Verizon iPhone unable to make or receive calls

John88 · Apr 4, 2011

Hello everyone, my Verizon iPhone is intermittently unable to make or receive calls (yes I do have reception). Has anyone experienced this before? I've called Verizon customer service and they were no help and suggested replacing the device which I did. Apple sort of suggested it's a Verizon issue, so they're kinda blaming eachother- and I'm stuck in the middle. Do you think it's a Verizon or iPhone problem? What should I do?

One reason I think it's a Verizon issue is, I've had 2 iPhones that had the same problem- what are the chances of that? One reason I believe it's a Apple iPhone issue is because ALL of the Verizon phones in my household work perfectly, except mine. Again it's intermittent, which is why I recorded videos.

Here is my thread on this issue in another forum: Cannot make or receive calls - MacRumors Forums

YouTube videos I made:

My brother's iPhone calling mine (both Verizon): [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWvZN90_adk"]YouTube - Another Verizon iPhone 4 calling MY Verizon iPhone 4[/ame]

My iPhone calling brother's iPhone: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZFS5iiNrus"]YouTube - MY Verizon iPhone 4 calling another Verizon iPhone 4[/ame]

Friend calling me: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCnJc4e_DAQ"]YouTube - Verizon iPhone 4 unable to make or receive calls (Part 2: iPhone doesn't receive a call)[/ame]

Me calling friend: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGcB6uH0Ax8"]YouTube - Verizon iPhone 4 unable to make or receive calls (Part 1: Attempting to make a call)[/ame]

LGMarines · May 2, 2011

I found the problem! I too purchased the Verizon iPhone 4 as soon as it came out. Within hours after getting home I began noticing my reception. In some spots I have one bar, in another I'll have two bars (if I'm lucky) and the most common within the house is the infamous "no service or searching". I must also point out that the one or two bars that I do get in my home are only when I set the iPhone down in that one lucky place. Not once have I been able to walk and talk around my home with my iPhone in hand. I called Verizon customer service about the issue and the first question asked by the representative was "do you receive service outside the house?" to which I replied yes. The representative was very quick to point out the "no service is guaranteed inside a building" clause that Verizon worked into their contract apparently. She was also very quick to suggest that I purchase the Verizon Wireless Network Extender at the low low price of $250.00 plus tax of course. Sadly at this time I don't care to spend that amount of money on a new router to get a service that I didn't need in the first place. I could have stayed with T-Mobile and kept using my jailbroken and unlocked iPhone 3GS. I had excellent service with them but I switched carriers anyways I wanted a reliable service along side my iPhone. I been forced to use Google Voice on my computer to be able to have a normal phone conversation with anyone. I honestly believed what the customer service representative told me over the phone and for that reason I settled and accepted it. Last night (Sunday May 1, 2011) an old friend of mine visited me at home. Through out the night he received and answered a couple of calls on his Motorola phone. It's after one of those calls that I asked him who his wireless carrier was and he replied Verizon. I was shocked because I had been told a couple of months back that the reason I had no service at home was because I was out of range of the Verizon Wireless Network. I honestly didn't know what to make of it so today I decided to spent my day searching for an answer. I was amazed to find out that there's a lot of people out there with the very same issue. Apparently the issue has been around since the very first Verizon Wireless iPhone came out. I attempted all the suggestions listed with in all the forums and web pages I've read. If you're reading this I'm sure you know what I'm referring to but none of it worked. I decided to try Verizon's customer service again. Sure enough, the very first question was the same as the first phone call months earlier "do you receive service outside your home?". I gave her the same explanation I just gave here now to this community. She began explaining and making excuses for the company. I quickly explained to her that the source of my frustration was not that I could have cancelled my service with in that 14 day period but that I was told that the reason for me not being able to make phone calls from inside my own home was that I was outside of the network area. I would be very happy to stay with Verizon if they can get my phone to work inside my house. She apologized and started to look for a solution in her computer. She came back on the line and stated that she couldn't find any solution to this problem. I asked her why not and she said because no one else has had this issue before. Immediately I knew that was not true because I myself personally had called in less then two months ago to report this. If anything there's at least one other record. She was dumbfounded. I explained to her that the reason why the company doesn't know about this issue might be because customer service representatives are being too quick to explain how the "no service is guaranteed inside of a building" policy works and try to sell us a $250 router that we might not even need. She began to stutter her words. In conclusion, I didn't truly find us a solution but I found us a place to start. ANYONE THAT IS HAVING POOR RECEPTION ISSUES AT HOME WITH THEIR VERIZON WIRELESS IPHONE 4 I URGE YOU TO PLEASE CALL VERIZON WIRELESS CUSTOMER SERVICE IMMEDIATELY AND MAKE IT CLEAR TO THEM THAT YOU NEED THIS ISSUE FIXED. IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.... A free Verizon Wireless Network Extender would be a good way to make it up to those poor, loyal, dissatisfied customer that are still being inconvenienced by this issue. Let's stand up for ourselves, let's be heard.lol

tman1940 · May 2, 2011

Really don't know what to say. I have had my iPhone since the first day they came out and haen't had the first problem yet.

marycarmen · Feb 28, 2012

My husband got the 4S in January. The 1st week we had a problem--all data was working fine, but cannot make/receive calls. They said it was a tower outage, waited all day, called back and escalated to tier 2. They took 5 minutes and "flipped a switch." 2 weeks later, same thing. Called again, same thing. Week later, same thing, called again, said to call Apple, spent 2.5 hours doing a hard reset since we have over ?? contacts. Whatever, then another 2 hours with Verizon. Finally got it working. SAME ISSUE AGAIN AFTER THEY SENT A BRAND NEW--not refurbished, brand new Iphone.

It is JUMPING off the network. We have to power down, they take it off and put it BACK on the network. Now we have been escalated to their technicians. There is something going on with the network his phone number is connected to. It's weird--I have 5 lines all together on this plan.

I will, however, tell you all how great Verizon has been. Yes, it's killing my husband-he uses his phone 24/7 for business, so for this to disconnect all of a sudden puts a standstill to his work. BUT VZ is doing everything possible to help fix the problem.