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Suddenly have no data service (AT&T, NYC)

G

gothamguy

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 20, 2011
56
0
So, for the last hour or so my phone, which is showing 5 bars of signal and the 3G icon, won't send or receive data. I am in my apartment, where I have never had an issue. I have tried resetting the network settings, rebooting the phone... Nothing.

Cellular data is turned on and I can make calls... Just no data.

Anyone experience anything like this?
 
Cannot complete request, request timed out.

I just tried to the 'find my iPhone' app and it doesn't even show up.
 
Ah, sorry... Should have included that up front. No jailbreak. 4S, 5.0 (haven't updated to 5.01). I have had zero problems before today.
 
Could be a problem with the tower, a glitch with your account or a duff bit in the iPhone. Take it for a walk around the neighbourhood.

Does the WiFi data work?
 
Well, several hours later... still showing 5 bars and the 3G icon, still unable to get any data connection via 3G, and my phone burned through 75 percent of the battery while I slept.

WiFi works fine, but I had turned it off all night to see if the cellular data would come back.
 
reset network settings. if that fails restore the software, but you may want to try calling AT&T to make sure there aren't tower errors right now.
 
It could be the government practicing shutting down the Internet in areas of "social unrest". Hear that you are going to have a big party in front of WallStreet today!:eek:
 
Stealthipad said:
It could be the government practicing shutting down the Internet in areas of "social unrest". Hear that you are going to have a big party in front of WallStreet today!:eek:
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you meant that as a joke but i had actually thought about it. Other people in my building have the same problem, and as soon as I got a few blocks from home everything came back to normal. I live right by the police academy, so for all I know someone left the illegal jamming equipment on by accident last night.
 
gothamguy said:
I'm not sure if you meant that as a joke but i had actually thought about it. Other people in my building have the same problem, and as soon as I got a few blocks from home everything came back to normal. I live right by the police academy, so for all I know someone left the illegal jamming equipment on by accident last night.
Click to expand...

It was not ment as a joke. Not only does the equipment exist but with the FCC they would also have cooperation of the carriers.

We could be seeing the future:(
 
Stealthipad said:
It was not ment as a joke. Not only does the equipment exist but with the FCC they would also have cooperation of the carriers.

We could be seeing the future:(
Click to expand...

I haven't seen any other reports online so it could just be a tower issue, but I am going to keep an eye on it. I happen to work in a field that is very concerned with civil liberties and overstepping by "the man," so it has my attention.
 
UPDATE: Spoke with AT&T and the closest tower to me is reported as "degraded." They say a fix is in progress.
 
gothamguy said:
So, for the last hour or so my phone, which is showing 5 bars of signal and the 3G icon, won't send or receive data. I am in my apartment, where I have never had an issue. I have tried resetting the network settings, rebooting the phone... Nothing.

Cellular data is turned on and I can make calls... Just no data.

Anyone experience anything like this?
Click to expand...

I have had this issue the past 2 days as well. It has come in fits and starts over the past few weeks. I get 4 or 5 bars and the 3G signal comes on, but it won't send or receive data, and the e-mail client just shows the spinning wheel, draining the battery in the process.

I notice it most during the day (between 9:00-5:00) in Midtown. It seems to happen all the time lately. Early in the day, and later in the evening, it gets better and suddenly syncs up hours worth of e-mails. If I connect my phone to a Wi-Fi connection, it syncs up, so it is definitely the data connection.

Naturally, Apple has AT&T signal repeaters in the 5th Avenue store, so whenever I try to test it there, I get an amazing download speed (10Mpbs) and full signal. Everywhere else in Manhattan, I'm lucky to get 1-2Mbps (maybe 3-4Mbps in the suburbs). Thus, it makes it more difficult to have a "Genius" look at it.
 
I just got off a service chat with AT&T. Apparently a lot of people across the East Coast are reporting issues with iPhone data today, so it could be a general network issue. I have been able to make calls, but 3G data has been pretty bad most of the day.
 
gothamguy said:
I haven't seen any other reports online so it could just be a tower issue, but I am going to keep an eye on it. I happen to work in a field that is very concerned with civil liberties and overstepping by "the man," so it has my attention.
Click to expand...

Sorry but I am betting on "the man" will win! If I lived down there I would be pissed to put up with the idiots. They are not doing their cause or obama any good.
 
KPOM said:
I notice it most during the day (between 9:00-5:00) in Midtown. It seems to happen all the time lately. Early in the day, and later in the evening, it gets better and suddenly syncs up hours worth of e-mails. If I connect my phone to a Wi-Fi connection, it syncs up, so it is definitely the data connection.
Click to expand...

My connection in Midtown is shaky during the day, no question. Moving 20 feet in one direction or the other can make all the difference. I just assume the towers are overloaded. One thing I can say is that voice is never a problem, even when data is bogged down.

My issue last night was really different though (not even slow loading, just doing absolutely nothing).

The AT&T rep told me there was a tower issue and even told me where that tower is located. My signal picked up when I was about a block in the opposite direction this morning, so it seems to make sense.
 
That would be due to the #ows ... Just a guess if you hit their comms first things may settle down.
 
gothamguy said:
My connection in Midtown is shaky during the day, no question. Moving 20 feet in one direction or the other can make all the difference. I just assume the towers are overloaded. One thing I can say is that voice is never a problem, even when data is bogged down.

My issue last night was really different though (not even slow loading, just doing absolutely nothing).

The AT&T rep told me there was a tower issue and even told me where that tower is located. My signal picked up when I was about a block in the opposite direction this morning, so it seems to make sense.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's often my experience. The last two days, I have walked down to a "reliable" spot and still got no data (though voice usually works). I also have a Nexus One running on T-Mobile, so when things got really bad, I turned on the Wi-Fi hot spot and synced up my iPhone to that.

Naturally, I was at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue, ran SpeedTest, and found that I had a 10Mbps connection (not much slower than my Time Warner Cable broadband connection at home), so it would be almost useless to take it to a Genius Bar.

For now, I'm chalking it up to AT&T's "craptastic" overloaded 3G network. I plan to get the LTE-equipped iPhone 5 next year when it comes out (I'll sell my unlocked 4S then). Hopefully AT&T has built it up by then, and it works even half as well as advertised.

----------
Papajuice said:
That would be due to the #ows ... Just a guess if you hit their comms first things may settle down.
Click to expand...

I'm in Midtown. At least up until now, those of us up here wouldn't even know there was an "occupy" protest going on downtown if we didn't watch the news. Odd, since a lot of the big investment banks are actually located here.
 
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