My iPhone 4 signal issues are gone...

okay... So I figured if the problem is supposedly the metal sim card tray, why not remove the sim card tray!? Well, that is what I did...

I stuck my sim card to a piece of electrical tape and cut around the edges of it so it didnt get caught going in the phone... I left the tape long enough to stick out the phone so I can pull it out.

My phone would go to a No Service status when I used the death grip on the phone... After playing around with it like this for a while, I would drop down to 2 bars. No less... When I put tape on the card in the sim tray I would go down to no less than 1 bar.

So although I don't think this is the solution to the problem I do think it is helping. So you might not have the best service during a death grip with the tape but you will atleast have SOME service! LOL

Here is the video of the death grip with the electrical tape in place of the sim card tray! Sorry for the bad quality, it is the next best camcorder I have after the iPhone 4! HAHA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv28Q-BT1rk
 
Before: 5 bars, grip, 2 bars every time.

After: 5 bars, grip - 5 bars some of the time, 4 bars most of the time, 3 bars once or twice.

My feeling is that it isn't the tray or the card shorting out to the tray - I think it's the internal contacts.
 
SIM Tray Conductivity

Hawkeye411 said:
Looks like Shawntkeating may have figured out a solution!! Way to go!!
Click to expand...

Since reports above are saying that trimming the SIM card has remedied the signal drop issues. My own experimenting has disproved this possibility.

The claim is that the contacts on the SIM card are just touching the shelf that the SIM card sits on, which supposedly causes some kind of interference with the phone/SIM when you connect the two antennae with your hand. This theory relies on the assumption that the thin, shelf that the border of the SIM tray sits on is conductive. I took out my hand pocket meter and checked out the shelf.

Performing both a circuit test and and ohms test, the circuit test came out open, and it reported infinite ohms. Apple didn't screw up in designing the SIM tray, and made sure they put a very thin layer of plastic or other non-conductive material on top of the already very thin stainless steel shelf. On the contrary, the entire rest of the SIM tray, including the opposite side of that shelf where the Serial and IMEI #s are located are stainless steel and very conductive, but the contacts for the SIM card do not contact any metal on the tray.

I am yet to try the electrical tape, which I shall do anyways just out of personal curiosity. If any one disagrees with me or has conflicting evidence, by all means let me know.
 
thundersnow said:
Performing both a circuit test and and ohms test, the circuit test came out open, and it reported infinite ohms. Apple didn't screw up in designing the SIM tray, and made sure they put a very thin layer of plastic or other non-conductive material on top of the already very thin stainless steel shelf. On the contrary, the entire rest of the SIM tray, including the opposite side of that shelf where the Serial and IMEI #s are located are stainless steel and very conductive, but the contacts for the SIM card do not contact any metal on the tray.
Click to expand...

It is all metal but some of it is painted with a non conductive paint.
 
I'd like to see some smoking gun fix like the next guy, even though this prob doesn't really affect me in real world use thankfully. However, I've yet to see anything that works. This sim situ hasn't changed anything just like tape on the lower left or the bumper case didn't remedy the prob either in my testing.

The one thing that still sticks out for me is that my formerly flawless 3GS now has the same issue on the lower right side since going to iOS4. This gives rise to the hope there will be a software update to address the issue. I guess we'll see.
 
SIM Tray Conductivity

Since reports above are saying that trimming the SIM card has remedied the signal drop issues. My own experimenting has disproved this possibility.

The claim is that the contacts on the SIM card are just touching the shelf that the SIM card sits on, which supposedly causes some kind of interference with the phone/SIM when you connect the two antennae with your hand. This theory relies on the assumption that the thin, shelf that the border of the SIM tray sits on is conductive. I took out my hand pocket meter and checked out the shelf.

Performing both a circuit test and and ohms test, the circuit test came out open, and it reported infinite ohms. Apple didn't screw up in designing the SIM tray, and made sure they put a very thin layer of plastic or other non-conductive material on top of the already very thin stainless steel shelf. On the contrary, the entire rest of the SIM tray, including the opposite side of that shelf where the Serial and IMEI #s are located are stainless steel and very conductive, but the contacts for the SIM card do not contact any metal on the tray.

I am yet to try the electrical tape, which I shall do anyways just out of personal curiosity. If any one disagrees with me or has conflicting evidence, by all means let me know.
 
thundersnow said:
Since reports above are saying that trimming the SIM card has remedied the signal drop issues. My own experimenting has disproved this possibility.

The claim is that the contacts on the SIM card are just touching the shelf that the SIM card sits on, which supposedly causes some kind of interference with the phone/SIM when you connect the two antennae with your hand. This theory relies on the assumption that the thin, shelf that the border of the SIM tray sits on is conductive. I took out my hand pocket meter and checked out the shelf.

Performing both a circuit test and and ohms test, the circuit test came out open, and it reported infinite ohms. Apple didn't screw up in designing the SIM tray, and made sure they put a very thin layer of plastic or other non-conductive material on top of the already very thin stainless steel shelf. On the contrary, the entire rest of the SIM tray, including the opposite side of that shelf where the Serial and IMEI #s are located are stainless steel and very conductive, but the contacts for the SIM card do not contact any metal on the tray.

I am yet to try the electrical tape, which I shall do anyways just out of personal curiosity. If any one disagrees with me or has conflicting evidence, by all means let me know.
Click to expand...

In some instances, the distance between the edge of the SIM card - where the contact pads are - and the side of the SIM tray is so incredibly small that perhaps, just perhaps there's something going on, a short perhaps, which is why so much of this is speculation and theory.

However, the other part of this is that the gold plated tension-loaded contact points inside the SIM socket could be, in some way, making a connection with the SIM tray itself, potentially causing a shorting issue between the tray, the SIM contact pads, and the the tension-loaded contact points of the socket itself.

It's not a 100% working proven valid situation inside every single iPhone, of course, primarily because of so many varied SIM card designs (they don't seem to be nearly as similar as one might believe) but if it's even something that is happening on more than 1 it's indicative that there could be an issue. I don't give a damn that ~2 million iPhone 4's may have been sold so far, what I care about is that I and many others are having problems with our phones and Steve Jobs is trying to tell us "No, you don't."

I'd call him and tell him he's wrong but unfortunately I can't use my iPhone 4 as a damned cell phone when it's in my hand. :eek: :mad:

Some folks are noting some improvement in terms of their problems, some are reporting it's resolved the reception issues that they specifically were having and some folks, like me, aren't having any luck at all.

The appropriate idea here is YMMV... for those that don't do acronyms so well it means Your Mileage May Vary.
 
Dammit Cubs said:
I have been working on this for 2 hours and i think i made it worse it in terms of reception.

Interestingly, I can't get the call to fail. I was calling from a landline to my iphone while applying the death grip, kung fu grip, you name it. The bars dropped to 1 bar but the conversation and the audio on both ends stayed good. I kept this up for 10 minutes. NO DROPS. I even called and recieved called at 1 bar. The phone even changed from 3G to E and the call stayed put.

Drop calls is extremely rare for me...on all 3 iphones.
Click to expand...

I think not having dropped calls makes the whole iPhone 4 signal thing a non-issue for you.

The issue really is for people that it affects calls. If your bars drop and you don't drop a call, who cares?

arn
 
I re-did it to shoot some photos, go ahead and post them if need be.
On the super close up photo of the contact side, the very edge of it is the brassed area ( about 1/64th ) where the contact has been touching the tray...just barely.

It seems to be working fine for me again...
 

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I only had issues if my hands weren't 100% dry. The metal sim drawer was touching the metal part of the sim (it was way off center). I used a sliver of scotch tape on the side that was touching and no signal issues.

Apple needs to send every one a plastic sim drawer. The top part can still be metal but the part that holds the sim should be plastic or have a plastic coating.
 
So assuming this is the issue, coud Apple solve this by re-designing SIM cards and ship to customers once ready OR does it mean it has to be a HW fix on the IP4 side (the SIM tray)?
 
Macshroomer said:
I re-did it to shoot some photos, go ahead and post them if need be.
note on the third photo the shiny brassed area where the contact has been touching the tray.

It seems to be working fine for me again...
Click to expand...

The 4th image there - bottom right, the one that clearly shows the Serial/IMEI text, would be the one I'd suspect since the "gap" between the SIM pads (where the tape is) and the edge of the SIM tray are basically non-existant. Very interesting... the tape there would certainly seem to be something of use, even if we're just talking about an "air short" of some kind crossing that incredibly minute distance...

Edit: Yes I know it's the same SIM tray and SIM card... :) Just pointing out that the bottom right image makes the "gap" there the most clear, at least to me it does.
 
SIM you are dead to me

SIMs were a great idea, once. I liked them because they seemed on one hand, a safety device should the phone break, and on the other, if unlocked, a method to undermine oppressive contracts. But if most people are only going to like the phone they want, whether it's a droid or an iPhone or whatever, and not be switching phones very much if it can be avoided, then I don't see a reason for contracts or sims. If the customer isn't likely to switch carriers due to tech constraints, what is the benefit of sims to either party?
 
Wow! my picture made it on the front page of macrumors!

Anyways, an update. I jumped the gun on this one. My signal problem seems to be back so im not sure what to make of it. I think it could be that I stupidly cut my sim and it's loose in there. I'm going to head over to AT&T and get a new one.
 
catmistake said:
SIMs were a great idea, once. I liked them because they seemed on one hand, a safety device should the phone break, and on the other, if unlocked, a method to undermine oppressive contracts. But if most people are only going to like the phone they want, whether it's a droid or an iPhone or whatever, and not be switching phones very much if it can be avoided, then I don't see a reason for contracts or sims. If the customer isn't likely to switch carriers due to tech constraints, what is the benefit of sims to either party?
Click to expand...

SIM cards can be easily replaced if your phone is lost. If you travel, you can buy a local SIM card to avoid paying a lot of roaming charges.
 
iphoneguy123 said:
Wow! my picture made it on the front page of macrumors!

Anyways, an update. I jumped the gun on this one. My signal problem seems to be back so im not sure what to make of it. I think it could be that I stupidly cut my sim and it's loose in there. I'm going to head over to AT&T and get a new one.
Click to expand...

Hey, do me a favor and try resetting your Network settings in your phone and see if it that makes a difference.

Settings -> General -> Reset -> Reset Network Settings

arn
 
JMO, here, But. This is not the fix. In time, everyones problem will occur again. I think it has more to do with turning off the phone, or restarting it. You get good results, after that, for a while, but the problem will reemerge. Not, totally a bad thing. It may prove to be a software issue, if this is the case.
 
alphaod said:
SIM cards can be easily replaced if your phone is lost. If you travel, you can buy a local SIM card to avoid paying a lot of roaming charges.
Click to expand...

Good point.

from wiki
A virtual SIM is a mobile phone number provided by a mobile network operator that does not require a SIM card to terminate phone calls on a user's mobile phone.
Click to expand...

we pay enough for the service, all the info in a database already... you should just be able to type in a long string, or install from email attachment or something, to do what we must swap sims now to do. Just seems... like it's a construct we can readily move beyond without losing any functionality.

And I wonder what the ratio of sim swapping cell phone users is to all cell phone users.
 
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