Apple iPhone 4 reception problem support memo leaked?
BGR claims to have content his hands on a copy of Apple’s internal support memo for handling iPhone 4 antenna band reception problems.
The gist is: they’re to stick to the talking points, probe to make sure it isn’t a different problem (i.e. not related to covering the lower left side of iPhone 4 or lower right side of iPhone 3GS), only escalate if it’s a different issue and they can’t resolve it, and NOT to give out any goram free bumpers!
No mention of mentioning or not mentioning an impending iOS 4.0.1 software fix either.
[BGR]
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How would a software upgrade fix an antenna design flaw?! Get a case and shut up. That’s what I keep telling myself.
I have no reception problems on mine- no matter how I hold it. F.U.D at it’s best
Andrew, it really isn’t FUD. Just because it doesn’t happen to you doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen to a lot of other people. I’m sure that there are many things that haven’t happened to you that you think are real, why is this one FUD?
I love how we pay so much for these phones and like to bad and to not give out some free bumpers lol how cheap can we get apple and u wonder why less than 10 percent of the people own macs its a no brainer
Disclaimer: I don’t have an iPhone yet. What is the big flipping deal with this? Every cell phone I’ve ever owned has reception issues if you cover the antenna. Did people think iPhones were sprinkled with leprechaun tears and would not be subject to the laws of physics?
Mark — this isn’t a problem with just covering the antenna. You can completely cover the antenna and there is no issue. The issue is when you connect the two different antennas. It creates some kind of “short” that causes the signal to drop out entirely. THAT is a design flaw.
I must say what mark just stated was not only very true but the only thing thats made me crack up all day.
Does anyone else have the reception problem even while using the bumper case?
“Disclaimer: I don’t have an iPhone yet. What is the big flipping deal with this? Every cell phone I’ve ever owned has reception issues if you cover the antenna. Did people think iPhones were sprinkled with leprechaun tears and would not be subject to the laws of physics?”
no. yeesh, this isn’t like every other phone you’ve had where the antenna has issues if you cover it, because the in this case the antenna is external/exposed and is positioned in a place where you hold the phone all the time. the design makes the problem well worse than on other phones, including previous iPhones.
it is a real problem unlike any other problem i’ve had with any previous phone.
“I have no reception problems on mine- no matter how I hold it. F.U.D at it’s best”
i have the iPhone 4 and it does have this problem. maybe you haven’t seen it happen but i definitely have. i only noticed the problem the third day of using the phone. before that i thought either my phone or hands or local AT&T network was immune to this problem, which made me quite happy until i found it was happening to me.
don’t be surprised if one day you notice the problem happening to you as well, in time.
Hmmm, if they have to issue orders to the troops to “stick to the talking points” it sounds like they are in full scale spin mode.
I’m betting they think they can re-program this to switch to less sensitive bands (drop to EDGE maybe) or demanding higher signalk from the towers (similar to what they had to UN-DO with the problematic Infinion chip set when the 3G first came out which were sucking towers dry by demanding higher output.
AT&T always ends up taking it in the shorts for Apple’s failure to test phones in the real world.
@Mark: Read a little before asking that kind of question. I can’t believe you haven’t heard of this, or that the only site you read is TiPb, where the problem is handwaived away. Its not a minor drop in signal strength, its being knocked off the air entirely when you short the antennas in areas without excellent signal strength.
Can anyone tell me if this is happening on international networks or is this just an AT&T issue with their crappy network?
No its happening everywhere , not at&t this time
I can duplicate the problem but only when I talk my case off. I don’t see the big deal, buy a case/bumper and call it a day.
The wording in Rene’s summary above:
Appeasing! Is that how Apple sees living up to its advertising?
@Carolinamic:
If you NEED a base/bumper for the phone to perform in the real world, shouldn’t it COME with one?
Anyone else having problems with 3G data?
I have no problem with voice or texting, but virtually every time I go to use Safari or a web based app, I get time outs and extremely long waits. Shocked tipb hasn’t done a story on this considering how many threads int he forum and in the apple discussion boards there are about this problem.
I can hold it without touching the bottom left seam so it’s not a deal breaker for me, but I still hope there is a fix in the works and that is why they’re being told not to give out free bumpers.
I will be disappointed if Apple just tries to sweep this under the carpet though as I don’t want to use a case and I imagine many others don’t either.
Looks like Toyota opps, I mean Apple knew about this before launch. You would think in the design phase someone would have said there is going to be a problem. Guess he, or she was ignored, or they just said we will tell the customers it’s the mats, just put it in neutral opps
Just hold it this way. Yep that is the fix.
@Glenn:
Apple knew about this before launch? I haven’t seen that. Got a reference URL?
I just figured their secrecy bit them in the butt because they were hiding all their field phones in bumpers…
Now if you are saying they KNEW this, and released it anyway, that’s just not how every Fanboy views Apple, and could lead to Class Action suits.
So…. Did you make it up or do you have a link?
“Gorram”, – love it Rene!
@icebike: rene is a big apple fanboy, he will defend apple to the end. apple is showing how good they are at flipping the table.
I’ve noticed the issue with the “death grip” has something to do with the network itself. I’ve been trying to replicate this since I heard about this issue and I came to the conclusion that my phone wasn’t affected. Yesterday however, I was in one of our satellite offices and I noticed the signal drop with the death grip. I was able to replicate this over and over again. I wasn’t able to replicate this on my way back home or at home. It clearly has to do with the antena, but the fact that it seems to be location based (there are other reports about this), makes me think the network – or the interaction with the device – is playing an important roll. So maybe a software upgrade could somehow fix it.
@Sean I’ve been having the same problem, went to apple store today and they told me to close my apps running in the background which seemed to help.
Just got off the phone with Apple about this since it is has become a problem with me being left-handed and all. The representative said all I need to do is get a cheap, rubber case and put the phone in it, nothing too expensive. After he said that, I asked him if he could send me a bumper case, since it’s so cheap and inexpensive lol. Getting one shipped to my house :]
@ icebike – I just look at it like buying a new car, it won’t work if you don’t put gas in it. lol. But on the real I think they should give out the bumpers/case.
@Sean, yeah! I don’t understand, I thought data would be faster? I get extremely long wait times and time outs even when I have full service.
I currently don’t have any reception issues ever sense I picked up a bumper. I’m 4-5 bars strong 95% of the time now.
Death Grip fix found! Was simple SIM card alignment problem.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=955742
You shut up, Icvos. We should not have to buy a case to make our phones work right. Are you on crack?
This is huge deal, and Apple is going to find this out when everyone starts returning their phones in a week or two because it has not resolved the issue properly. This is not just an occasional bad reception problem, all mobile phones have that at times. This is a titanic engineering design flaw. The one new part of the phone that Steve Jobs was bragging about as being brilliant engineering, is the thing that is killing the phone’s signal. Unbelievable.
This is really the fault of apple fanboys who will buy whatever crap apple puts out. Newsflash – it IS possible to be loyal to a company AND hold them accountable! Windows users have been doing it for decades and it forces changes. Stop being Apple’s bitches and complain about this. Their talking points are pure baloney.
Lastly you should have listened to me and mostly ice bike a long time ago when we told you the dropped call issue was a hardware problem and not a carrier issue. BBs work just fine on AT&T.
Well seems that there’s a fix now.
What fix?
Icebike not sure if this was the link you were looking for? http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/26/iphone-4-antenna-problems-were-predicted-on-june-10-by-danish-pr/
Hey people, I just got an email from Toyota’s CEO…he told me that if I want my car to stop that I shouldn’t step on the accelerator and drive the car in that manner.
@ Ralph – I been seeing that on other blogs too. I think that I might try it out and see what happens.
@Anyone – when did the phone case get renamed to “bumper”? Isn’t it a phone case? I am confused? Thanks.
@icebike, just reading between the lines. I will retract. It still seems that a tech would realize there would be a problem. It is hard to believe all testers kept them in the fake cases all the time. If they did not catch it until after release, it will be a major blunder on their part. “just hold it different” is the solution? There should be a better fix. Apple has always been straight forward in customer service. I would hate to see this change. You should always be honest
Come on Apple you arrogant jerks, give your iPhone4 owners a free bumper case to fix your design flaw. Aghh.
Apparentlythe SIM fix in MacRumors isn’t what’s causing the reception issues.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/30/does-trimming-the-iphone-4s-micro-sim-fix-the-antenna-issue-pr/
Dear Engadget, if you are using electric tape to fix the SIM issue, you blew it.
:p
OK, seriously, it’s worth a shot to get AT&T to replace the SIM if indeed the gold SIM contacts are touching metal. If that fails, oh well.
For the few of you holding onto iOS upgrades as a potential fix, please! software cannot cause a loss of signal depending on the way you hold the phone. The iOS Software is not even aware of how or where you hold the phone. A patch might help it deal with a sudden loss of signal, or may even report the weakening signal differently, but it can’t cause it the loss of signal. The cause is undoubtedly hardware based.
@Nick and other unhappy iPhone 4 owners…
I love apple but we need to get together and return the iPhone 4 to get Apple’s attention. That’s what I will be doing tomorrow.
Look, if Apple REALLY fixes this problem, then I’ll be happy to buy it back but for now I am really unhappy and will not stand for this. Back to the store it goes tomorrow morning!
Simply amazing. You know I think that Apple is facing all of these issues because they rushed to make the iPhone 4. Android more than likely caused this. However, Steve needs to give an official statement and soon. Until then we can only speculate.
Any how theres this article at http://getyourgadgetsgoing.com/ called “iPhone 4 Is In But The Problems Are Out: Complete Overview”
Check it out for the complete listing of iPhone 4 issues and one that you may yet have heard of but still might be experiencing.
That memo and the tone gives people reasons to not like Apple. I realize it is a great product, but the ‘holding it wrong’ stance, this internal memo and leaving AT&T to get creamed about similar issues with prior phones makes some buyers wonder.
By giving out free bumpers means admitting to a problem. It’s not going to happen !!
hey guys quit all the whining and buy an iphone 4… And a bumper steve
written on my palm pre plus
I dont get it apple fanbois are nuts. If i was sold some new phone and forced to buy and use some dumb rubber bumper because of a huge design flaw i would be returning the junk. But apple wierdos just keep rationalizing away the problem. Even buying the bumper.
http://www.mysmartrend.com/news-briefs/news-watch/possible-fix-found-apple-iphone-4-signal-issue-aapl
Apple found a fix!!!
@Sara: Already debunked.
@ Mr. Jobs
How many cellphones do you have?