Weird: Can't Make or Receive Calls with Full Signals

Question

Got an unusual one for you. For the most part, my iPhone has been excellent. Just about anywhere I go (in NY Metro area) I have had no problem making and receiving calls. The one major problem I have is that it does not seem to work at my desk at work. The wierd part is that I have FULL Antenna Signal and FULL EDGE signal at my desk (3rd floor of a 7 flr bldg) yet calls can not be sent or received. Incoming calls can not even be sent to voicemail, they are simply not connected at all (just two beeps after dialing). However, I do have internet access(although limited) and no text messaging ability. If I walk around the floor of the building and go closer to a window, the calls can go through, texting works and the internet is blazing. I called Apple who routed me to AT&T. ATT was so wrapped up in indicating that they do not guarantee reception indoors that I don't know if they really even considered whether it was a service issue or an iPhone issue. Either way the rep said that they have been dealing with this issue where full reception is identified but there is no service. They also indicated that the issue is predominantly found in large buildings. Any ideas on how to solve this??? Oh yeah, the guy in my office 8 ft away has Verizon with no phone calling problems at all. Thx 4 the help.

Answer 1

I went through the same with Verizon at my house. I had been a Verizon subscriber for my personal cell phone since the summer of 2001 until 3-4 months prior to the iPhone being released. While a close friend of mine was visiting for a few days who is an AT&T subscriber, he had much better reception at my house - not 5 bars but much better than the 1 bar I had with Verizon. I contacted Verizon technical support who told me the very same - they are not responsible for reception inside any building - too many factors with building materials, etc. Verizon updated the software on my phone, replaced the battery, sent someone out to my house and neighborhood to check reception, gave me another phone to use as a test but at the end of the day, nothing changed so Verizon let me out of my contract with a year remaining without charging me the early contract termination fee. I use my personal cell phone in place of a landline so reception at my house is important. I have much better reception with AT&T at my house - both with my first subsidized phone and with my iPhone.
Somewhat different from your situation with having full reception but not being able to make calls but since this only occurs at your desk at work, I don't believe the problem lies with your iPhone. There is probably a Verizon subscriber that may have the same problem at another location in your building. There are differences between CDMA and GSM networks which probably has a factor in this. This is relative by provider depending on location. There are some areas that I frequent often where I have reception with my iPhone but I didn't with Verizon.