iPhone: The Missing Manual

Phone and Internet Problems

What can go wrong with the phone part of the iPhone? Let us count the ways.

• Can't make calls. First off, do you have enough AT&T cellular signal to make a call? Check your signal-strength bars. Even if you have one or two, flakiness is par for the course. Try going outside, standing near a window, or moving to a major city. (Kidding.)

  Also, make sure Airplane mode isn't turned on (Turning Off the Antennas—and Airplane Mode). Try calling somebody else, to make sure the problem isn't with the number you're dialing.

  If nothing else works, try the resetting techniques described at the beginning of this chapter.

• Can't get on the Internet. Remember, the iPhone can get online in two ways: via Wi-Fi hot spot and via AT&T's EDGE network. If you're not in a hot spot and you don't have an EDGE signal—that is, if neither the nor the icon appears at the top of the screen—then you can't get online at all.

  And, of course, you can't get online when you've got Airplane mode turned on.

• Can't receive text messages. If your buddies try to send you text messages that contain picture or video attachments, you'll never see them (the messages, that is, not the buddies). Ask your correspondents to email them to you instead.

• Can't send text messages. Make sure the recipient's phone number ...