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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > iPhone, iPad & iPod > Massive Fail: iPhone 4S No Audio During Calls

Massive Fail: iPhone 4S No Audio During Calls
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Big Mac
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Dec 30, 2011, 06:13 PM
 
My mother's iPhone 4S, her first iPhone, has been exhibiting the very serious bug in which she can call out but there's no audio when the call connects. It happened multiple times this afternoon. I told her to shut the phone off, restart it and try again, and I think that got it working, but she's very unhappy. She also said she could barely hear me, and I was speaking loudly on my 3GS. She said that it's a piece of shit, defective, and should be sent back. Not a good experience for a person's first iPhone.

I did a cursory investigation of this problem, and it seems this is a widespread problem, even one of international scope. In fact, there's currently a 106 page discussion about the problem on Apple's support forum (we'll see how long it lasts before the Apple police deem it too embarrassing). It seems to affect every carrier. I'm shocked that I haven't heard about this until now. None of the sites I frequent, nor the tweets I get, have mentioned it. This is an humongous problem. I fear for Apple and its stock value that the company has allowed this widespread level of Massive Fail.

I've experienced this type of bug on my 3GS, but only very rarely. I'd say perhaps four times over the last year. Some people are saying it's partially remedied by turning the speaker on and off, and I think my mother did that to get it to work before. That's no solution, though.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
turtle777
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Dec 30, 2011, 06:17 PM
 
I've read about it a few weeks back.

I just don't think it's really that widespread.
Sure, when it happens, it's really bad.

Let's wait to find out if it's a hardware or software problem.

-t
     
Big Mac  (op)
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Dec 30, 2011, 06:37 PM
 
I appreciate your mature outlook, turtle, I really do. But with 1,578 replies across multiple countries and multiple carriers, I'd say this isn't an isolated issue. I hope it's happening to only a small fraction of iPhone 4S owners, but to me it's definitely widespread and very serious.

Addendum: I recognize the fact that satisfied customers don't write to say how satisfied they are that everything works. One hears disproportionately from a minority that has problems. But that doesn't necessarily mean the problems aren't serious.
( Last edited by Big Mac; Dec 30, 2011 at 07:16 PM. )

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
-Q-
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Dec 30, 2011, 08:58 PM
 
Certainly not to discount the seriousness of the problem, but four-tenths of one percent of iPhone 4S users (and that's just using opening weekend sales numbers versus the assumption that all 1578 posters are unique users so it's techically not even %0.04) don't make it a widespread problem. I'm sure its being looked into, but it is in no way a "massive fail."
     
hyteckit
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Dec 30, 2011, 09:59 PM
 
Originally Posted by -Q- View Post
Certainly not to discount the seriousness of the problem, but four-tenths of one percent of iPhone 4S users (and that's just using opening weekend sales numbers versus the assumption that all 1578 posters are unique users so it's techically not even %0.04) don't make it a widespread problem. I'm sure its being looked into, but it is in no way a "massive fail."
Don't use logic and common sense with Big Mac. It won't work. He sees the world thru his own lens.
Bush Tax Cuts == Job Killer
June 2001: 132,047,000 employed
June 2003: 129,839,000 employed
2.21 million jobs were LOST after 2 years of Bush Tax Cuts.
     
ghporter
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Dec 30, 2011, 10:11 PM
 
Staying on topic includes not taking cheap shots. I'm just saying....

A geographically widely dispersed problem does not make it "widespread," though it does indicate that there is probably something at the core of the 4s telephone functionality that is occasionally borked with these phones. I'll also point out that if there is this much public discussion of the problem, than it's likely that Apple is fully aware of it - and as usual, they're going to fix is their own way, rather than publicly saying something is wrong while they're working on the fix.

A friend had an iPhone 3 that had a similar problem from time to time. I wound up being "magically cured" at some point, which he and I were able to correlate with an update to the phone's firmware that my find installed without really knowing it because it was part of an OS update too.

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Waragainstsleep
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Dec 31, 2011, 08:28 AM
 
Have you tried restoring the phone?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
cgc
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Dec 31, 2011, 10:40 AM
 
I'm curious if any of these "borked" phones have been jail broken (of course nobody would admit it as it would prolly void the warranty).
     
chabig
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Dec 31, 2011, 05:42 PM
 
If it's a software problem Apple will fix it with software. If it's a hardware problem, Apple will replace the phone under warranty.

By the way, if this is her first iPhone and she can barely hear when the other party speaks, it could be because she does not know how to adjust the volume. It's possible.
     
Big Mac  (op)
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Jan 1, 2012, 11:00 AM
 
Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep View Post
Have you tried restoring the phone?
Not yet because it's barely a month old with very little on it, and it started fresh (not from a backup of a previous iPhone). I'll have to try it as a troubleshooting step though.

Originally Posted by cgc View Post
I'm curious if any of these "borked" phones have been jail broken (of course nobody would admit it as it would prolly void the warranty).
I sincerely doubt jailbreaking would have anything to do with this problem. But for the record my mother's iPhone isn't.

Originally Posted by chabig View Post
If it's a software problem Apple will fix it with software. If it's a hardware problem, Apple will replace the phone under warranty.
If it's a software issue the fix is pretty long in coming.

By the way, if this is her first iPhone and she can barely hear when the other party speaks, it could be because she does not know how to adjust the volume. It's possible.
Possible. I'll have to verify that with her. I have a lot of testing to do with the phone.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
turtle777
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Jan 1, 2012, 01:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
Not yet because it's barely a month old with very little on it, and it started fresh (not from a backup of a previous iPhone). I'll have to try it as a troubleshooting step though.
I have restored my iPhone 4S already TWICE in just a few months.

I've had some really quirky things happen. Not sure if the restore fixed it, but it felt to me it did on some level. You should give it a try.

-t
     
SierraDragon
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Jan 1, 2012, 02:08 PM
 
What is the big deal? Of course a few thousands of phones out of many, many millions will have issues.

The solution is called warranty repair. I do not understand why some folks get all bent out of shape about the (relatively few) units that slip through QA/QC and/or have flaws quickly fixed with firmware/software upgrades or warranty repair/replacement.
     
Big Mac  (op)
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Jan 1, 2012, 02:15 PM
 
Do you really think that the thousand who have written in that thread about the issue are the only ones to have experienced it? No, for every person writing in there are probably a number more who haven't. It's like what politicians say about constituent letters - for every person who bothers to write, many more feel the same way.

It's easy to say no big deal when you're not the one impacted by it. My mother relies on my tech purchasing advice, and I'm the one who feels responsible if things don't go well. But if it were only a few isolated reports, that would be one thing. I'd just chalk it up to bad luck. This is not a few isolated incidents. Mammoth threads aren't spawned by isolated incidents.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." TJ
     
turtle777
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Jan 1, 2012, 04:13 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
Do you really think that the thousand who have written in that thread about the issue are the only ones to have spawned by isolated incidents.
Uhm,THOUSANDS, really?

I'm pretty sure it's far less than 1,000 unique members posting in that thread.

-t
     
Waragainstsleep
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Jan 1, 2012, 04:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
Do you really think that the thousand who have written in that thread about the issue are the only ones to have experienced it? No, for every person writing in there are probably a number more who haven't. It's like what politicians say about constituent letters - for every person who bothers to write, many more feel the same way.

It's easy to say no big deal when you're not the one impacted by it. My mother relies on my tech purchasing advice, and I'm the one who feels responsible if things don't go well. But if it were only a few isolated reports, that would be one thing. I'd just chalk it up to bad luck. This is not a few isolated incidents. Mammoth threads aren't spawned by isolated incidents.
Get a grip. You are talking a thousand or less out of how many million units sold? That qualifies as isolated cases. If Apple or anyone else could make anything with a 0% failure rate don't you think they would?
People are far too het up about tech products. These are complex luxury items and sometimes they break. No-one's life depends on it, its not a life support machine or a car or a space shuttle. Its a phone which they will swap out or repair for you with minimal fuss or inconvenience. Get some perspective.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
cgc
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Jan 1, 2012, 09:27 PM
 
At least the OP used a the annoying and cliche term "massive fail"...yawn...nothing to see here, pelase disperse.
     
turtle777
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Jan 1, 2012, 10:09 PM
 
I don't know how many iPhone 4S have been sold to date.
My guess would be in the 20M units range worldwide.

Let's say you have 1,000 defective units over 20M sold. That's 0.005%, or 50PPM (parts per million defective).
Heck, double or triple that. For a consumer product, that would be a stelar quality number.

-t
     
   
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