iPhone 5 Signal Problems

Posted by dizzybee
Bit of a weird one here. Basically there seems to be some sort of signal problem with my iPhone 5

Where I live the signal isn't great and I just thought that was the reason I always struggled to get signal and texts kept coming through late. However this started happening in areas where I should get a decent signal. Sometimes it takes ages to receive the signal or I have to turn it on and off. I have to turn it on and off a lot of the time to be able to get 3G or GPRS, otherwise it just shows signal but it blank where it would normally say 3G/GPRS. Texts have also been coming through late in areas with good signal and sometimes my phone won't even ring and just go into voicemail, even though I've got full signal and 3G.

After getting tired with this I tried putting my SIM card in a Galaxy S2, and everything seemed to be working fine. Although I don't always get good signal, it's a lot better than the iPhone and I think everything's working how it should. I'm able to use whatsapp easily on GPRS without it taking about 10 minutes to 'connect'

This makes me think it's a problem with the phone and not the SIM card. I went to Vodafone however all they could do for me was give me a new SIM card as my iPhone is apparently out of warranty, and would have to pay for the repair. I took the new SIM card, but it's not worked

I've tried resetting my iPhone which seems to have improved it slightly but it's still not working properly. The woman in the Vodafone shop said that samsungs can pick up a better signal than iPhones, but I don't understand how a battered Galaxy S2 can pick up a much better signal than a 6 month old iPhone 5 (had it replaced in November 2013 due to the battery hardly lasting a day)

Any ideas what causing this? Or is the iPhone really that bad at receiving a signal. Been struggling to get iMessages to send, and then have the same problem when trying to send it as a text instead. Also is there anything I can do with Vodafone. The phone is still in contract so surely they should send it off for repair

Posted by tranced
Hey!

What iOS version you are on? They have done some updates and it could improve your reception.

Posted by randomuser
Maybe there is an issue with your particular unit. In my experience Iphones catch reception better than Samsung and Sony devices.

Posted by dizzybee
On the latest one. Think it's called 7.1.1, not made any difference I'm afraid

That's what I was thinking, however Vodafone don't want to do anything. Gonna try ringing them up. Any tips on what to say?

Posted by hihihans
Contact Apple. The phone is giving trouble, not the network.
Sometimes Apple has perfect service.

Posted by Tsepz_GP
In my experience iOS devices have always been behind the likes of Nokia, Samsung, Sony/SE and BBs when it comes to signal.

We have 3 iPhones here at home, a iPhon3GS, iPhone4S and iPhone5S and 3 iPads, an iPad 1 and two iPad 4s, all of them fall behind every phone we've had in the last 2years in signal, this includes: BB 9810 Bold, BB9900 Bold, BB Q10, SE Xperia X10, Samsung GS2, GS3, and GS4.

Signal where I am is spotty due to it being a valley, having a mix of houses plus high rise buildings, and constant development going on.

IMO, if you live in an area with bad reception the last phone you want is an iPhone; its slow at switching between 2G, 3G and 4G, they have a hard time with spotty signal and iOS simply does not deal well with 2G/2.5G, the 5S is an improvement but pales in comparison to the Q10 and GS4.

I'd say go ahead and update if you haven't already to iOS7.1.1, but don't expect miracles.

Posted by dizzybee
Out of warranty with Apple unfortunately but still in its contract with Vodafone

Managed to get Vodafone to take it in for repair after phoning up and complaining, not expecting miracle though lol