Comments on: UPDATED: Apple Releases iPhone Carrier Update: Adds AT&T MicroCell Support

By: manish

manish — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:10:59 +0000

i updated my i phone 3.1 to 3.1.3,after that the phone showing a error only compatibel sim card frm a supported carrier may be used to activate i phone plz insert tha sim card or visit a supported carrier store to recieve a replacement sim card,that error showing plz help me what can i do now???????

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:08:56 +0000

Updated my phone to 3.1 along with carrier. After turning the phone off then back on, I can now send & receive pictures in txts.

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:06:53 +0000

i haven't noticed anything different . its just you..

By: Anthony

Anthony — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:05:27 +0000

OMGG PEOPLE !! restart your phone its been here since 1pm!!!

By: ad

ad — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:32:43 +0000

i updated and i have been noticing that a lot of calls sometimes never ring my phone. The calls (from my wife's tmobile phone) just don't get through. I have no record of missed calls. When they do come through, they sometimes go directly to voicemail. what a POS as a phone!

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:31:26 +0000

Updated the carrier settings to 3.1. Now i have no 3G service at all even with full signal. Edge and WiFi work. Can make calls too. Tried a hard reset and it worked for a few minutes then nothing. Does anyone know why? Thanks.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:32:40 +0000

Since the update in the past three weeks I have noticed that specifically phone voice calls have drained the battery significantly. Two or three moderately timed calls can drain an almost full battery charge. This past week I added the mophie juice pack to my iPhone 3G and even noticed that it drains that down quickly too. If I don't use the Phone for voice calls, but mostly email Push on MobileMe and our exchange server, then the battery and/or juice pack might last 2 days without needing a re-charge. The battery issue was the only thing holding me back on the iPhone and I was hoping the juice pack would ease my fears of a power outage. Home in my apartment is the only place my signal is weak, so I'm looking forward to the home-base solution. But as far as power goes, I still need more cow bell!

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:02:24 +0000

Was able to do a restore which prompted me for the carrier update once again. This time I opted out. Back to version 2.9 and no more problems.

By: Nremt87

Nremt87 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:34:22 +0000

me again sorry my email is rearly1@gmail.com PLEASE HELP

By: Nremt87

Nremt87 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:52:12 +0000

Could some one email me a copy of their AT&T carrier.plist

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:38:30 +0000

Looks like I spoke too soon. I had to restart again today because my 3G and voicemail were again not working. Definitely not happy with this

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:27:25 +0000

I have had connection problems since updating. Used to get great reception at work...now spotty and going to EDGE more often. Could be coincidence...but my battery life has diminshed as well. Was very happy with the iPhone until now.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:52:06 +0000

UPDATE: So it never tells you too, but I tried restarting my iphone and now the problem is solved. If you are having problems, and haven't restarted, try it!!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:51:06 +0000

Since I have updated, my 3G and EDGE connections are useless. They do not load anything. I tried a Speedtest on 3G and it tells me "Your connection may have been lost. Check your connection and try again." Everything was fine until I updated, and now unless I'm using Wi-Fi, I cannot connect to internet. Also, it seems my Visula voicemail is all jacked up too. I had a missed call and didn't get the voicemail until a day and a half later. When I went to listen to it, it could not load it, and when I try to listen to my greeting to see if my voicemail is working, it just tries to retrieve the info, but nothing happens. I'm pissed.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:11:44 +0000

After applying the 3.1 Carrier Update I can no longer receive calls while on the Edge network. Anyone else having this issue? BTW phone is not jailbroken and is running iphone version 2.2.1

By: Nate

Nate — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:45:16 +0000

I have a jailbroken 3G iphone, running 2.2.1, and just updated a few hours ago, and have just noticed that I can't connect to the Internet over 3G or Edge. I can usually connect over both where I live on campus, and tested in several places around Rutgers New Brunswick (NJ). I can send/recieve texts and make phone calls, but mail can't connect to any servers, and safari reports that it is not connected to the Internet.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:11:07 +0000

I installed the update and didn't cycle on/off. Now my phone won't turn on unless it's plugged in. Any suggestions?

By: Anthony

Anthony — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:24:48 +0000

After doing the carrier update, my services sucks in certain places. Places that I had 1 or 2 bars before now have no services! Dropped Calls! Sometime have full service, but still unable to make a call! When not on wifi, data service is not as fast, like it was before. Carrier update did no good for me, plus it massed up my SwirlyMMS which allows MMS on the iPhone, unable to send and receive now. As for the jail breaking, I do not see any issues with this.

By: Ford

Ford — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:04:42 +0000

I have NEVER had reliable service at my house. It's a small pocket of no coverage between Los gatos and Saratoga Ca. After update service went to 5 bars. I wonder if ATT has been installing cells that are only accessible after this upgrade

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:26:23 +0000

DO NOT DO IT IT IS A BASEBAND UPDATE!!! It may ad something trivial like a png graphic or two, or some microcell junk-but what it really does is update your BASEBAND which makes your unlocked 3g iphone LOCKED again. Everyone knew not to do the iphone update, so they snuck this in as a "carrier update"

By: MyNoR

MyNoR — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:21:19 +0000

nothing's changed here Seattle WA

By: trock4u

trock4u — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:52:42 +0000

I have a 2.2.1 jb iphone and updated the carrier settings from att and everything is working fine. go for it.

By: Ned

Ned — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:21:13 +0000

We have signal outdoors but not indoors probably in part due to construction materials. We have this service on our TMobile and it makes the difference between having TMobile and giving it up. We have recently considered dropping iphone due to this problem. This would make a big difference.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:37:43 +0000

I had troubles (intermittent connection issues to both 3G and WiFi) until I rebooted the phone.

By: David

David — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:55:06 +0000

This leaves me wondering where on earth can you find has broadband but no cell service? And if you find such places, how many will want to expand and enhance AT&Ts network and have to PAY for the privilege of doing so? What incentive would AT&T have to fix “dead zones” (Translation: we’re too cheap to put up a tower” if they can start making money with them by selling subscribers equipment and charge them monthly to use it?

Rural Vermont... As soon as the 3G Microcell is available, I'll be buying it whatever it costs to get a signal in all rooms of the house.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:50:10 +0000

Well it makes sense to me. I don't mind paying a little to have a better signal even though it's using my broadband connection. I heard that it's gonna allow unlimited minutes & data when connected. I don't have a land line at my house. My iPhone is my only phone so when I'm at home I can talk all I want to without going over my minutes

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:16:30 +0000

So I updated to 3.1. It didn't effect the down/up speeds that I was worried about before. Same exact thing. Everyone feel free to download. And to those who don't want to give in to a stupid download, who cares. AT&T cetainly doesnt care if you don't download it. Mind as well just download it, so it doesn't pop up everytime you plug your iphone in. It takes a mere 5 seconds.

By: Jr3153

Jr3153 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:02:53 +0000

I live here in Texas. Recently we here in The Texas Highway Patrol got in car laptops with AT&T aircards. We have a button on the computer that we push when we are at an area where there is no service. That info is sent to AT&T. We have had them about a year now, and I must say I now have better service in alot of areas where I used to not have service.

AT&T is required to check those locations and improve the service. And we gave Troopers all over the state oviously, so I have been recommending AT&T to all my family and friends in Texas

By: Aaron Matthew Kaiser

Aaron Matthew Kaiser — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 20:01:04 +0000

@icebike: I actually have a situation where this would help me. I live in LA, but stay with my grandmother when visiting San Diego. I have a router setup to connect via wifi and AT&T tells me there is a cell tower very close. The problem is that the composition of her building blocks the signals and I get dropped calls and spotty reception constantly! Makes it very hard to conduct business when on the road. This solution would be ideal.

By: icebike

icebike — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:19:11 +0000

@Gabe:

Quoting your quote: "ust as with picocells and full scale cellular antennas, a femtocell automatically passes a mobile user’s phone connection to the next nearest existing cellular towers as they leave the local signal area provided by the base station."

This is however NOT how the ATT service is going to work, its going to backhaul on YOUR broadband.

This leaves me wondering where on earth can you find has broadband but no cell service?

And if you find such places, how many will want to expand and enhance AT&Ts network and have to PAY for the privilege of doing so?

What incentive would AT&T have to fix "dead zones" (Translation: we're too cheap to put up a tower" if they can start making money with them by selling subscribers equipment and charge them monthly to use it?

I think we should be lobbying our regulators to prohibit charging for the equipment and instead insist that AT&T PAY THE USER for some percentage of their broadband and power bill for operating this equipment.

By: iphone user

iphone user — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:11:08 +0000

It is a stupid update. It doesnt change anything important. All it does is change the image(.png) of the carrier name that appears on the top of the screen.

I use AT&T. I found this on google:

"They’re just carrier logo replacements for AT&T’s upcoming cell-tower-in-your-living-room MicroCell - when you’re connected to the MicroCell (or M-Cell, apparently), it’ll show these logos up at the top instead of the default AT&T ones."

More information at: http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/02/06/what-was-in-that-att-iphone-carrier-update/

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:00:51 +0000

If they don't want to explain it... then I don't want to download it.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:27:04 +0000

AT&T NJ Took 3 sec don't know what it did tho lol

By: Jose

Jose — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:43:06 +0000

Update available to vodafone portugal (VF P 3.1)

By: Dave Lindsay

Dave Lindsay — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:20:26 +0000

no update available to UK o2

By: earless puppy

earless puppy — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 09:08:14 +0000

I am thinking this will eventually require a 2.1 update ( which I personally have ) that we will see in the near future... Otherwise this would of been in the 2.1 update or in the next 2.2 update

By: mikee d.

mikee d. — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:38:50 +0000

oh so in other words, the "carrier update" is useless?

unless you live on a farm of course... lol i'm just playin. =]

By: Gabe

Gabe — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:08:22 +0000

AT&T's 3G MicroCell to patch iPhone dead zones By Prince McLean Published: 08:00 AM EST iPhone 3G users stuck in an AT&T dead zone at home or at work will soon be able to plug in a device that provides a strong local signal for up to 10 phones and four simultaneous voice or data connections via a connection to broadband Internet.

Price and availability haven't yet been set for the appliance, which AT&T calls the 3G MicroCell. The CDMA industry usually refers to local area, consumer cellular base stations as a "femtocell," suggesting a smaller version of the "picocell," an industry term for a cellular base station installed to extend the signal of standard "Node B" antennas of cellular networks. Apple has installed commercial GSM picocells with 3G base stations within its retail stores that work in parallel with WiFi base stations to give the locations both WiFi and 3G cellular signals.

Just as with picocells and full scale cellular antennas, a femtocell automatically passes a mobile user's phone connection to the next nearest existing cellular towers as they leave the local signal area provided by the base station. AT&T's "MicroCell" branding suggests a device a thousand times more significant than a femtocell, but it's really the same thing. In the world of UMTS, a femtocell is usually called a Home Node B

By: Shabbaz

Shabbaz — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:26:49 +0000

It's an update that adds a carrier image to account for being connected to AT&T's new Microcell system. It only adds two PNGs, one in a light and one in a dark font, that read "AT&T M-Cell".

By: icebike

icebike — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:17:05 +0000

Once out of the evening rush hour my speed rebounded a little.

Again, 1700-1400 down to 600-300 KBits/sec prior to update, and 600-300 KBits/sec post update in rush hour.

After rush hour, and before reboot, the speed is up around 1100-900.

After iPhone reboot 1300-1200.

The speed test is all over the place.

Seattle area.

By: DigitaIJedi

DigitaIJedi — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 05:01:27 +0000

Just downloaded it and cycled but havent noticed anything yet and it did not require a re-activation. No rumors site has much on it

By: iambored8907

iambored8907 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:30:33 +0000

Sorry if those last two post didnt make since. They added the MicroCell device support, and added new logos for it

By: iambored8907

iambored8907 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:27:07 +0000

AllowPrefixMatching CarrierName AT&T MicroCell DefaultImage DefaultCARRIERATT M-Cell.png FullScreenOpaqueImage FSOCARRIERATT M-Cell.png

By: iambored8907

iambored8907 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:26:14 +0000

Heres what changed (I compared the carrier.plist before and after):

AllowPrefixMatching CarrierName AT&T MicroCell DefaultImage DefaultCARRIERATT M-Cell.png FullScreenOpaqueImage FSOCARRIERATT M-Cell.png

By: shutter

shutter — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:57:59 +0000

I just updated my 2.2.1 JB iPhone, does not seem to have affected the jailbreak at all, took all of 4 seconds to update. JB apps still working.

By: Ericimo

Ericimo — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:10:08 +0000

Speeds are back up to 1600 - 1700 Kbps on 3G, don't really know what's going on. Anyone else feeling speed flux?

By: Stephen Sizemore

Stephen Sizemore — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:00:46 +0000

The speed test app is showing a decrease in speed. I'm testing near a cell tower in Jacksonville, FL.

Before Update

Test 1: 2300 kbps Test 2: 2072 kbps

After Update Test 1: 1100 kbps Test 2: 1800 kbps Test 3: 1417 kbps

I don't really notice a decrease in speed though. Anything over 1000 kbps is fine with me.

By: DRLyman

DRLyman — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:56:51 +0000

I just installed and rebooted the phone without any problems. I checked my speed with the speedtest app and it averaged 1356.

By: Jeffdc5

Jeffdc5 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:47:30 +0000

I would hold of on this untill we get some clear answers

By: Ericimo

Ericimo — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:41:27 +0000

SpeedTest is reporting about 50% redux in overall speed (usually about 1500kbps, now 900kbps). However, iTunes and App store are loading pretty fast over 3G. Could be playing games with my mind...

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:39:51 +0000

Of course, my hopes is its an update that helps the iphone receive better signal. Not cap the down/up speed on its network. Im weary about updating it now though. Can anyone do some speed tests to make sure you dont have the same results as icebike...and it was just a coincidence for him.

By: Rene Ritchie

Rene Ritchie — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:36:33 +0000

NOTHING for me on Rogers, may be an AT&T specific tweak-date?

By: Jeffdc5

Jeffdc5 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:32:09 +0000

LOL can you imagine the fallout if they decreased every iPhones speed on purpose..

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:22:19 +0000

Anyone else have anything to chime in about...? I don't want to update it if it decreases my 3G speed. Maybe they're decreasing it because they have an overload on their network...?

By: icebike

icebike — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:04:52 +0000

@Matt: I think your re-activation requirement was a fluke, because it didn't happen for me.

What did happen was my 3G speeds dropped from 1700-1400 down to 600-300 KBits/sec.

(Measured by the free SpeedTest App).

It might be just a time of day thing. I live two arrow shots and a tomahawk throw from a high school which can consume all available cell bandwidth at certain times of the day. I'll try later.

My speculation: This is something to do with the tethering plans ATT is offering.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:51:09 +0000

Word of warning.. If/When you apply this update.. Be sure to power off/on your phone afterwards while you are still near your computer.. The update didn't power cycle my phone.. I assumed it just didn't need to since I've never gotten this kind of update before.. But later I had to power cycle my phone and when it started back up it required re-activation.. Would have been a little bit peeved if I wasn't at home when that happened!

By: Jeffdc5

Jeffdc5 — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:23:28 +0000

@kathleen you should get the 2.2.1 update safari runs 2x better and seems to demand less ram than before

By: Ana

Ana — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:18:15 +0000

Would this affect the jailbreak? yes? no? maybe? anybody know? Thanks in advanced =).

By: Bosshogg

Bosshogg — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:08:42 +0000

Has any body checked to see if possibly this update allows swirly mms to operate on at&t yet. Would love for AT&T to finally suck it up and allow swirly to operate.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:07:13 +0000

Here's Apple's explanation: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1970

I haven't updated my own phone yet- I'm still dragging my feet on the last update...

By: Jeffdc5

Jeffdc5 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:48:33 +0000

Does it mess with the jailbreak? I refuse to use my iPhone in factory form

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:39:32 +0000

Took all of 2 seconds to update from AT&T 2.9 to AT&T 3.1. No issues as of yet.

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:38:55 +0000

Nothing to report with Fido. Still on 2.9

By: Josh S

Josh S — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:36:31 +0000

I jsut downloaded it via Itunes as well.

At&t- Denver, CO

Too soon to tell what has changed yet.

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:28:20 +0000

I just downloaded it via iTunes.

AT&T - Raleigh, NC

Haven't used the phone to notice any difference yet.

By: iDutch

iDutch — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:21:21 +0000

Nothing(yet) here in The Netherlands for T-Mobile, still on 2.9

By: guinness0514

guinness0514 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:16:18 +0000

correction...downloading now

By: guinness0514

guinness0514 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:15:35 +0000

nothing here...

By: Larry

Larry — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:08:27 +0000

Any word on whether or not this has any effect on Jailbreaking?

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:05:24 +0000

all i see is that the carrier version is "AT&T 3.1" now.