Iphone 5

john1002

Ok so Im about to take the plunge with a new iphone. Buying it sim free. Now my only reservation is that I currently use a 3gs and well its mobile signal reception is very patchy, for example on the school run it often during the journey and to be fair certain parts of my house shows no service. Now my android cheap lg phone on the same journey and in the house never looses the signal. I am using the same network etc so its not network problems.

So is this discrepency down to the now quite old 3gs or could i face the same problem with the iphone 5.

Any pointers?

Cheers

john

AndyPK

you could face the same problem.

If you sell it on ebay chances are you will get alot of your money back though!

So keep the box, receipt etc !

Although you will probably been impressed with the weight, camera, speed you will want to keep it!


Don't forget they take a nano sized sim. You can get nano sim cutters on ebay.

Frozen_up_north

My iPhone 5 is poor signal wise compared to an old Skype S2 phone, both are on Three. I have compared my iPhone with another "5" and they were both the same...

In a poor signal area, as per the Three coverage map, the iPhone showed no signal yet the cheap old S2 phone not only showed a couple of bars of signal but was able to make and receive calls.

While I love my iPhone 5, they are not the best in weak signal areas.

Also are you aware of the 4G limitations of the current iPhone 5? They are compatible with EE and Three for 4G, but not O2 or Vodafone. The latter two bought additional frequencies in the recent auction and these are not currently included with the iPhone 5. No doubt there will be an iPhone 5S or 6 out soon to address the 4G in the UK issue.

john1002

frozen thanks for that i was not aware of that limitation, to be fair wasnt really buying for 4g as i live in the sticks so would take some time before we get it, we dont even have fibre yet and only just getting a llu exchange in sept.

Bit stuck now as if the signal issue is the same may have to go for a nexus just really like the ios system and how easy it is to back up and more importantly reinstall.

john

fishybusiness

Agree with frozen.

My iphone was patchy at home, on the Three network when my previous android phones worked without issue. Dropped calls, redials after connection etc. I thought is was my phone and had it checked - all ok I was told.


Sold it, bought a Blackberry, haven't had any issues since.

Wouldn't have another unless I changed network and moved house.

Orrin

If you buy online you also have the option of a 7 day return under DSR which should give you a chance to check the quality of the reception.

Apple also have their own 14 day returns policy if you buy from them.

Celli

I just got an iphone 5 last week and have found it very good for getting a signal ( T Mobile ). Where I live its dreadful for any kind of signal, we seem to be in a real blackspot, but despite this and living in a house that usually cant get a signal inside, Ive been making and receiving calls with no problem.

NFH

There is a well known problem with the iPhone 5 causing it to display "No Service". This is discussed at length in a 364-post thread on Apple's forums.

If you go into a coverage blackspot and then return into coverage, the iPhone 5 often fails to reconnect automatically to the network. In order to force the phone to reconnect to the network, you have to restart the phone, turn aeroplane mode on and back off, or try to make a call. It is unclear whether this is hardware or software related, but given that two of these three methods don't require a restart, it points at a software problem.

The problem particularly affects customers of networks which have 4G capability, even if the customer isn't enabled for 4G service.

john1002

thanks NFH for the details and all the others. Think ill go with apple and the return policy and give it a try.

john

Celli

NFH wrote: »

There is a well known problem with the iPhone 5 causing it to display "No Service". This is discussed at length in a 364-post thread on Apple's forums.

If you go into a coverage blackspot and then return into coverage, the iPhone 5 often fails to reconnect automatically to the network. In order to force the phone to reconnect to the network, you have to restart the phone, turn aeroplane mode on and back off, or try to make a call. It is unclear whether this is hardware or software related, but given that two of these three methods don't require a restart, it points at a software problem.

The problem particularly affects customers of networks which have 4G capability, even if the customer isn't enabled for 4G service.

Thats handy to know, so far mines been fine as I still lose signal when I take the dog up into the forestry, where theres no signal on any network, phone has so far hooked back up again, but you never know .