Solution: iPhone 3G Data Service Not Working

After pulling my hair out for two days trying to get the data service on my iPhone back up and running, thought I'd post my fix. I found a few threads with similar problems, but no posted solutions.

My 3G internet service wasn't working. Voice service worked perfectly. Screen showed full 3G signal strength. Apps which required an online connection could not connect. Mail could not connect to mail servers. But when I connected via WiFi, everything worked perfectly.

Rebooted the phone. Reset Network Settings. Did a full restore via iTunes and reinstalled all my apps. All the usual troubleshooting steps. Fiddled with it for two days and still wouldn't work.

Here's what did: Settings > General > Network > Disable 3G. Went back to the home screen. Signal strength briefly drops and then reappears without the 3G symbol next to it. Settings > General > Network > Enable 3G. Went back to home screen again. 3G symbol reappears a moment later. Works great ever since.

Somehow turning the 3G switch on and off resets something that isn't reset by rebooting the phone or even a full system restore.

Hope this helps someone else with the same problem...

Im not running my iphone on at&t but i would like to thank you for posting this solution, it might come handy for others here

ZEEK said:

Im not running my iphone on at&t but i would like to thank you for posting this solution, it might come handy for others here

Click to expand...

thats not a problem with the AT&T network, its a device fault.

if it was a network error, the 3G internet connection would have been reestablished once the phone was rebooted, however since reboots, and a system restore did not fix the problem, and it took turning 3g off and back on to fix the problem, this leaves only one thing, the iPhone itself

Many thanks!!

I'm not on AT&T, nor do I reside in the US. Actually I'm on SoftBank in Japan, but I found this gem of advice via google and registered precisely to say THANK YOU!! I was panicking this morning when the data had stopped working.

You've saved me a LOT of hassle.

Welcome to MF! Hope you come back and visit us again!

The funny thing is... I don't even remember posting this or even having this problem. If you asked me for help, I wouldn't have remembered the answer. Glad Google dug it up for you!

Even though you don't remember this problem thanks for the info. I've been going crazy for the last couple days trying to figure out why I had no 3G service. Problem Solved.
Thanks again