There's a vid on Youtube showing this (he used a piece of a paperclip, which instantly killed the connection when bridging the two antennas)
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My iPhone 4 signal issues are gone...
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There's a vid on Youtube showing this (he used a piece of a paperclip, which instantly killed the connection when bridging the two antennas)
It just occurred to me the ridiculous amounts of correllations that might be able to be made. It would be awesome to have some master questionnaire application for iOS that basically collected everyone's experiences as reported, as well as collected analytics and also collected absolutely unconnected data points, such as age, gender, ethnicity, weight, eyecolor, own or rent, kind of car, altitude, annual salary, etc., and collated the results and just continually updated...
so you could easily see that if you were a single white male over 16 but under 30, with brown hair, it was more likely an attenuation issue as opposed to the microsim issue that you'd be more likely to have if you bought your iPhone before 2:30pm. And other such possible statistical wackiness.
I realize causation is the breadwinner, but correlation is, on occasion, hilarious.
I have had my iPhone replaced due to crashing issues, so I am currently on my second iPhone 4. Neither one of them has had any reception issues (both have been BETTER than my old 3G was), though, of note, I have had the same SIM in both since the Apple store swapped the old one into the new phone.
I am tempted to open the phone and see the placement, but am afraid that, by doing so, I will inadvertently induce the problem I currently don't have.
Speculating on why this fixes the problem: the original speculation about the problem I read was the baseband in the new phone has a problem switching frequencies. Touching it with your hand causes antenna issues, the phone tries to switch over and something goes wrong, you lose signal.
Perhaps the issue is not with the baseband but with the SIM, since the two contacts are potentially shorted out? The phone can't switch frequencies because it is getting wrong/invalid data from the microSIM, and when you reposition it, it can now switch find and mitigate the touching.
I find it hard to believe that the antenna is shorting the SIM. I know the SIM tray is made of metal, but I suspect that it's electrically isolated from the SIM. If the tray were part of the antenna, even if it weren't shorting the SIM, I think the variable electrical field in the antenna as you make calls, etc, would induce a magnetic field in the SIM, perhaps causing all kinds of SIM reading errors. Instead, the SIM is shorted out inside the phone, but still isolated from the antenna.
To recap: 1. The shorted SIM isn't read properly by the phone, causing it to not be able to switch frequencies. 2. Shorting the antennas with your hand causes the phone to need to switch frequencies, but it can't because of the SIM problem.
The real question is, why is A) either the microSIM spec set with the contacts not right in the center or B) AT&T QC letting through so many wrongly-cut SIMs?
I am tempted to open the phone and see the placement, but am afraid that, by doing so, I will inadvertently induce the problem I currently don't have.
Speculating on why this fixes the problem: the original speculation about the problem I read was the baseband in the new phone has a problem switching frequencies. Touching it with your hand causes antenna issues, the phone tries to switch over and something goes wrong, you lose signal.
Perhaps the issue is not with the baseband but with the SIM, since the two contacts are potentially shorted out? The phone can't switch frequencies because it is getting wrong/invalid data from the microSIM, and when you reposition it, it can now switch find and mitigate the touching.
I find it hard to believe that the antenna is shorting the SIM. I know the SIM tray is made of metal, but I suspect that it's electrically isolated from the SIM. If the tray were part of the antenna, even if it weren't shorting the SIM, I think the variable electrical field in the antenna as you make calls, etc, would induce a magnetic field in the SIM, perhaps causing all kinds of SIM reading errors. Instead, the SIM is shorted out inside the phone, but still isolated from the antenna.
To recap: 1. The shorted SIM isn't read properly by the phone, causing it to not be able to switch frequencies. 2. Shorting the antennas with your hand causes the phone to need to switch frequencies, but it can't because of the SIM problem.
The real question is, why is A) either the microSIM spec set with the contacts not right in the center or B) AT&T QC letting through so many wrongly-cut SIMs?
I said to myself screw it just now. I took my SIM card out and saw the SIM tray. I noticed something that can may have also an effect on these procedures.
Apparently, if you look well at the tray you will see that the places where the plastic part of SIM card rests, are covered but some paint different in color to the SIM tray. It's a dull gray color. This appears to be the electrical insulator for the SIM card. However, on my SIM tray the paint/coating appears to have been smudged away on the thinner side where the SIM card contacts actually make contact.
I tried putting the SIM in to see if I could come up with more testing results, and I have come up with some interesting things.
1. If I just put the SIM normally and reinstert the death grip works.
2. If I try wigglying the SIM card to prevent touching, the death grips does nothing to my reception.
I don't have electrical tape handy, so I can't trully test the tape theory out. But thus far it seems, that faulty coating may be the real reason why.
Now I thought long why some people who put tape found that it didn't work. I have no clear explanation why it isn't working.
Apparently, if you look well at the tray you will see that the places where the plastic part of SIM card rests, are covered but some paint different in color to the SIM tray. It's a dull gray color. This appears to be the electrical insulator for the SIM card. However, on my SIM tray the paint/coating appears to have been smudged away on the thinner side where the SIM card contacts actually make contact.
I tried putting the SIM in to see if I could come up with more testing results, and I have come up with some interesting things.
1. If I just put the SIM normally and reinstert the death grip works.
2. If I try wigglying the SIM card to prevent touching, the death grips does nothing to my reception.
I don't have electrical tape handy, so I can't trully test the tape theory out. But thus far it seems, that faulty coating may be the real reason why.
Now I thought long why some people who put tape found that it didn't work. I have no clear explanation why it isn't working.
I was just responding to someone's request for a picture. I agree that the issue would likely not affect the iPad if that is what's going on with the iPhone. The antenna doesn't touch anything near the SIM or the case as far as I know.
I know of the examples of coins/paperclips being used to do this, what I'm asking is if anyone in this thread that has had this work to fix their reception issues also tested it using a metal conductor (like a coin or paperclip) to bridge the gap? I've adjusted my SIM card and found that it's helped with the reception when holding it in hand, but still not when using metal to bridge the connection. If the others on here that this has worked for also say that it's eliminated the signal drop when using a piece of metal instead of their hand, then I'm inclined to say that it's a true fix on some units.
I definitely had the issue and have been vocal in my criticism over the problem. I tried this fix and it worked perfectly for me. Massive props to the OP. Some fine Kentucky bourbon for you!!
I'm a pretty much a perfectionist so I looked at this VERY closely and would offer the following tips to those who aren't getting the tip to work.
1. Definitely do NOT use tape. It's a pretty precise fit and that could really cause issues getting the SIM to seat properly. In addition, the tight fit could strip the tape off as you remove the SIM tray again and then you REALLY have problems.
2. I would strongly suggest you NOT try to trim the SIM with something like scissors. Like many others, my SIM wouldn't budge so I couldn't simply move it to the side. What I did notice is the edge opposite the one that's touching is where the SIM was attached to the larger card. For those who have ever seen the way SIMs get delivered, they are part of a larger card and you break the SIM off, similar to tearing plastic model parts away from the frame. Depending how precise (or not) that break is, you can have extra material that's forcing the SIM over onto the opposite edge of the tray where the SIM makes contact. What I did was ever so slightly sand the edge where the SIM was connected to the plastic card (again the edge opposite the one that's touching). It was almost an undetectable amount. Cutting with scissors or a knife would take off WAY too much material and could cause problems of it's own.
3. When reinserting, I would orient the phone so that gravity is encouraging the SIM AWAY from the edge that's making contact and reinforce this by holding it in place as you push the tray back into the slot.
Sorry for all the babble but again, I'm pretty anal retentive and did this as precise as I could...and success!
I'm a pretty much a perfectionist so I looked at this VERY closely and would offer the following tips to those who aren't getting the tip to work.
1. Definitely do NOT use tape. It's a pretty precise fit and that could really cause issues getting the SIM to seat properly. In addition, the tight fit could strip the tape off as you remove the SIM tray again and then you REALLY have problems.
2. I would strongly suggest you NOT try to trim the SIM with something like scissors. Like many others, my SIM wouldn't budge so I couldn't simply move it to the side. What I did notice is the edge opposite the one that's touching is where the SIM was attached to the larger card. For those who have ever seen the way SIMs get delivered, they are part of a larger card and you break the SIM off, similar to tearing plastic model parts away from the frame. Depending how precise (or not) that break is, you can have extra material that's forcing the SIM over onto the opposite edge of the tray where the SIM makes contact. What I did was ever so slightly sand the edge where the SIM was connected to the plastic card (again the edge opposite the one that's touching). It was almost an undetectable amount. Cutting with scissors or a knife would take off WAY too much material and could cause problems of it's own.
3. When reinserting, I would orient the phone so that gravity is encouraging the SIM AWAY from the edge that's making contact and reinforce this by holding it in place as you push the tray back into the slot.
Sorry for all the babble but again, I'm pretty anal retentive and did this as precise as I could...and success!
Can you not swap the iPad's simtray with iPhone to see if that works? Or does it not fit?
I did try it and did not work for me.
If you look at your microSIM card in that image, you can plainly see the "scrape marks" or contact wear of exactly where that card is being touched by the gold plated tension-loaded contact points inside the microSIM socket.
It's very visible in your picture, the tiny stripes of a sort where it appears to be a brighter shade of yellowish-gold. Based on that, yours seems to be getting contact that's right where it should be, almost dead center of each contact pad on the microSIM itself.
Guys, I just re-read the thread and did a quick crunching of the numbers and this appears to be working for only about 50% of people.
Just so you know.
Just so you know.
Try to make sure no part of the gold circuit on the SIM is touching the tray. Optimally, we think it should be centered in the middle and not touching the edges. However, the way the sims are cut make this difficult to accomplish.
Tried this with electrical tape on the sim holder, and still having the reception issues. Will try a few more times to "reseat" the card, but I'm not optimistic.
What really annoys me is that apple didn't think to put a non conductive 'paint' on the antenna.
With that we wouldn't be able to bridge the gap.
With that we wouldn't be able to bridge the gap.
Interesting, but the SIMs/microSIMs are fine. There are 6 contact points on a SIM: the big one that goes through the middle also uses what you call 'the missing tooth' - it's the primary ground on the SIM card, hence it being the largest contact point. 1 ground point (the largest portion) and 5 contact points (for the rest of the circuit that makes the SIM work).
Cute, regardless.
The wear marks seem like the contacts are centered on the corresponding sections. If there's an issue with contact on the SIM, I would think electrical tape would solve that. I placed a piece right up to were the wear mark was on the "short" end and trimmed the excess so it would fit back in. Booted, reset network setting, etc. It didn't help.
I tried pushing the sim to both sides and inserting and no change. Not even sure adjusting the SIM stays put once its back in there.
I pulled the SIM and I'll leave the phone powered off overnight.
It seems, however, all ideas here aren't helping my situation.
That would make no sense
We still don't know what is causing this problem, but there are a few things we can guess at to explain why this isn't helping everyone.