iPhone 4s driving me mad!

[boris18]

I have had an iPhone 4s on a vodafone contract for about 4 months. Every so often I cannot make/receive phone calls or messages. Being a techno ignoramus it has taken me some time to work out what has been going on.

It seems that my home is in an area of mildly problematic signal. On the iPhone 4 it used to be possible to switch between 3G and 2G when the signal was faint and preserve both the battery life and the ability to use the phone services. The iPhone 4s is meant to do this automatically (according to vodafone and apple).....but it doesn't. On line forums would seem to agree with my experience.

I have had another long conversation with vodafone today the upshot of which is that I am sending my phone back for inspection, they are crediting my account with £30 to enable me to get a temporary cheap phone and will get back to me. I am frustrated my their insistence that either the phone is faulty or I have damaged it.

Has anyone had similar problems? Has anyone got any suggestions?
Thanks

If you are on Vodafone and are in a poor reception area, they can provide you with a device that plugs into your internet router which will divert calls down your broadband line when you make them from home (rather than relying on the weak mobile signal).

If they send your iPhone back with no fault found, then ask for them to provide one of them for free (they often do).

If that doesn't work, then send the iPhone 4S to me - I would love to have one .

That's interesting; they made no mention of that possibility this morning. What is the device called?

The way I'm feeling at the moment I'd willingly send you the 4S it seems to be so sensitive that unless the mobile signal is exactly to it's liking it goes on strike. Trouble is I'd still be stuck with a 19 month contract!

Thanks for replying

No probs.

This is what you should ask for: shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-accessories/vodafone-sure-signal. Like I say, I know a fair few people who have been given it for free when they complained about signal quality at their home address, especially if they have long contracts or expensive phones.

I know with the iPhone 4 (not 4S) that they had problems with signal attenuation when the phone is held and they recommended that a case was used. Might this be a similar problem? Do you have problems at other locations other than your house?

Let me know if you need me to send you my address to post the phone to me!

Thanks for the info.

The problem is mainly in the house but it is intermittent so I never know when work have tried to get hold of me, failed and left a voicemail message which I then don't receive until I'm at least a quarter of a mile from home. I have had occasional problems in other locations but only infrequently.

I do use a case.

If I ever get this problem sorted out and somehow end up with a spare iphone 4S i promise you first refusal.... Not sure you'd thank me after a fews months of it's temper tantrums though....

Good luck!

You cant turn the 3G off on the 4s at all. Sure signal is what you need, as long as you have broadband at home. As stated previously it connects via your router and provides 3G coverage on your phone at home. Up to four phones can be connected (making calls) to it at once and you can register up to 32 phones to use it.

You will most likely need to pay a one off charge of £50 for it though.

Also check Vodafone website, coverage checker to see what the coverage should be in your area.

Have checked the website, coverage in my area is meant to be excellent. Problem definitely related to 3G as my DH has an old Nokia (on vodafone) which is annoyingly reliable.