kept the SIM card that came with the first iPhone 4S.

So this is now the third iPhone 4S with a new (second SIM card). So far this morning everything appears to working fine. I did not do a restore from iCloud of previous backups and instead set this phone up as a brand new phone just to make sure.

So it may be a bad lot of SIM cards or perhaps the iPhone 4S was more sensitive to the sim cards.

I will check in here in a few days to let everyone know if its still working for me.

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Answer 10

AFear

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Apr 18, 2012 7:51 AM in response to JamesSacto

Here's my update.

After 2 days with a new iPhone 4S and a new SIM card on the AT&T, my 4G data is dropping again and I have no interenet when I am not on a WiFi network.

Needless to say, this may be it for my on an iPhone. I've owned every iPhone since it came out, I've spent over $1000 on apps alone, and I have all Apple in my house. The fact that NO ONE FROM APPLE will acknowledge there is a problem tells me THERE IS A BIG PROBLEM with the iPhone 4S.

Goodbye iPhone, we had a few good years. If only you would pull your head out of the ground and fix this issue...

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Answer 11

JamesSacto Author

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Apr 18, 2012 9:03 AM in response to AFear

I hear you AFear....

I'm still having the same issues with mine. No as bad since I reset my network settings (or so it appears) but still... I don't want to look at my phone after 3 hours of not getting emails to find out my internet has been jacked up for 3 hours and I need to reboot my iphone.

I'm with you. My wife and I have owned the last 4 versions of the iphone and have spent probably a few hundred dollars in apps and music just to have this piece of garbage they call the IPhone 4S.

I remember the days when I had the AT&T Tilt. It was pretty nice, but I was always envious of my friends who has the IPhone. Then, I got the IPhone and my life change for the better. I was more connected and entertained than ever before.

Now, I look at my friends with their new android phones surfing the 4G (LTE) network at nearly broadband speeds and I am envious again… of them. This faux “4G” network, icon, marketing schema that AT&T has deployed is a joke.

I wonder when I'm going to be happy with my IPhone again? iOS Update??? Or maybe I should just buy an IPhone 4 off of craigslist and just downgrade to actually get a working phone. Or, Purchase the IPhone 5 when it comes out???

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Answer 12

AFear

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Apr 18, 2012 12:12 PM in response to JamesSacto

If you want a used iPhone 4, I can sell you mine 🙂

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Answer 13

hoopdom

Level 1

0 points

May 25, 2012 1:46 PM in response to JamesSacto

Internet on iPhone 4S was not working today. It was working fine up to today. Believe it was running either 5.1 or 5.0.1. Just updated to 5.1.1. Internet is now working.

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Answer 14

hoopdom

Level 1

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May 27, 2012 11:25 AM in response to hoopdom

Follow up - after upgrading to 5.1.1, internet (cellular) went out again the next day. Visited Genius Bar.. Settings, General, Reset, Reset Network Settings, after 1 - 2 minutes, internet working again. Turned phone off and next day, internet not working again. Did the Reset Network Settings again, and the internet is working again.

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Answer 15

jpklock

Level 1

0 points

May 30, 2012 6:27 AM in response to JamesSacto

Very similar situation. Mine started about a week ago (I'm in Chicago, and figured the network might be experiencing weirdness with the large influx of people in town for the NATO conference and related protests...) but continues now. A hard reboot of the phone solve the problem for a couple of days, but it's definitely an annoyance. Given that everyone posting here has said that they're on AT&T, they may be the culprit here. Next time it happens, I'm going to wander into an AT&T store, and see what they say about it... 🙂

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