UK iPhones having service / reception issues?

It's not clear how widespread the problem is, but a number of iPhone users in the UK are reporting serious reception issues on O2's network. Our source in the UK has told us that his O2 iPhone currently has no service in the same room as other O2 phones with five bars and an unlocked iPhone on Vodafone with full service, and Apple's UK support forums are buzzing with similar reports. Users are also reporting that replacement iPhones don't exhibit the same problems, so the problem might be with the device itself -- but that would be strange, seeing as iPhones in other countries don't have the same issues. For its part, Apple appears to be replacing units as they're brought in, and hasn't made any official statement on the matter yet -- any UK iPhone users out there care to chime in?

[Thanks, Wil]

Read - InformationWeek article
Read - Apple Support thread about the issue

[A33A @ Nov 27th 2007 11:37AM]

I hope they sell these broken iPhones at a reduced price
first post
doubt it

[Jhongerkong @ Nov 27th 2007 4:55PM]

A broken phone is worth more than a broken person

[Wil Harris @ Nov 27th 2007 11:40AM]

I am pretty convinced there's something wrong with the way the antenna is configured - putting the iPhone in the dock takes it from No Service to three bars straight off - obviously the dock is amping the signal / giving the phone more juice.

[shaunj66 @ Nov 27th 2007 11:42AM]

It's Vodafone. Not Vodaphone.

[something @ Nov 27th 2007 11:50AM]

I hate grammar/spelling trolls...

[Carbonize @ Nov 27th 2007 11:53AM]

Yes but given that Vodafone is an international company you'd expect a journalist, sorry a blogger, to know how to spell it.

[something @ Nov 27th 2007 12:49PM]

Agreed, but you would think that with Vodafone being an international company that educated readers would now who the journalist, sorry blogger, is referring to and make an attempt to read the story, sorry blog entry, for content instead of for spelling and grammar mistakes like a 4th grade english teacher.

[something @ Nov 27th 2007 12:51PM]

*know - I don't want you giving me a "C-" also

[Jon B @ Nov 27th 2007 11:53AM]

The only complaint I have is the lack of EDGE over the past few nights. According to O2 it's been "Scheduled Maintenence" but it isn't half annoying that they're taking their EDGE offline so soon after getting it off the ground for the iPhone launch. No complaints on coverage whatsoever though.

[Onescoop @ Nov 27th 2007 11:53AM]

having gone from tmobile to o2 and the iPhone, i've actually noticed a significant INCREASE in the places I can get reception.

[Carbonize @ Nov 27th 2007 11:55AM]

So now we have a lot of attention seeking geeks sat in public places pretending to receive calls on a phone that apparently can't receive calls anyway as opposed to on a phone that can.

Anyone else here in the UK find the iPhone adverts nausiating ?

"This isn't a watered down version of the web" Maybe not but can it send MMS yet?

[Jah @ Nov 27th 2007 12:21PM]

I am sick of the O2 adverts. It be costing O2 a fortune. And they've only activated about 27,000 iPhones! Complete failure!

[Elliot @ Nov 27th 2007 12:40PM]

I'm still waiting to bag my first poser pretending to make a call on his iPod touch.
I've got my mantrap waiting here, just..you..wait

[xbit @ Nov 27th 2007 2:20PM]

Yes, they're annoying AND false advertising.

"This isn't a watered down version of the web"

Sorry, Apple, it *is* watered down when you're forced to surf at dial-up speeds and without Flash support.

[Joe Henson @ Nov 27th 2007 11:55AM]

No problems with mine... apart for deep infatuation with it

[Matthew Hilario @ Nov 27th 2007 12:06PM]

damn those needy UKers. you already have an IPhone, now you want them to work too? asking a bit much do you say?

[PaulC @ Nov 27th 2007 12:14PM]

Reception is a tad iffy, though live-with-able. A colleague has returned his iPhone as he got no reception whatsoever at home. Don't know if there is supposed to be an E in the little box (top of screen) when out and about (not wi fi), but I have yet to see it. I know the US iPhone have it...

[Neil Christie @ Nov 27th 2007 12:17PM]

I can conclusively say that this is 100% spot on. I just this weekend moved from an unlocked iPhone on Orange which constantly gave full reception quality to an "official" O2 one which often struggles to get above 2 or 3 bars. Edge is practically non-existent here, just a few miles across the water from Edinburgh.

Disappointing is an understatement. Websites take FOREVER to load on this thing.

[Chad @ Nov 27th 2007 12:32PM]

I've had no problem with mine, full signal in my room, edge is slightly intermittent but then i live in the middle of nowhere, if i venture into town edge is fine.
Bit iffy further into the house but then so are all our other phones because the walls are lined with aluminum mesh, for some inexplicable reason. Plays havok with WiFi too.

Still, I have no need for a tinfoil hat, I have a tinfoil house.

[Elliot @ Nov 27th 2007 12:36PM]

serves you right you poncy gits with your flashy phones
oh wait, is this a gadget blog?

[Lee @ Nov 27th 2007 12:43PM]

Again i can only but agree with this. I'm unlocked and "was" on O2 where drop out issues in central London and non connecting Edge drove me to Vodafone. So far i've been issue free and the Vodafone guys have been fantastic in supporting the iPhone.

[ontop15 @ Dec 13th 2007 6:32AM]

i have an unlocked iphone and i had service on vodafone for about 10 mins then it not been back on since i live in b'ham!

[mms @ Nov 27th 2007 12:46PM]

I had this problem with my iphone here in the U.S. after doing the 2nd software update. If you check the apple support discussions there are quite a few people with similar issues. Ended up getting it replaced at the Apple Store.

[Don Berry @ Nov 27th 2007 1:39PM]

The problem is also here in the United States. Example: My wifes Razr2 gets 4 to 5 bars in the house and on my iphone I get 1 to 2 bars.

[Kizorblade @ Nov 27th 2007 1:39PM]

FAIL.

[John @ Nov 27th 2007 1:58PM]

Unlocked iPhone from US works a treat on Orange in the UK. Have been on O2 before with other handsets and found their coverage pretty poor in general.

[Fnet @ Nov 27th 2007 2:11PM]

UK Iphone owners would be seeing a 'jackass' image of them when they look in the mirror

[Rk @ Nov 27th 2007 2:19PM]

My unlocked UK iPhone has been temperamental in terms of reception but nothing TOO serious. It often floats around 1 bar when other o2 users have 5 (I'm using an o2 sim) - but a quick click of the standby button usually fixes it. Perhaps it's just not refreshing?

[Rk @ Nov 27th 2007 2:25PM]

They lied to you. It was NOT scheduled maintenance. My sources at o2 informed me something went awfully wrong and technicians were working, "around the clock," to rectify it.

[Rk @ Nov 27th 2007 2:27PM]

I love the O2 iPhone adverts. It shoves a brick up the asses of N95 owners and people who are using their Sagem 9xnr09393mf9bullshit94cX on pay as you go.

[xbit @ Nov 27th 2007 3:06PM]

Oh yeah, that brick must really hurt. You know, what with them surfing the net at HSDPA speeds, sending files to their friends via Bluetooth, recording video at VGA/30fps, sending SMS to multiple friends at once, copy and pasting, installing 3rd party software and stuff. It especially must hurt when they spend the £269 they saved on a 16GB iPod touch.

[Rk @ Nov 27th 2007 3:17PM]

Lol - or when their firmware crashes... the phone overheats... the battery dies after 20minutes and they're paying £3 per megabyte. Used to sell those bricks... to idiots.

[Aaron S @ Nov 27th 2007 11:39PM]

Last time I checked unlimited internet via HSPDA costs me £7.50 a month on t-mobile... add that to a stupidly cheap talk package, and a MDA Vario III, and I'm perfectly happy to say that I'm not really interested in an iPhone just yet. As with the original iPod, i'm sure Apple will nail it completely in a couple of Generations time... For the time being a Vario + an ipod nano does the job much cheaper, and in my opinion much better than a single unit.

[Rk @ Nov 28th 2007 2:32AM]

For the sake of a fair test, I am comparing the equivalent on o2, NOT T-Mobile as it could be said, "If the iPhone were on T-mobile...blah blah blah." So whatever you checked 'last time' is irrelevant.

[Rich @ Nov 28th 2007 5:25AM]

@Rk You work in a phone shop? That explains a lot...

By the way, O2 *also* offer flat rate Internet to non-iPhone customers. It's £7.50pm. You might want to read your CPW manual more thoroughly next time. For £35pm, O2 also offer N95 users more minutes and texts! Thanks for pointing out the 'fair test'.

[Byron Hinson @ Nov 27th 2007 3:19PM]

I had to return mine within 2 weeks of buying it in the UK due to lack of signal - it kept going from 5 bars, to 3, to 1 to 5, to 1 all day long, calls would cut out and any attempt to browse the internet was dire. There has been no sign of EDGE connections either.

The 2nd phone i have is much better with it very rarely dropping below 2/3 bars and touch wood - no call cut outs. Still not good enough for something we have paid so much for and with no comment from Apple or O2 it just shows what they think of their customers now they have the money.

[Byron Hinson @ Nov 27th 2007 3:20PM]

Oh and for anyone wondering - you have 28 days to return the iPhone as no signal or signal problems are being classed as a fault.

[slug @ Nov 27th 2007 3:40PM]

after paying the premium they are asking for the handset, i wouldn't expect a problem like this.

[Steve Childs @ Nov 27th 2007 4:25PM]

Well, have to say that on the whole reception on my phone has been fine. Its odd however that none of the reviews mentioned the limitations of the iPhone. eg. you cannot save ANYTHING to the device itself. Email Attachments, file donwloads in Safari - you simply cannot save anything to the device. I emailed a photo I wanted to use to myself, viewed it ok on the phone but you can't do anything with it - not even assign it to a contact.

But the nail in the coffin was it claims to supports Windows Vista, but fails to say "apart from the 64bit version". So its going back. And I'll go over to TMobile and their Vario 3 which can do everything the iPhone can do (although without as much sexyness) AND it can do a lot the iPhone can't.

Its cheaper to buy and cheaper per month. I wish I had never got wrapped up in Apple's hype machine. Certainly won't do it again.

[Jack W @ Nov 27th 2007 4:31PM]

My iPhone alternated between no service and 1 bar - unacceptable when other phones on the same network can get a decent signal in the same place. The advice from o2 was to switch the device off/ on. Never had to do that with a Nokia...

Needless to say I promptly returned the unit and cancelled my contract with o2. I'll wait for an unlocked 3G version and run it on Vodafone.

[Fnet @ Nov 27th 2007 4:58PM]

O2 only managed to sell just over 26,500 iphones in UK so far, what a flop. The projection in France is 100,000, wonder if they could even sell 10,000.

[Jon Evans @ Nov 27th 2007 6:10PM]

No problems here with mine. I get a much better signal than I used to get on Orange. In fact I even get 2 bars in the basement (living room), so I don't have to leave my phone on a table upstairs any more.

@PaulC: The E in a box means it has connected using EDGE, a blue box with no E means plain old GPRS.

[Phil @ Nov 27th 2007 6:15PM]

I love my iPhone, i get great reception on o2, edge isn't always easy to find in Liverpool, but I'm finding the phone itself one of the easiest and funnest phones that I've ever used.

I don't care how many they've sold, how much it might be deemed a rip off and how much

[MJZimmer88 @ Nov 27th 2007 6:56PM]

I've been noticing a few minor reception issues, where my iphone has not been receiving all of its phone calls. And im on AT&T in NEW YORK CITY! Their excuse when I called was that their phone towers are overloaded at times, and if you dont restart your phone every 24 hours or so, you risk being kicked off parts of them... thus messing up your reception. I dont know if i believe them, but thats what they said.

[ismaia @ Nov 28th 2007 4:28AM]

MJZimmer88, restart phone every 24hours otherwise the network will kick you is a lie. I've never heard such a process in my 15 years of designing and optimising mobile networks.

[markor @ Nov 27th 2007 7:26PM]

Well NO SERVICE is out there from the start, I have been experiencing same for over 2months on 5times unlocked (anySim, IPSF) it just seems that NO SERVICE comes and goes at no reason. Some blame heat near SIM card, some blame to much use of certain application. Nothing will make it go away ONLY TIME when You let it rest. Faulty parts is my answer. My iPhone in Czech republic from September2007.

[emgmac @ Nov 27th 2007 7:30PM]

phone in europe are 3 watts instead of half a watt is that why the iphone gets poor reception because its half a watt ?

[Dennis @ Nov 27th 2007 10:38PM]

I beg to differ with the statement about service in th U.S. I had my iphone for 1 1/2 days before going back to verizon due to "no service" at work where other AT&T members received calls left and right...also dropping calls at home...read the support forums, many have had this signal problem...Apple tech. says either the towers aren't good or bad hardware or SIM card. I want to try another phone though because I did like it...antenna placement seems to be a problem if you ask me

[Cam @ Nov 28th 2007 4:21AM]

I'm pretty sure this is nothing to do with the iPhone and down to the simple fact that UK reception and networks generally are not great and on a slow decline. (excluding vodafone). I'm using the N95 on t-mobile and im about to throw mine out im sick of it, my step dad has been on O2 from when it was BTCellnet and he reckons gradually the reception to his phone(s) is getting weaker.

[Rory @ Nov 28th 2007 5:45AM]

I get great reception on my iPhone and even a good Edge signal most of the time and I live in a little town in the middle of Wales (that's the country next to England for those of you geographically challenged).