Help - no cellular signal until reboot

Hi,
Apologies if this has been addressed, I tried a few different search strings and I couldn't find any posts about this.

Ever since I got my iPhone 4, I've run into this issue twice: The phone will display no bars and no matter where I am I can't get reception. The phone does not receive calls or texts. Both times this happened it was at my house. Depending on where I am in my house I get from about 2 to 4 bars. Basically, if I have low reception I can normally move around and find a decent reception area - not so when this issue happens.

If I reboot the phone, this fixes the issue. But seeing as this has happened twice, the "fix" isn't quite permanent. Today was the second time the issue happened, so I rebooted the phone and then I also did a settings reset. We'll see if that fixes it.

(edit) This has happened running both iOS 4.0 and 4.0.1. I am not holding the phone when this starts to happen.
(edit 2) My carrier is AT&T.

Has anyone else had this issue? Has a fix been found that keeps this issue from popping up again?

Cliff notes:
1) Phone loses cellular reception "permenantly"; can't receive texts or calls.
2) Only way to "fix" is to reboot the phone.
3) Want to know if anyone has found a solution that fixes this issue permanently.

Thanks,
Andrew


UPDATE: I got a new SIM card from AT&T. It's been a month since I've ran into the issue so I'm confident that this has been resolved.

 

It shows no bars. Like this: _ _ _ _ _ AT&T

 

Thanks, I will give that a shot next time. What is your issue? Is it still ongoing for you?

I think this a pretty serious bug because your phone can behave relatively normal all day while you are still missing calls and texts. You only notice it once you actively try to use your phone (or you notice that the 0 bars never change).

I'm gonna call Apple and see what they say...

 

Just got off the phone with Apple. They suggested a few things they want me to try. Since it's an intermittent issue she didn't want me to go through with all of them at this point, but just start off with the quickest fixes and escalate if necessary.

Fix 1: Reset Network Settings (Settings > General > Reset> Reset Network Settings)
I had done a "Reset All Settings," but she told me that was different and to try this first.

Fix 2: Reset iPhone and setup as new
That was going to be my next step, so at least support and I are on the same page.

Fix 3: New SIM card from AT&T

She had a few other troubleshooting steps but they could only be done if I was experiencing the issue at the moment. I am going to do Fix 1 and see if that resolves the issue. I'll keep everyone updated as I'm sure I can't be the only one with this issue.

 

Sure! Let me know if you have any luck.

The issue happened to me again yesterday so I called support back. They had me try fix two. So for me, fix one did not help.

 

Not sure yet. After I did fix one I didn't see any issues until seven days later. So far so good, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Fix 2 did not help! The issue happened again just a few hours ago. Now they want me to go to AT&T and get a new SIM card. My support technician also gave me his extension so I can call him direct if the new SIM card doesn't resolve the problem.

 

I went to the AT&T store. They set me up with a new SIM card and that solved the issue. It's been over a month and the issue has not popped up so I'm confident that getting the new SIM card solved the problem (its possible that simply re-seating my old SIM card would have worked, but I did not have the patience to try that).