iPhone Constantly Searching For Carrier Signal

[Eli4S]

So I went into sprint yesterday and they ordered me a new refurbished iPhone 5 through their insurance program. Are refurbished phones just as good as new? I purchased my iphone 5 two months ago and was really hoping for a brand new one to replace it. If I went to an apple store (1.5 hours away) I could get a brand new one. Should I just go with the refurbished? Btw the searching has gotten worse and it's been searching all night and drained my battery.

 

[John Yester]

I hope your insurance claim was not used for a swap out.. That does not make sense if they did..

 

[anon(4698833)]

So I went into sprint yesterday and they ordered me a new refurbished iPhone 5 through their insurance program. Are refurbished phones just as good as new? I purchased my iphone 5 two months ago and was really hoping for a brand new one to replace it. If I went to an apple store (1.5 hours away) I could get a brand new one. Should I just go with the refurbished? Btw the searching has gotten worse and it's been searching all night and drained my battery.

They made you use their insurance program on a phone that is still well under warranty through Apple?

You'll most likely still get a refurbished unit, even at the Apple store, but the refurbished devices are just as good as the new ones, people just get their panties in a knot because of the terminology, the phones themselves are 99.99999% of the time indistinguishable compared to a brand new, factory sealed model.

 

[Eli4S]

Okay so a little update: I woke up this morning to my phone "searching..." all night. My battery dropped obviously really low to the point where it died after me just unlocking it. The insurance through sprint if I am not mistaken is a flat rate every month and for any reason I wanted I could get a refurb back at any time, it's not a one time insurance use. So the refurb will be here tomorrow for a swap out, I think I'm going to go with the refurb seeing as I really use my phone a lot being a college student with a job and 2 internships. I just wanted to make sure that refurbished units aren't bad in any way seeing as I just paid for my 5 just two months ago.

 

[John Yester]

Okay.. Now the question is.. What if it does the same thing..? Then what... As sprint said anything if that were to happen?

 

[Eli4S]

Sprint hasn't said anything about if it were to reoccur. I'm still debating just going with the refurb or to possibly wait till who knows when to go to the apple store.

 

[John Yester]

If it accures on the other device. I would definitely go into Apple and have things looked at.. Though maybe a carrier issue. If that carrier is supporting an Apple product. Apple with address the issue.

 

[IAmSixNine]

OP - Heres how it works.
Your insurance should be set up to provide you with refurb replacements thru Sprint at a Sprint store if its still under warranty or out of warranty and they cant fix it, and it does not have physical or liquid damage.
If it does have physical or liquid damage THEN you have to file a claim with Asurion and pay your deductible. Your allowed 2 of them per calendar year. Asurion is the insurance company Sprint and other carriers use for insurance on the devices.
Sprints refurbs should be better quality then Asurion units. Ive seen many units come from Asurion that still had issues.

Apple refurb units should be the best quality as apple is the manufacturer and they go back to themselves for the replacements. I have no problems getting a warranty device / refurb from Apple because they are the manufacturer and its easy for them to refurb devices. In some cases you get a new device because apple is great with its customer are in its apple stores.

So if it were my device, and it was under warranty, id go to apple first. As long as there is no liquid or physical damage, and its in its 1 year manufacturers warranty apple is the way to go.
Outside of warranty with no liquid or physical damage go to a Sprint store and use your insurance to get an in store "advanced exchange" replacement. Those are Sprint refurb devices.
IF its lost, stolen, liquid or physical damage Sprint will require you to file an insurance claim with Asurion and they send you one of thier refurbs.
Remember the insurance company is separate company from Sprint. So the supply of equipment is different.

 

[Eli4S]

Obviously I am not out of the 1 year warranty through Apple because I just got the device two months ago. However; I don't have the time to go to Apple to get a brand new replacement phone and may be forced to get a refurb from Sprint tomorrow when it comes in. I will keep you all posted on what the details are on the refurb device, although I am figuring it to be essentially the same as a new phone. BUT my phone now is in mint condition and if I see any scratches marks or dings on this refurb, then I won't take it and then wait until I can go to Apple.

 

[IAmSixNine]

The "advance exchange" devices from sprint are always supposed to be cosmetically like new devices.
I repair and refurb devices for a living and my quality control standards are a bit higher then some places. LOL I can say that with experience. Ive seen some of the devices that have come from Asurion and used to work at a 3rd party Sprint service center and saw some of those devices as well. But those problem devices were few and far between. I have zero tolerance for liquid damage phones, while some places clean them and pass them for others to use. I will not. They are usually problems waiting to happen.

Im sure the unit Sprint gives you will be fine. But with out comparing service coverage with others in your immediate area theres still a possibility it was not a phone problem.

 

[ame]

I would honestly reject the refurb through sprint and make time to go to Apple first. This is under warranty and you should not have had to file an Insurance claim at all, or pay a red cent for this.

 

[Eli4S]

Does anyone know if I actually have to pay for anything through this insurance that sprint offers? This just stinks because I just got the phone 2 months ago and was not expecting this. Are the refurbs really that bad?

 

[delta7]

LOL, It's a sprint thing trust me.. My 3g goes in and out and I get a big O right beside signal strength.

Sprint isn't good atm...

Take it to sprint and make them update it but that probably won't help much.

 

[Eli4S]

Never had this problem ever with my 4s of 2 months ago. And my friends have sprint in the area, no problems. And it was happening all over my state.

 

[born2ride41]

Re: Searching... Issue.

google no longer supports gmail as exchange on iphones unless its a paid address. Sure my work stuff will switch over just fine but my personal emails wont.
So the personal email addresses i use for gmail would not set up the same as on the phone i have now.

So that's y I couldn't get my contacts and stuff through gmail. Good to know I had no idea. I had to do it through windows And iTunes took me forever to figure it out I even called sprint and they tried to help me through it and never mentioned gmail no longer letting you do that

 

[IAmSixNine]

Does anyone know if I actually have to pay for anything through this insurance that sprint offers? This just stinks because I just got the phone 2 months ago and was not expecting this. Are the refurbs really that bad?

You will not have to pay for anything with Sprint or Apple.
With apple the phone is still under warranty and as long as they do find a problem, and no liquid / physical damage its covered under warranty. Last time i checked they didnt charge for that.
Sprint - You have insurance, so it will cover the cost of in store "advanced exchange" which is what your doing since the phone has no physical / liquid damage.
NOW if you loose your phone, lost / stolen / physical / liquid damage / THEN you would have to file a claim with Asurion, and pay the deductible and get a refurb from them.
Technically your not filing an insurance claim. Your going into a store and the in store policy is to replace the device if a problem is found, techs cant fix it in house, and theres no liquid or physical damage.

 

[Eli4S]

Thank you for clarifying the insurance for me! I will be heading in today to get the replacement from sprint. Surprisingly my phone only "searching..." once this morning, yesterday it was really bad though (the whole afternoon/night)

 

[ame]

Does anyone know if I actually have to pay for anything through this insurance that sprint offers? This just stinks because I just got the phone 2 months ago and was not expecting this. Are the refurbs really that bad?

If you filed this through carrier insurance you usually have to pay a deductible.

LOL, It's a sprint thing trust me.. My 3g goes in and out and I get a big O right beside signal strength.

Sprint isn't good atm...

Take it to sprint and make them update it but that probably won't help much.

I have ATT and mine does it too. It's not just Sprint. It's ongoing, multicarrier.

 

[Chase Isley]

if all of the steps in this article don't work, iPhone: Troubleshooting No Service, Just call Apple. They will send you a new one and you send the old one back in the same box.

 

[Eli4S]

Went through sprint and got my new phone this evening. Turns out all they really needed to do was "refresh" my network for my line specifically through customer care. Phone is great, signal seems even better than before.