My iPhone 4s has worse reception than 3GS

[Sirolway]

Morning all

I've recently moved from a 3GS to a 4s & while I'm pretty happy with the 4s (much faster, certainly), the reception is noticeably worse.

• I get no signal on the iPhone 4s in areas where I did on the 3GS
• On the 3GS, 1 bar was useable - it's not on the 4s
• Tethering on the 3GS was reliable & is patchy on the 4GS - dropping the connection fairly regularly
• I'm currently connected to cafe wifi & my MBP has no problem, but the 4GS doesn't seem to have much / any data access, despite being on the same wifi & supposedly having a strong signal

Don't get me wrong - I still love the phone etc, but the lack of signal is driving me a bit nuts. I hope I'm not the only one, & that Apple sort this out...

I'm posting this on my MBP, while failing to send a couple of iMessages on the phone - once again it should have a strong signal but is about as useful as a pot plant. I've tried turning the phone off/on etc but no joy

 

[Daveoc64]

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but are you holding it wrong?

The iPhone 4S doesn't suffer from the same "issue" that the iPhone 4 does, but is the poor signal happening even with the phone placed on a desk (e.g. when you're not holding it)?

 

[Jare]

Thread title is missing the word "my".

 

[Sirolway]

Yup, I'm afraid so - I get problems even when the handset is sitting on a table / couch, with no one touching it at all.

This morning I tried to send an iMessage repeateddly for about 30 mins without success over cafe Wifi, when my MBP was happily browsing away

----------

Thread title is missing the word "my".

Thanks Jare - now fixed.
Whatever would we do without the OCD brigade ;-) (hey - I'm a member yourself - don't even get me started on your/you're)

 

[zephxiii]

Is that with or without a case on the 4S?

My 4 performs the same or better than my 3GS did (with case).

 

[Sirolway]

Nope, no case - I use my Apple devices the way that Steve & Jonny designed them...

 

[zephxiii]

Nope, no case - I use my Apple devices the way that Steve & Jonny designed them...

lol well they didn't design them very good as my 4 works (RF performance) and feels a lot better to hold with it's ultra slim case.

 

[Sirolway]

lol well they didn't design them very good as my 4 works (RF performance) and feels a lot better to hold with it's ultra slim case.

You're probably right - my phone seems to be frictionless; it imperceptibly starts sliding off anywhere you put it until it ends up on the floor. Never known anything like it

 

[shadrap]

No issues here. I hope you get it worked out.

 

[zephxiii]

You're probably right - my phone seems to be frictionless; it imperceptibly starts sliding off anywhere you put it until it ends up on the floor. Never known anything like it

For me, sure it's nice to have the sharp edges covered by the case. The other problem is that the 4/4S feels too small to hold in my hands and is not comfortable..I tried to like it.

The Elago SF slim black case I use just gives the phone the perfect size, rounded edge and texture to hold it. I mean literally when I first put that case on I felt "wow this feels amazing" and loved holding the phone and playing with it. A naked 4 really feels like a downgrade to me.

The 3GS was nice to hold naked, and granted the materials in the 4 feel really high quality...but the phone itself isn't "practically" nice to hold naked.

 

[Kyotoma]

OP: Have you tried a reset of your network settings? I have noticed that this is sometimes necessary if you have not done either this or a restore as new in a long time. Not exactly sure why, but I have found it a reliable fix if a soft reset does not address the issue.

 

[SurferMan]

Others have posted about this, about the 4S not getting reception in areas the 3GS does, like office buildings etc. Two buddies 4s get zilch reception in their buildings whereas ones 3GS does and mine did. Or if I'm in Publix for example, My 3GS or GS2 can get reception, but not our 4 or 4S. When we were up in MI couple months ago, gf's cousins 4S was on and off 1 bar in the area we were in but her husbands 3GS was fine, only two bars, but at least it maintained the signal. No cases on any of the 4S.

Radio's don't seem to be as strong in the 4S