Missing some iPhone calls? Turn off 3G

I’ve been having a rather troubling (but hopefully solveable) problem with my new 3G iPhone. Several of my incoming calls have been going straight to voice mail. The phone isn’t even ringing.

This is happening when my line is free, and when I’m showing adequate signal bars to receive a call.

I’m on the phone with AT&T Mobile support right now, and they said they’re tracking this problem with iPhone service. It appears to be happening when your iPhone is set to be on the 3G network. Apparently 3G isn’t as good for voice as it is for data.

Is this happening to you? Call AT&T! AT&T Mobile is collecting examples of this problem occurring. I’ve entered a trouble ticket for my problem. But if this is happening to you, call AT&T (611 on your iPhone) and let them know that you’re having the same problem. They have a master trouble ticket going on this, and they’re encouraging people to report the problem. The more examples they have, the better they can diagnose and fix the problem (so they say).

When you call, it helps if you can cite a specific example of a call you missed that you should have received.

Recommended tip: If you’re missing some calls, be sure to deactivate the 3G network on your iPhone when you don’t need it to browse the web. (Settings -> General -> network, then click “off” next to “enable 3G”)

This will also save on battery life.

Apparently while you’re not on the 3G network, it’s pretty tough to take a call and browse the web at the same time. I can live with that particular tradeoff for now, as long as I’m receiving all the calls I should be receiving.

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This entry was written by Amy Gahran and posted on August 11, 2008 at 10:18 am and filed under mobile, problems. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment(Latest is displayed first) or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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10 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

I am also missing calls and I am not able to make calls. I believe the issue dissappears when I turn off the 3G network. When I took the phone to AT&T they swapped my SIM card which made no difference.


1. Becky on September 22nd, 2009 at 11:42 am
Hi There,
I am having similar issues with my iPhone 3G, running 3.0.1. I’ve not even subscribed to 3G, but it does show a ‘E’ at times. I can resume my calls once I make a call. Even missed call notifications get missed till you make a call.
I am using Etisalat services in the UAE, in Dubai.


2. Rosario Fernandes on September 5th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Same problem here as Scott with the 3GS. I will make an appointment with the Genius bar and see what they say as ATT is no help. Will keep you all posted.
Steve


3. Steve on July 10th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Same problem here, with a brand new 3GS (June 2009). Turning off 3G “solves” the problem, but really that’s not an acceptable solution as I now have to manually turn it on/off.


4. Art on July 7th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Hi,

Just found this site while I was googling the same problem. Today my phone decided not to receive any calls, even thought I had full service. I could call someone just fine, get texts, etc. But when someone called me it would not ring on my end. It rang twice for them and went straight to voicemail.

When I turned off 3g, it worked on the E network just fine.

I dont mind doing this for now, but would like the faster network and the ability to do things over 3g while still getting calls (on E, you cant really surf and get calls at the same time).

Did you ever figure out how to fix the problem and not just turn off 3g?


5. Scott on June 14th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I just bought a 16G 3G iPhone 2 days ago. At home I was getting 1 bar, sometimes 2, which is terrible. I’d read about turning-off 3G to remedy this problem, and now I get 5 bars! I use WiFi at home, so turning of 3G here is no problem.


6. Barry A on September 8th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Kudos on your post. I debated for weeks whether to ‘upgrade’ from my Palm Treo 650 on the Verizon network (which was absolutely top-notch), to the iPhone 3G on AT&T.

I’ve had more dropped calls in ONE day with AT&T than I’ve had in two years with Verizon.

Why oh why did Steve Jobs make a deal with the devil on this beautiful phone?


7. Mike on August 22nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Thanks so much for this fix. I was tearing my hair out trying to restore and switch various settings. Apple Tech, while nice, didn’t talk about 3G. Probably because of fear of bad PR. And I didn’t want to go into the Apple Store today…it’s my birthday. Kudos.


8. Ashok on August 18th, 2008 at 6:39 am
I’m having the exact same issue with iPhone 3g plus terrible reception and dropped calls on the 3g network. I lcant get a single bar on my phone in my house or even outside despite being in an excellent coverage area of a big city. I got on my rood – nothing!

Turning off 3g kicks my bars up to 5 and improves sound quality, dropped calls, and the annoying no ring voicemails. at&t service is less than helpful and when I called it just turned into an argument where the guy insisted it was my phone (even though I replaced it once already.)


9. Wade on August 15th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
i found this site while googling because i am having the same issue. i’ve missed several phone calls in the last few days now, where i get a voicemail alert but the phone doesn’t ring or vibrate. this has happened occaisionally over the last year but it seems like the last few days it has missed every call.

unfortunately i have a regular old school iphone, not a 3g one, so i don’t really think 3g is the entire cause of these problems.


10. andy on August 11th, 2008 at 7:55 pm