Fixing iPhone signal loss

Yesterday, Scott forwarded me along a question from TUAW reader John Stuart. He wrote in asking about his cell signal. When put on sleep/hold, the signal fades out and he can't receive calls. His phone is unlocked and in the UK, and this signal loss appears to be a common fault.

As a temporary measure, John started playing back music on repeat, with the volume cut off. As you might imagine, this runs down the battery and prevents him from actually using the iPod features without having to do extra work.

TUAW to the rescue. After polling the developer community, ApolloIM developer Alex "Arminius" Schaefer came to the rescue. He remembered that SummerBoard supported a mode that would retain your signal even in sleep mode.

The hack works like this: You install SummerBoard (it is available via Installer.app) and then create a temporary file called SummerBoard.DisablePowerManagement. Once created, SummerBoard sees this file and keeps the signal from powering down.

With this knowledge in hand, I was able to create a small utility for John, which is hosted here. To use, just tap it each time you reboot your iPhone. It creates the temporary file, which lasts until your next reboot. (All tmp files are deleted then.)

The JohnTool application will be available in short order via Installer.app and is already available at the PXL package repository.

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Source: http://ericasadun.com/ftp/Misc/JohnTool/

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Yesterday, Scott forwarded me along a question from TUAW reader John Stuart. He wrote in asking about his cell signal. When put on...

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Chris

Thank you Erica.My iPhone doesn't ring or vibrate when it was in the sleep mode.I found many missed calls when I push the home button every time,and the missed calles always show the time is the time I pushed the home button.If I pushed the home button when the call coming,it would be ring/vibrate suddently!I got crazy for this problem!I installed the Johntool but it didn't work at all.Would you please help me?Thank you!

January 15 2008 at 9:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

peter

Hello erica and congrads about all this work about iphone ( john tool is great)
I would like to ask you if you have /made any solution for us that after upgrading/downgradind ... we lost the wifi of our iphones.

Keep up the great job

December 01 2007 at 12:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

For a application which left ZERO power in battery after 10 hour or less did you think that the disable way would be greater idea ?
Please advice how to remove what johntool did.

regards,
cc

November 28 2007 at 5:07 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lei

I have installed JohnToll and it solved the problem of signal lost. But in the meantime it create another problem that the battery only can last for abt 30hours as I realized that even I put in to the sleep mode (the phone is sleep (the monitor is off) and with good signal after started JohnToll), the phone still consume the battery. So another word it make the monitor sleep only. I need your help. Thanks.

November 01 2007 at 10:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

ariana

im having preblems with my iphone is not getting any signal i would like to have a answer?

October 30 2007 at 7:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mike

hey im having the same problem where the iphone has no signal i downloaded the john tool and i also have the summerboard. but i do not now how to create the temp file and where to put it. please help. thank you

October 26 2007 at 8:29 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

daniels

Hi,
have the same problem, as 14 asked:
Did someone autostart it? I don't want to call the app after every reboot. Is it possible to start the johntool during iphone is starting up?

October 25 2007 at 5:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

alex n

ok... i'm having the same problem offcourse..
can someone please send me an email and explain how and where to put this johntool...
i looked for some instructions or something that explains the thing step by step.. but.. nothing

thank you

alex n.

October 24 2007 at 10:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sexyguy

Where (which directory) do i upload the downloaded JohnTool pack to?

Be specific. Thanks in advance!

October 23 2007 at 12:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

rodolpho

the app doesnt work for me...
But lowering ipods volume does...

Summerboard is cool anyway.

Hope to find a permanent solution.

Cheers

October 22 2007 at 10:36 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply