iPhone 3G Dropped Calls - Apple Replacement?

[ballen420]

I have a 11 month old 3G that has recently been dropping calls on me fairly consistently. I never had a problem before up until the last month or so.

Do you think I can get Apple to exchange a phone out for me?

I know it won't drop a call if they test it there, but I also don't want to waste my time going to the store if they're just going to tell me to pound sand.

 

[aristobrat]

Your iPhone keeps track of dropped calls and other stats, and if you make an appt to see a Genius at an Apple Store, they can look at that data.

You rarely know what a Genius will do, but if they do see a clear pattern of dropped calls, they usually will replace the phone.

 

[ballen420]

Thank you. It's good to know that I'll have some stats to back it up.

I figured this would get lost in the 3Gs madness!

 

[calvy]

Interesting. i wasn't aware of this. Will this dropped call data be maintained if I've had my phone jailbroken most of the time and plan to do a clean restore before taking it in? Mine has been acting quite funny lately, including dropping calls, constantly telling me it's searching for service when I unlock it, and the one that really scared the hell out of me, a bright blue pixel started to glow in the center of the screen for a little while until a couple of reboots and taps on the back cleared it.

 

[bobsentell]

Interesting. i wasn't aware of this. Will this dropped call data be maintained if I've had my phone jailbroken most of the time and plan to do a clean restore before taking it in? Mine has been acting quite funny lately, including dropping calls, constantly telling me it's searching for service when I unlock it, and the one that really scared the hell out of me, a bright blue pixel started to glow in the center of the screen for a little while until a couple of reboots and taps on the back cleared it.

Probably, but if you phone is jailbroken odds are the Genius will have to change his pants after he quits laughing.

 

[calvy]

Probably, but if you phone is jailbroken odds are the Genius will have to change his pants after he quits laughing.

Then tell me where this data is stored. Because if it's just a file on the file system, I don't see how he can see anything other than a bunch of empty stats if I were to format and reinstall essentially, restoring no backup data. I plan to do this tonight, set up as a new phone, and sync with my contacts and music. I can't get an apt at any nearby apple store until Saturday anyway, so i'll run like this until I can get in and see what they say.

I don't know why anyone, including a genius would be so shocked to see a jailbroken phone that they'd drop a load in their pants. Crap many of the geniuses and apple employees I've seen have theirs jailbroken.

 

[Sparky9292]

Interesting. i wasn't aware of this. Will this dropped call data be maintained if I've had my phone jailbroken most of the time and plan to do a clean restore before taking it in? Mine has been acting quite funny lately, including dropping calls,

Same here. I've been getting tons of "CALL FAILED" and dropped calls before and after the 3.0 update. My phone is jailbroken as well, but I doubt that that's the reason.

It sucks that I'll have to restore the phone before I go see the Apple genius. Apple phone support says to go to AT&t to get a free new sim card as a bad sim card can result in dropped calls. If that doesn't work, the I'll format and then take it to the Apple store.

 

[John T]

Dropped calls are hardly ever the fault of the 'phone. It's usually a network problem.

 

[dingbat1]

When you restore a backup, everything will be restored except the information about errors. I just replaced my handset, but I had to wait because I was told to reset the device, but when they checked the phone for any data, none was there, because when you reset, the backup does not backup the error log.

So to continue with my little story, I had to wait a few extra days until it could collect more information about errors, and then they would replace it.

 

[SFStateStudent]

So to continue with my little story, I had to wait a few extra days until it could collect more information about errors, and then they would replace it.

+1 ^^^ Good point; and if you run into a similar problem, those AC people on the phone will walk you through the necessary steps to erase all the data pointing to a problem with dropped calls....

 

[roodags]

Lots of dropped calls

I've got the same issue as the original poster.. my 3GS is about 12 months old and in the last month or two has dropped almost every call I make.

It is really getting ridiculous.

I thought it was the network, so I took the SIM car out and popped in my old $40 el-cheapo phone and the reception is crystal clear.

Clearly this is an iPhone issue... the dropped calls are not just happening with the 4G, but with the 3GS. This was happening BEFORE upgrading to 4.0.1 also.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

Dropped calls are hardly ever the fault of the 'phone. It's usually a network problem.

Not necessarily. After 11 months of being fine and dropping no calls, my wife had her 3GS replaced due to excessive dropped calls and other connectivity problems (SMS, etc.).