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TUAW Brain Trust: iPhone 4 phone calls

by Erica Sadun Jun 29th 2010 at 12:00PM

I have been having problems making calls on my iPhone 4. Whether at home or on the road, my signal strength is simply awful. The only place that I seem to get five bars is the Apple Store itself.

I visited the Genius Bar there tonight after Mike urged me to report my signal issues. So, I did. I called 1-800-SOS-APPL, and I was repeatedly and strongly urged to purchase a Bumper. I declined, so the rep made me a Genius Bar appointment.

The Genius hooked my phone into a laptop for diagnostics and told me that my calls were fine. The diagnostics showed no lost calls whatsoever -- in spite of what I experienced last night when I was repeatedly dropped from Talkshoe (see the image that accompanies this post). I ended up hopping over to a landline for the TUAW talkcast.

Read on for the rest of the saga...

Why don't my "Call Lost" and "Call Failed" results show up in the logs? I'm not sure. "We're not calling you a liar," the Apple Genius was quick to say -- but it kind of felt like they were. This is what my phone's bar status has been looking like as I'm trying to make phone calls. That's not good.

And did I mention that I got five bars the entire time I was at the store? You could insert the iPhone into, I dunno, King Kong or Moby Dick at that store, and you'd probably still get a full bar signal. It's a little depressing that something so reliably awful outside the store was so insanely and ridiculously upbeat and working while in the store. (Fear not, ... as I returned home, the signal strength once again plummeted.)

So, what was the final recommendation? Go home and restore the iPhone using recovery mode, and do not restore from backup.

Dude. Do you know how many hours I spent setting up my apps and folders just so? And you want me to just throw that out?

OK, TUAW Brain Trust, do you think there's something to his suggestion? Should I give it a try? I'm leaning towards waiting for the rumored software bug fix that Apple Insider thinks is likely to pop up over the next few days, but I'd sure love to hear your opinions in the comments. Have you heard anything about restored-from-backup problems being a root cause, or is this a case of "tell them to try something and send them home" instead? I throw myself into your Internet-savvy hands.

Updates:
  • Readers suggest that Apple uses femtocells (or similar) in the store to ensure excellent reception. I haven't been able to Google up confirmation and the guy there did say that they didn't, but I'm open to any confirmation either way.
  • I did in fact try applying Reset Network Settings (Thanks, vcolombo) and still have the same signal drop-off as before.
  • It was less about waiting for all my data to sync and more about getting all my folders and apps set up just so that took all the time. I suppose I could take screen shots of each folder and rebuild them again, but it would be a big old pain.
  • Yes, I have tried the scotch tape trick -- also tried with electrical tape as well.


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I have been having problems making calls on my iPhone 4. Whether at home or on the road, my signal strength is simply awful. The only place...
 

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John Sawyer

Maybe some Apple stores are equipped with femtocells, but not all of them are. At the Apple Store at the Galleria in Roseville, CA, I was able to invoke the iPhone 4 antenna issue with two of their display iPhone 4s, by lightly bridging the gap between the two antennas. I didn't try the other iPhone 4s on the table since two was enough to show me the store didn't have a femtocell.

July 01 2010 at 6:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike Jones

A friend had EXACTLY the same problem. Went to AT&T store. Thats where she purchased the phone. After a couple attempts of other things, the rep suggested changing her micro sim card. Not sure exactly what that did but all is well, no more dropped calls and reception at home is up to the level she had with her 3gs.

June 30 2010 at 12:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jared Blake

With the amount of time and mental energy you have spend talking and collecting opinions concerning this issue you could have restored and rebuild your folders 3 times over...

June 30 2010 at 9:05 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alex

It's possible that you are hanging up calls with your cheek due to the proximity sensor problem that many are reporting. I've read a few comments on MacRumors claiming that's been happening a lot. It would explain why you don't have any dropped calls in your log.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned. I didn't have time to read through all the comments.

June 30 2010 at 7:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jake

I can confirm that most (if not all) Apple Stores are outfitted with femtocells, or cellular repeaters. There were plenty of jokes around my old store about everyone getting cancer from the crazy reception we were getting after they were installed (a few weeks after the original 2G iPhone launch).

June 29 2010 at 9:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Jake's comment
Seth Chambers

Not true about all Apple Stores using femtocells btw... I just went to the Fresno, CA store and was on EDGE the whole time. I was told all the metal on their walls is what blocks the reception. On another note, haven't had reception issues yet, but my screen has gone completely black several times and has been unresponsive. Wife's is doing the same thing too...

June 30 2010 at 12:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

Call me crazy...but if it were me, I'd just exchange the whole phone, get a new one (and SIM card), call it done. Seems a no-brainer, yes?

June 29 2010 at 8:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ry

Why not save your backup and then set it up fresh and if it doesn't work then wipe once more and restore from your backup? Seems like the solution to your question. Am I missing something?

June 29 2010 at 8:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
pagathaman

I have the iPhone 4 and I bought the “Bumper” and what I find hilarious is, it causes the same problem the first gen iPhone had and that is, it can’t take a wide headphone jack I need to use the adaptor I bought in 2007 when I owned the first one. LOL ! it’s true try it ! or you need to have a head phone jack made for 1st gen iPhone.

June 29 2010 at 7:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jozsef

I was having a bunch of problems with my iPod Touch and the people at the Genius bar told me that I should try resetting it, so I did, and it worked! I know that it's a totally different problem, but I would trust the people at the bar, the genius bar.

June 29 2010 at 7:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Microdot

not going to read every page... so not sure if its been mentioned....

replace the sim. go into the att store and request a new sim card. ive run into this countless times as we are always switching around phones (i run a business... we have 18 of them. i always get the new model, and the older models filter down). its my number 2 trouble shooting point (number 1 is rebooting) when trying to figure out an issue... and i have yet to need to go past that.

June 29 2010 at 7:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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