iPhone Cellular Network Troubles...

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Ok, here's my problem...

For the past month, I've been experiencing network related issues, i.e. connection to cellular network. I have no problem connecting to WiFi networks. There are completely random times when I will be sitting at my desk in my office where I have full bars of service and when I unlock my phone, the connection drops completely for about 20 seconds. This also happens at home (about 25 miles from the office) where I normally have full service as well. It seems to happen when I unlock my phone, when I open an application that uses the data connection (including safari), and also when I open my email. Oh, yes and this happens during phone calls, as well.

As you can imagine, I'm quite frustrated...

I have spoken with two Apple geniuses on this issue. The first time, we restored my phone and seemed to work great for about 5 hours - then this issue started reoccurring. I called AT&T support and had them check to make sure cell tower infrastructure work was not being done in the areas I was at when this happens (let me point out, this happens anywhere I'm at, not just at the office and at home) and they confirmed that nothing out of the ordinary was taking place and had scheduled a hardware replacement that same day.

Went to Apple, replaced my phone, took it home everything seemed great! I was thankful. Restored my previous phone settings, still no issues. The next day, things started acting up again - losing my connection to the 3G network for 20 seconds, getting it back with full service signal for about a minute, then losing it again for about 20 seconds, and so on and so forth. I was starting to get pretty irritated. Went to AT&T, asked for a new sim card as I thought there might have been a problem with it communicating with my device. Worked fine for about 30 mins, then I started to drop connection in the same manner as before...completely random.

I'm at my wits end in trying to troubleshoot this. I've removed all 3rd party applications from my phone, removed my email accounts and still have the same issue. I've rebooted several times and still I have this problem. My last effort is to restore to factory settings as there could be something wrong with the phone's OS in the iTunes backup. (I'm going to have fun getting all my numbers back in my phone...is there an easier way to do this?)

Has anyone dealt with this same issue I'm having??? I'm beginning to think that AT&T might be doing some data throttling on their networks because for the past 3 months I've had well over 200MB of data communication on my phone. I'm not sure if this is a lot, however, compared with other customers. Has anyone had problems like mine that have high data downloads on their device?

Here are some screen shots: My Photos
 
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I've gotten that on occasion, but not very often. You can try turning off 3G and then tuning it back on, that has worked for me in the past. You could leave 3G off for a bit and see if things get better, that would pinpoint it as a 3G issue, not an overall network issue. Based on what you have said, this does indeed sound like an AT&T issue in your area. Do you have any friends/co-workers with iPhones that are experiencing this issue or is it just you?
 
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I've talked with people at Apple and AT&T who actually witnessed this happening on my device and they have all said that they haven't heard of this ever happening before... :Grimmace:

My brother and other friends with iPhones and AT&T are not experiencing this problem either...
 
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Well, try what I suggested above then.
 
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Spent most of the day with 3G turned off. Had a great signal with EDGE network. Turning 3G back on now...will follow up with how it goes.
 
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Just got a call from AT&T saying there was a problem with the 3G network in my area. They reset some stuff and said I should be good to go. Was good for about 30 mins then my issues started happening again... Calling AT&T tomorrow again and having them reopen the case...
 
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how frustrating! I hope you talk them into giving you some sort of compensation for all your troubles! (They may give in to giving you a month or two free service if you ask nicely)
 
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Oh yes, I expect not to pay each month this continues. They've been nothing but polite and courteous in dealing while this issue and of course I have been with them also - it's my expectation/deservance (as it should be for all consumers) when I sign up for a service and the provider doesn't provide the service, I'm not paying. Maybe it's cause I've discussed with them opening a legal complaint with BBB or FCC that they've been so nice to me so far. But, it's getting a bit ridiculous that tech support has not resolved the issue...and a bit worrying. But I guess coming from the software + services industry myself, I understand how things like this can take a while to resolve as it could be any number of issues. Just takes time to troubleshoot and understand what exactly could be happening... *sigh* :(
 
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AT&T called me back. They want me to replace my phone again. They had said that they had people out in my areas with multiple phones testing the connections and found no problems. They said it might be possible that I have another bad phone, however, not sure if that's right because the first one I had was great from release date up until about a month ago. I will let you all know how everything pans out... :)
 
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Update: Got the new phone, everything is working great - back to normal! :) However, I do not think anyone knows for sure of what was causing my problems... :( I however have not sync'd the phone with my macbook yet as I'm afraid it might break it. I've had it for about a week now and might brave connecting it to my itunes tonight. Thanks for all your help and suggestions - sounds like this case will never be 'solved' and will remain filed in a dusty and rusted out unsolved mystery file cabinet...
 

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