back to article iOS 6.1 KNACKERED our mobile phone networks, claim Vodafone, Three

Vodafone has urged iPhone 4S owners to not upgrade to iOS 6.1, the latest available, because it believes the software jams 3G and phone connections. Vodafone claimed that the bug is Apple's fault and that it affects Voda's rivals as well as its own UK network, although it only named Three Austria* as another impacted telco. …

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  1. Naughtyhorse
    Trollface

    it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

    well they would, but they cant get a signal on this damn jesus phone

    :D

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Bob Vistakin
      Holmes

      Re: it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

      Apple handsets are now legacy.

      You'll see a lot more of this as they try to catch up with Android by attempting to copy, err, sorry, innovate its latest features into their quaint little old handsets - the ones which close users into their AOL-style walled garden as used in days long gone by.

      Gosh how things change.

      Skeuomorphic design is now about as fashionable as the Bay City Rollers. Market share is falling. The one-size-fits-all handset decision made at the start has come home to roost in spades - this approach so off target you can feel the embarrassing pain of the diehards trying to excuse them next to the S3s and N4s of this world.

      And all the while you hear of Android demolishing them in handset sales, about to overtake them in tablets having just matched their share there, and manufacturers using it in fridges, washing machines, cars etc. This just highlights the wisdom of the closed vs open approach greedy Saint Jobs lumbered them with, snobbily turning up his nose at such crudities.

      Still, they're currently still making a handsome profit from the remaining iSheep yet to realize what's being done to them, and that's all that matters. Whilst it lasts.

      1. Doogie1
        Thumb Down

        Re: it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

        "You'll see a lot more of this as they try to catch up with Android by attempting to copy"

        So you're saying that Apple copied this from Android? Where's your evidence fanboi?

      2. Aaron Em

        Strange

        Last I checked, you had to join the Google borg to do anything worthwhile with an Android. Meanwhile my iPhone cruises happily along with all my calendars and contacts plugged into it and syncing both ways via CardDAV and CalDAV, to a server I set up for myself and I administer. The Android clients for those protocols are at versions 0.3 and 0.2 respectively, are broken in many exciting ways, and still cost money. I took my phone out of the box and pointed it at my Baikal install, and it just works. iCloud? If I wanted to, sure. But I don't have to. Pretty good for a "legacy" platform, and exactly what I expected when I paid extra for a premium experience instead of cheaping out on Android and all the suffering that implies.

        The market share argument is cute, too. By that reasoning, Windows is a better desktop OS than Linux, because it has a larger install base. (Which reverses cause and effect; it's a better desktop OS than Linux, therefore it has a larger install base.) And who cares if their dishwasher or their toilet runs the same OS as their phone? I

        mean, who actually wants that?

        1. PrivateCitizen

          Re: Strange

          Last I checked, you had to join the Google borg to do anything worthwhile with an Android.

          Not strictly true.

          Meanwhile my iPhone cruises happily along with all my calendars and contacts plugged into it and syncing both ways via CardDAV and CalDAV, to a server I set up for myself and I administer.

          If you have the know how to set up and admin a server, you can do this on droid devices as well.

          1. Simple Simon

            Re: Strange

            Just to re-iterate that point:

            We have servers running Postfix (SMTP), Dovecote (IMAP), CalDAV and CardDAV - serving a mixture of iOS, OSX, and Android (all of multiple versions). They all talk, and they all sync.

            Sure, the iOS devices are bound to an iTunes account, and the Android devices are bound to a Google ID, but we don't use any of the cloud services from anyone.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Strange

          I've got an iphone, android and wm7.8 phone.

          So ... what does the iphone ask for when you take it out of the box / reinstall it, other than an apple account? Numpty.

          I had a mac once - utterly disgusted it wouldn't start until i entered a shed load of details including an address. Live in your little bubble blabbing on about activation in windows whilst handing the family silver over to apple.

          Guess what? The internet happened. They all ask for far too much, and most of use willingly hand it over...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Strange

            "I had a mac once - utterly disgusted it wouldn't start until i entered a shed load of details including an address. Live in your little bubble blabbing on about activation in windows whilst handing the family silver over to apple."

            It certainly asks for your details but if you're observant enough to notice the "Skip" button at the bottom right you would find that OS X certainly does install and start without requiring any PII.

            1. Danny 14
              Stop

              Re: Strange

              At work we have many devices owned by many people. The only ones that have ever given me gripe connecting to our network and exchange system were blackberries. They wanted BES or nothing (no idea about the new ones). Sure blackberries could use imap but no calendar sync etc.

              iPhones, symbian, WM6.5, WP7 and android (2.2+) all happily talked to exchange and our network. When we upgraded to exchange 2010 there were a few issues with old androids but 2.3+ seemed to work just fine (the WM had dropped off the radar and I think we still have a single WP phone who hasnt complained).

              We have a few ipads that I am hesitant to install 6.1 due to the transaction log issues, i'll read up more before blindly updating (as I do with all service packs).

              I have a galaxy s2 with a gmail account (as you need to have a gmail account for android to essentiall work) although it doesnt sync, has never been used, doesnt have a calendar attached etc. Ive use exchange and my work email from the first day I owned it. Not sure what you mean about the google jab etc. Our ipads are using an itunes account set up with works details. There are many ipads using that account without issue.

              1. Bronek Kozicki
                Coat

                Re: Strange

                "Sure blackberries could use imap but no calendar sync etc"

                new BB (Z10, Q10) implement both ActiveSync and IMAP, you should be able to access full Exchange functionality with this, BES no longer needed.

                just saying

            2. Shufflemoomin
              Thumb Down

              Re: Strange

              That's not always been the case. About ten years ago, a company I was working for were holding an education seminar and we'd bought about 150 original CRT iMacs. We had to have a team of people opening the boxes, switching them on and going through that setup, which included entering full registration details. So, you've not always been able to skip that.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Strange

                "That's not always been the case. About ten years ago, a company I was working for were holding an education seminar and we'd bought about 150 original CRT iMacs. We had to have a team of people opening the boxes, switching them on and going through that setup, which included entering full registration details. So, you've not always been able to skip that."

                I don't know about 10 years ago, but I've sold about half a dozen of my used Macs over the last 5 years. My process is to wipe the hard drive, reinstall the OS, and create a new user account so I can demonstrate that everything works. At no point have I ever been forced to enter any PII, which I obviously wouldn't do since I was selling the computers to other people.

              2. green_giant

                Re: Strange

                I remember from my days at working at a large college these sort of registration problems. After doing a few I did a quick net search and found you can press a key combo at that screen to bypass it completely.

                Command + Q possibly.

              3. Frank Bough

                Re: Strange

                Why didn't you image the disk, FFS? What a colossal waste of time.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Strange

            You can skip the registration.

            "Press Command-Q and then click Skip".

          3. Frank Bough
            FAIL

            Re: Strange

            You don't have to provide ANY details apart from a user name and password to set up a Mac. It's all optional. Learn to READ dialogue boxes, man.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Strange

          Funny how Eadon keeps saying Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are a failure when even Windows Phone 8 has more users on it than his beloved Linux does on the desktop.

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Strange

          The Android clients cost money but you setting up your own server was somehow easier and free? Lolz.

          And funny you should bring in some argument about Linux being best, conveniently forgetting Android is (a version of) Linux. You big twitty twit. Lolz again.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

        "You'll see a lot more of this as they try to catch up with Android by attempting to copy, err, sorry, innovate its latest features into their quaint little old handsets - the ones which close users into their AOL-style walled garden as used in days long gone by."

        The problem here is hardly Apple trying to play catch up with Android. According to the article it's a bug with Exchange support, which Apple introduced with iOS version 2.0 in mid-2008, several months before the very first Android phone became commercially available.

        So please take your rant somewhere where it might have at least some semblance of relevance.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

          I see your point, but it still points out that Apple STILL cannot get Exchange support right. They are dealing with an issue from 2008? And something as big as Exchange support?

          For a company as big as Apple, this really shouldn't be the case. That being said, Android has more than it's fair share of things that need "fixing". Why can't we all just agree that it's "best tool for job?" :(

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

        >This just highlights the wisdom of the closed vs open approach

        Bullshit, it's not the open vs closed approach. But the "open and free" vs closed and not free approach.

        If Android was open source but every OEM had to pay Google £10 million to use it I think you would see quite a difference in the number of Android OEMs.

        As it stands, OEMs have to licence Google apps and marketplace from Google, however this is pretty much essential to get any sort of decent user experience (at least one good app marketplace is). But adding the ability to add apps generally will fall at the end of the development cycle anyway.

      5. Frank Bough
        WTF?

        Re: it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

        Wow. You've been sucking down the Android Kool-Aid pretty hard.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: it won't even talk to the BBC on this issue.

      Already history as the update was out yesterday...

  2. Ye Gads

    Crashing the mobile network

    There's an app for that...

    1. Tom 7

      Re: Crashing the mobile network

      funny you should mention that - its the first time I've actually wanted an iPhone. That would be a fun app to have!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Crashing the mobile network

        Not seen any issue with any of the 4s or 5 handsets we have updated to 6.1.

        1. Danny 14

          Re: Crashing the mobile network

          are you on vodaphone or use exchange? If neither apply then I doubt you'll have an issue.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Crashing the mobile network

            Vodafone yes. As for 3G problems - did a speedtest and was getting 16-17mbps.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's probably not the phone

      Vodafone have a history of putting crapware on phones that are banded and locked into the network. It's probably something that Vodafone wants to take control of like the minutiae of your lives which the update prevents them doing.

      On a plus point, maybe the update gives out free texts and calls on all international numbers, they won't admit to that will they?

      1. Frank Bough

        Re: It's probably not the phone

        Absolutely, and they STILL don't support visual voicemail. Lazy twats.

    3. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Boffin

      Re: Crashing the mobile network

      Shock, Horror!!!!!!!

      • Fruity Fone not perfect
      • Vodafone network broken
      • O2 haven't a clue what's happening
      • Three denying there is a problem

      SNAFU.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    Updates

    As a rule I try to avoid being an early adopter of any updates regardless of the manufacturer. With modern kit there are so many circumstances in which the device is used that it is impossible to test for them all. So end users end up being the guinea pigs.

    1. Annihilator
      Meh

      Re: Updates

      Indeed. I do like the ominous advice that just says "don't download it", and no mention of "you've downloaded it? bad luck then"

      It's tricky to strike the balance though. On my desktop I allow the autoupdates to apply themselves, primarily due to MS having a surprisingly good track record of these updates of late. 5 years ago, maybe not, but today I'm reasonably confident MS won't blow my machine out of the water, and in the world of zero-day exploits it's worth that risk.. Plus I can usually roll-back a patch if need be.

      However on my good lady wife's iPhone, I believe it's set by default to notify you of any updates, and ask you whether to install or not. She clicked "ok". Fingers crossed there's no issue, as on that particular platform there's no rollback possible.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    THEY'RE HOLDING IT WRONG.

  5. The Brave Sir Robin
    Facepalm

    Fanbois possibly responsible for sat nav failure ?

    A heck of a lot of UK Tomtom sat nav users have been unable to connect to the Live Traffic HD service since Feb 6th. The service is hosted on the Vodafone network. The error is something along the lines of "Can't establish wireless data connection".

    I'll be well miffed if my getting stuck in traffic is Apple's fault. Not content with buggering up fanbois navigation they want to bugger up everybody else's.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Fanbois possibly responsible for sat nav failure ?

      From my recent experiences of Tom Tom traffic, its their servers that are the issue, not Vodaphone. Back in November the service was awful and when I was using it a couple of weeks back it went through a stage of going on and offline during a journey.

      1. David Ward 1

        Re: Fanbois possibly responsible for sat nav failure ?

        Mr C Hill, how do you know that it was the servers and not the data connection that were the problem?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Fanbois possibly responsible for sat nav failure ?

          In the case of the outage that lasted for several days at the end of last year, because Tom Tom admitted it and ended up refunding a load of users for their traffic subs.

          Other outages have been attributed to "providers" which could mean Vodaphone. But there is something rather flakey about the whole setup.

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. djstardust
    FAIL

    In-house testing?

    Yet again the perils of in-house testing with femtocells rears it's ugly head.

    Shit for the end user but illeviates the chances of a jesus phone being left in a bar ........

  7. Andy Watt
    WTF?

    2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

    It's been a while since I did any air interface work (I was mainly L2 and above but I did tinker in L1), but this sounds like a classic interworking issue of some kind. The fact that the other networks aren't having it makes me wonder if Vodafone's push to get their RAN integrated more (less things to hook together) hasn't backfired.

    What's the state of play, vodafone? Are you having growing pains? Or is this genuinely an iphone software issue?

    In either case, the issue must be in the infineon (is that the chipset in the 4s?) "modem" side, rather than the apps processor, as my 3GS on 6.1 and my wife's iphone 4 appear to be fine...

    All smells a bit fishy to me. Vodafone's network quality has been deteriorating since they stopped doing all their network business / maintenance with Ercisson exclusively, IMO.

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: 2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

      Indeed I wonder if this is Vodafones lack of investment in their network over the last few years coming home to roost......

      Remember when they used to claim they had the best network for 3g and it was empirically

      true? (for my use - YMMV)

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

      4S uses a Qualcomm MDM6610. iPhone 4 was an Infineon X-Gold.

      1. Andy Watt
        Thumb Up

        Re: 2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

        Thanks for that, good info.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

      Hmm. This is the same Vodafone network that crashed Nokia phones (mine, and that of a colleague, different models) from French network SFR as soon as they roamed onto it, although they could be forced onto other UK networks without problem.

    4. bazza Silver badge

      Re: 2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

      Vodafone are saying that voice calls and texts are affected, it's not just data connections. That and the specificity of the make/model of the troublesome handset they cite as being the cause would indeed suggest that it's an air interface problem, not some higher level of the stack.

      It seems difficult to believe that Vodafone's network has some undesirable characteristic specific to the iPhone 4s. At the air interface level the network doesn't really know or care that it is an iPhone 4s that it's talking to; it's just another 3G mobile unit. And if the fault was in the next layer up in the UMTS stack it wouldn't bring down the whole air interface for everyone.

      However if the 4s isn't complying strictly with the UMTS ait interface standard then it could easily bugger up the network. Mobile network standards like GSM and UMTS have relied on heavy duty compliance testing to ensure overall network reliability. The networks themselves aren't necessarily designed to be resilient to a rogue handset. UMTS 3G in particular relies heavily on all mobiles on a cell properly controlling their power output; get that wrong in just one mobile and the whole cell will struggle.

      However, if it is Apple's fault it must be a deep down and rarely seen part of the UMTS standard that's affected because other networks are apparently not complaining of an issue. It maybe that Vodafone are doing power management in their network differently to other networks, so perhaps they've exposed a bug in Apple's air interface chip.

      "All smells a bit fishy to me. Vodafone's network quality has been deteriorating since they stopped doing all their network business / maintenance with Ercisson exclusively, IMO."

      3G (CDMA200 and UMTS) are difficult networks to manage at the best of times. They were stupid standards which the standards engineers put together without looking at the problems that CDMA had. Mixing up the management and maintenance is not going to help... 4G should be a lot simpler.

      1. Andy Watt
        Thumb Up

        Re: 2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

        Good call, bazza. True nuf that if the 4S is violating the noise floor or somesuch, then it'll nuke the cell for everynoe... interesting to have seen a mobe go out which might actually do this: totally agree on the WCDMA standard being a bit "knife edge" for consumer gear, I always wondered how brittle spread-spectrum might get when manufacturers got inevitably" lazy" :-)

    5. Frank Bough

      Re: 2G / 2.5G / 3G air interface test engineer here...

      I use a 4S on Voda and have had no more probs than usual using 6.1 (now 6.1.1). Mind you, I don't use Exchange. Disappointed that Voda signal still utterly shit in my hometown, of course.

  8. At0micAndy

    we are on O2 via Tesco, and no one here has had any problems.

    1. Paul Shirley

      ...but it's O2s shitty network. Unless the network completely falls over for more than 8 hours how would you even notice any change... O2 never seem to notice without prodding from customers whatever happens ;)

  9. Stephen Channell
    WTF?

    Distributed Denial Of Service?

    Maybe the aerial problem is flooding the network with connect messages …

    Given that the emergency services use Vodafone, maybe its time to do what ISPs do with DDOS attacks, and blacklist offending IMEA address!

    1. Steve Todd
      FAIL

      Re: Distributed Denial Of Service?

      Areal problem? The 4S is fine. The 4 had issues under some circumstances but was mostly fine also. Not that at all.

      1. Steve Todd

        Re: Distributed Denial Of Service?

        S/Areal/aerial/

        (When are we going to get editing el reg? Pretty much everyone else gives you a limited edit window these days)

        1. Ru

          Re: Distributed Denial Of Service?

          I can edit my posts. Would seem a bit silly if it were a privilege only offered to silver-badged users.

          edit: indeed, after posting I see three things at the bottom of my new post, zero votes, a reply button and an edit button.

          1. PaulR79
            Meh

            @Ru

            It is indeed a privilege only available to Silver or Gold badge users. I remember it being a big "WTF?" moment when the badges were rolled out.

            1. Annihilator
              Coat

              Re: @Ru

              @PaulR79 - I assume we silver badge holders are just considered impotent*.

              Edit: *important.

    2. richard 7
      Mushroom

      Re: Distributed Denial Of Service?

      Airwave is a different system and its O2

  10. Paul Johnston
    Thumb Up

    I would love to have been at the meeting

    Wonder what the meeting was like where it was decided to run with this communication.

    Person 1: Er do you want to put your name to this?

    Person 2: Not really, why don't you?

    Person 1: Agreed lets bat this one upstairs !

    Person 2: Do you think we can still get iPhones for work?

    Person 1: Dunno!

  11. Busby
    Mushroom

    Arrest the users

    Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression we had strict rules in this country governing the use of jamming equipment?

    The users should all be rounded up and imprisoned immediately. All Apple stores should be raided and the staff arrested for selling illegal kit.

    Or Apple could release a software update

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Arrest the users

      So you're saying that all of the devices were upgraded in-store? You fool.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Throwing mud

    "When pressed on the technical cause of the problem, Voda's spokeswoman simply said "you'll have to ask Apple about that"."

    How can Vodafone make a claim and then not back it up with specific details of the problem ? Unless it is a security issue as well, I think it's unethical to accuse and not provide details.

    1. Tom 7

      Re: Throwing mud

      Sounds charitable of vodafone really.

      Something's taking out the network and you want them to reveal the problem? Sounds definitely like a security issue to me.

      Personally I'd be inclined to be a lot ruder than Vodafone if someone took down my revenue stream.

      1. Philip Lewis
        Holmes

        Re: Throwing mud

        Truth is an absolute defence in a libel/slander case.

        Therefore, we "might well think" that Vodafone is either telling the truth, or opening themselves to a rather nasty suit from a rather large company.

        1. Geoff332

          Re: Throwing mud

          Luckily Apple doesn't have form for being aggressively (and often unreasonably) litigious.

          Wait...

          Oh.

    2. 404
      Holmes

      Re: Throwing mud

      "I think it's unethical to accuse and not provide details."

      Follow politics much?

      ;)

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Iphone4s DDOS update.

    Seems iOS6.1 is just as effective as LOIC.

    I really surprised that people are still buying Apple crap.

    1. Chad H.

      Re: Iphone4s DDOS update.

      If its so effective, then why has noone but Vodafone UK and 3 Australia (50% owned by... Vodafone!) reported it?

      1. Tom 7

        Re: Iphone4s DDOS update.

        that would be the networks the phones are tied to!!

        1. jai

          Re: Iphone4s DDOS update.

          that would be the networks the phones are tied to!!

          O2 is the network that the iphone was originally tied to. but so far, haven't heard of anyone on O2 having this problem.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Iphone4s DDOS update.

        If its so effective, then why has noone but Vodafone UK and 3 Australia (50% owned by... Vodafone!) reported it?

        Errm, no, it was Three Austria, not Three Australia. But that's okay, George W Bush got us mixed up too.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Iphone4s DDOS update.

      They're probably buying it because it's not crap, no matter how much you wish it were true.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Iphone4s DDOS update.

      "I really surprised that people are still buying Apple crap."

      Once you realise that sheeple haven't got a clue, it becomes unsurprising.

  14. Mostly_Harmless Silver badge
    FAIL

    code of connection

    I'm sure that Vodafone (indeed all mobile networks) have a code of connection - device manufacturers have to test their devices for conformance against the the network to guard against SNAFU's like this.

    If that's the case, then potentially some of the blame lies at VF's door for not picking up on the problem in testing at their labs.

    Although it may sound like I'm trying to defend Apple there, I'd still like to stress that I detest the very ground they walk on.

    1. Richard 12 Silver badge

      Re: code of connection

      But do Apple actually test the updates against all networks?

      Or just the original firmware bundles?

      Or neither, because Apple are completely in charge of both development and release of iOS?

      1. Bronek Kozicki

        Re: code of connection

        Normally it would be network job to validate the device, or accept validation performed by other network (they do not like to duplicate the work).

        Since OTA updates are normally distributed via network, there would be also some work done on the network side for firmware updates. Although I very much doubt it would be anywhere close to device validation.

  15. Strudel
    Devil

    Am I being stalked by a bunch of fanbois?

    Despite not owning an iPhone I've had issues with Vodafone for a little while now, is this a sign I'm being followed by a gaggle of iSheep?

    Vodafones network is an overloaded tottering pile of junk and this is a handy excuse.

    1. Irongut

      Re: Am I being stalked by a bunch of fanbois?

      Only time I ever have problems with Vodafone's network is when the Huns come to watch their team play 3rd division football. Before and after a match I do have some trouble sending texts but voice and data still work. Once they're gone everything works perfectly again.

  16. El Presidente
    FAIL

    Apple recently argued

    To the US government that allowing jailbreaking of the iPhone could crash mobile networks.

    No, they really did.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple recently argued

      Coincidentally, a jailbreak for iOS 6.1 has just hit the internets...

  17. jowlymonster

    Hmm, since the end of Jan, my android device has intermittently stopped receiving calls/texts until I restart it. I wonder if it's related...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Hmm, since the end of Jan, my android device has intermittently stopped receiving calls/texts until I restart it. I wonder if it's related..."

      Why do you attribute the problems to the phone? It's the network!

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    EE?

    Their whole network is so unreliable that I doubt they could work out if the problem was down to the iPhones or their failing infrastructure.

  19. Dave, Portsmouth

    Two Issues?

    Seems odd that there would be two entirely separate but related issues at the same time...

    Presumably if one issue is "it is continually trying to connect to my Exchange server", then that would also explain the second issue of "more network traffic, meaning warms up, meaning battery runs flat more quickly"? Or is that too simple? :o)

    1. clanger9
      Thumb Up

      Re: Two Issues?

      Correct.

      It's a calendar sync bug. It continually connects to Exchange trying to process the same event.

      To fix: go to the Exchange account settings & turn Calendar sync off & on again.

      Annoying as hell, but easy to fix.

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  21. This post has been deleted by its author

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ios6.1 release supposedly fixes DoS vulnerability

    Obviously not - knackers network instead

  23. DJ Particle
    Happy

    6.1, AT&T, 4S

    No issues. Is this strictly a Vodafone problem?

  24. Simon Buttress
    WTF?

    6.1 or 6.1.1?

    So is this borking for 6.1 or 6.1.1? I've got 6.1 running fine on my 4S and there's an update to 6.1.1 do I download or not?

  25. lord_farquaad
    Megaphone

    iOS 6.1.1 update is now available

    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1631

  26. ajny

    Prior Occurrence

    I believe this problem occurred with 4S's in the States well prior to IOS6.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    6.1.1 just come out...

    ...to fix this very problem. So hush now fandroids, go to sleep.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 6.1.1 just come out...

      "6.1.1 just come out...

      ...to fix this very problem. So hush now fandroids, go to sleep."

      Wanker!

  28. Manny Bianco
    Stop

    Well that's handy...

    ...because Apple have just released an update for iPhone 4S users that *should* fix the issue.

    http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/02/11/apple-releases-ios-611-for-iphone-4s-owners-to-address-battery-3g-issues

  29. John Moppett

    Problems with iOS6.1? nah!!

    My iPhone 4S is on EE, I updated to 6.1 about 10 days ago and have had no probl ems at all. Now 0n 6.1.1, no-one seems to appreciate that apple have done an update so quickly!!

    1. Stu J
      FAIL

      Re: Problems with iOS6.1? nah!!

      Technically what Apple have done is completely illegal, that is they have facilitated users turning their phones into jamming devices.

      Undoing that SNAFU rapidly is the LEAST they should do, and no, they don't deserve any fucking appreciation or thanks for unborking the network.

      If Ofcom had any balls they'd take Apple to the cleaners over it, not least to recover some damn revenue from the tax-dodging fuckers.

      1. Chad H.

        Re: Problems with iOS6.1? nah!!

        Um, have they?

        You're taking the word of two operators... yet other operators are reporting no issues.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Problems with iOS6.1? nah!!

          "Um, have they?

          You're taking the word of two operators... yet other operators are reporting no issues."

          ..........and your taking the word of your lord and master.

          BAAAAH!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Problems with iOS6.1? nah!!

      "My iPhone 4S is on EE, I updated to 6.1 about 10 days ago and have had no probl ems at all. Now 0n 6.1.1, no-one seems to appreciate that apple have done an update so quickly!!"

      What sheeple don't seem to appreciate is that Apple should never have released the shite without thorough testing. So the bollox about "update so quickly" is moot.

      iOS is as shite as the iPhone design.

  30. JaitcH
    FAIL

    Better dig up Jobs: trying out test firmware from Apple as it investigates the issue

    Before his DoD, Jobs used to wander forth and do his "Apple defective" spiel and most of his suckers would swallow the platitudes.

    By an Austrian cellco saying: "trying out test firmware from Apple as it investigates the issue" it is obvious Apple is trying a new tactic - plausible deniability".

    Doesn't work, guys, you aren't like the emperor with his suit of invisible clothes.

  31. Andrew Jones 2

    What I'd like to know is -

    How much extra bandwidth per handset has been used due to this syncing bug?

    Have any users on capped tariffs - either at home or on the mobile network ran into overage charges or is the extra bandwidth consumed just not that large?

    And yes I am aware that Android is not immune and it's not that long ago that there were articles about various networks demanding Google remove certain offending apps from the Play store due to network performance issues (read: opening far too many connections in quick succession in a loop)

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Copyright grab?

    Apple are just making an attempt to take on the hackers and other malcontents who try to disable services by claiming a copyright infringement on the concept.

  33. itzman

    Do they have an interop for phones?

    I remember the real interops. With geeks in heated discussions as to whose fault it was that brand x wouldn't talk to brand Y. Despite them both absolutely maintaining they had adhered strictly to the RFC..

    Or the dreadful bug I uncovered in JavaScript. When is a string a number? when you do an arithmetic operation on it. When is a number a string? when you do a string operation on it.

    What about a conditional expressions? ah well. That depends if you are Firefox or Internet Exploder, you see. The JavaScript specification didn't extend to that..

    Bet you vodaphones kit replies with a legal, but non standard code, and apples IOS says 'what'? discards it, and tries again...and again..

  34. The Alpha Klutz
    Megaphone

    are the SLAVES holding it wrong again?

    Satan worshiper Steve Jobs joins us from the dead to argue YES.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Microsoft are planting these stories in the media

    Apple phones work. They always work. They are cool. I am cool. You should copy cool people. Buy an Apple phone. It works. It always works. Its cool. You can be cool.

    1. Bronek Kozicki

      Re: Microsoft are planting these stories in the media

      I would love to upvote you, just fear someone might miss the irony. Next time please use "Joke Alert!"

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Microsoft are planting these stories in the media

      "Apple phones work. They always work. They are cool. I am cool. You should copy cool people. Buy an Apple phone. It works. It always works. Its cool. You can be cool"

      Copying peolpe isn't cool. "Cool" WTF? isn't attained by purchasing something deemed as "cool" WTF?

  36. xyz Silver badge
    Happy

    Damn....

    I hate Apple products,

    I also hate Vodafone products

    I'm beginning to feel a lot like Aldi

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Damn....

      What an angry person you are. Did they both run over your cat?

      1. Andy 17
        WTF?

        I'll be amazed if anybody in Central London has noticed...

        ..because vodafones's data connections very rarely work at all around the EC2, EC3 or EC4 areas during the working day.

  37. flingback

    I very much doubt that there is any extra bandwidth involved. If I had to take a wild guess someone has disabled a channel in the modem firmware called CELL FACH, and due to the high amount of data to-ing and fro-ing from the AUTD MS Exchange Server the devices are using a more resource intensive CELL DCH channel. CELL FACH can be spread fairly well over hundreds of devices at a slower channel rate (perfect for email) but there are only a finite number of CELL DCH channels and they are dedicated to each specific user in a data/voice context. If a cell has 64 DCH's and all of them are in use for AUTD email, there is no further room for other iPhone 4S's, and no abilty to make/receive voice calls!

    A colleague of mine has not been able to receive calls on Orange for most of the morning on his 6.1/4S, I suspect it's because his phone is too busy trying to hog a DCH for data! This certainly doesn't seem to be limited to vodafone though - their CN isn't *that* different to everyone elses, but they tend to have a shedload more corporate users.

  38. flingback
    FAIL

    Actually I should correct myself - If a cell has 64 DCH's and all of them are in use for AUTD email, there is no further room for ANY phones to make/receive voice calls or perform DCH related activity! On reflection some of the HS channels might be still usable but it is definitely going to be a poorly cell.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "and all phone users are affected by the fruity overload:"

    So its the fruity owners who are causing my phone to drop off the network? Wankers!

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The real reason

    Simple. Apple releases updates for their phones when they want. No operator approves the release.

    With other phones it can often be the networks themselves releasing the update. This is because they want to scrutinise the update and ensure it causes no issues on their network.

    This is not because of any problem with the iOS software. It is just a symptom of the very complex nature of mobile comms, lots of different vendors, differing versions of firmware. All deviating slightly from specs or having buggy implementations.

    I imagine many Android phones running community firmware could have similar issues, it's just such problems don't attract the news media like Apple does.

    1. Mark .

      Re: The real reason

      But if the problem is that IOS updates are rushed out ASAP to get a "Everyone runs the latest version of IOS, but Android users are left waiting" headline, then that's still a reasonable criticism of Apple's method. Android updates could have bugs, sure, but the point is they go through the networks.

      What with this and the IOS maps fiasco, can people stop complaining about slow updates on Android - there's a benefit to testing, and going through the network operators.

  41. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "This is not because of any problem with the iOS software. It is just a symptom of the very complex nature of mobile comms, lots of different vendors, differing versions of firmware"

    Of course its iOS at fault. Otherwise an update would not fix the problem iOS has caused.

    Apple should be fined. My network connection is often intermittant (where it used to work perfectly), now I know why. Thanks Apple.

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