Does anyone else's phone take FOREVER to find a network?

**ame** · 10-17-2011, 07:43 PM

I have ATT, but when I power it on or come back from airplane mode it's searching FOREVER. Like 30 seconds, where with my 4 it was almost instant....

could the sim be in wrong? Or is that an OS thing? or is there something wrong?

**ame** · 10-17-2011, 08:19 PM

I just went to ATT and got a new SIM, so far so good. If it isn't better tomorrow, Ill go to the Apple store.

**ghostface147** · 10-17-2011, 08:21 PM

I noticed this on a co-workers phone. His 4S booted up quicker than my 4, but I got my signal quicker. I am wondering if the Qualcomm baseband (which is a brand new 6610 and not the usual 6600) is a little raw on a GSM network compared to the iPhone 4 and below Infineon baseband.

I am guessing a future firmware update will fix this.

**ame** · 10-17-2011, 08:26 PM

I hope so. Because it's irritating as hell.

My 4 got it in like an instant. This 4s not so much.

**ghostface147** · 10-17-2011, 08:28 PM

I think it's hilarious that a first generation iPhone is quicker to get a signal and make a call than a 4S.

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

**ame** · 10-17-2011, 08:30 PM

For shame.

**ame** · 10-18-2011, 08:14 AM

So far this SIM change has rectified this issue. It took a while when we restarted the phone, but the guy said when you change a SIM that is normal. But when I took it off of airplane mode at home last night it was back to "normal" and fairly quick, and then this morning it took to a 7 count to kick the signal on. So I am guessing my SIM might have been the issue.

**Timhewitt** · 10-18-2011, 08:20 AM

Your SIM stores your location so that during a power on cycle - or coming off airplane mode - it can more quickly find your network. If this data is corrupted or your SIM can no longer store it, the search for a network can take quite some time.

Here's the relative section from Wikipedia which is pretty accurate:

The SIM stores network state information, which is received from the Location Area Identity (LAI). Operator networks are divided into Location Areas, each having a unique LAI number. When the device changes locations, it stores the new LAI to the SIM and sends it back to the operator network with its new location. If the device is power cycled, it will take data off the SIM, and search for the previous LAI. This saves time by avoiding having to search the whole list of frequencies that the telephone normally would.

**ame** · 10-18-2011, 08:23 AM

I honestly wonder how much had to do with the activation disaster on Friday. It just would not activate, and they tried a different SIM and just as the new SIM got in there the old one popped up. But it just wasn't cooperating all weekend. So I am glad I got in there last night. It was killing battery and making me crazier than is normal. SO FAR, so good. I really do not want to have to get a new phone.

**KaiFeng** · 10-23-2011, 03:04 AM

I'm having this issue and then some. My 4S will actually acquire the cell network but no EDGE or 3G data capability. No amount of restarts or hard resets will fix it. It's happened about four times now, with the Friday after launch day taking 20 minutes to actually get a data signal. My friend's iPhone 3GS had plenty of 3G coverage during that incident and location.
But I am getting plenty of long searching when I come off airplane mode fairly often also.
I'm in process with Apple support on this and am currently running it as a new install, but it really only happens when I'm at working and coming outside to get signal from airplane mode, so I will be testing it more next week.

**ame** · 10-23-2011, 10:30 AM

I would get a new sim first from ATT. If that doesn't fix it within 24 hours, make an apple store appt.

**GibMcFragger#AC** · 10-23-2011, 11:36 AM

I am on Bell and if I do a network settings reset it takes about 30 seconds of "searching..." to find the network whereas my previous iP4 would be almost instant. I also have other issues where it shows full bars but I don't actually have connection (happened once or twice, seems ok now).

Beamed over the interwebz from my iPhone 4S using Siri.

**KaiFeng** · 10-23-2011, 12:57 PM

I'll definitely try getting a new SIM before I send it back to Apple, as I'm 2 hours from my nearest Apple store. Looks like we're working two different solutions, so it'll be good to see if the SIM fixes it or if I have any more trouble this week with searching/data issues after a clean install.