Xie Xiaoping, Beijing - Around the Spring Festival, Apple's iPhone 4S once again created a stir in the industry: during the holiday, Apple's official flagship stores had a hard time meeting the demand for the 4S, while authorized dealers across the country were selling at a markup; in the first week after the festival, China Unicom announced it would sell the iPhone 4S unlocked through its own channels; additionally, the latest rumor claims that China Telecom will start selling the CDMA version of the 4S next week. Moreover, users of China Mobile's 4S phones have been reporting online that when using their phones in some office buildings, they experience full signal bars but are unable to make or receive calls... All sorts of news about this phone seem overwhelming, but these "disorders" reflect Apple's dominant position and the awkwardness of the carriers.
On one side is the telecom operator with the most global users, and on the other is the world's most popular smartphone, yet these two have never come together.
After a long wait, China Mobile's Apple fans not only failed to get an iPhone supporting TD-LTE, but also encountered a significant issue with the iPhone 4S. Some users discovered: using a China Mobile SIM card cannot properly activate the iPhone 4S, and sometimes there is unstable signal or full signal bars but inability to make or receive calls when using a China Mobile SIM card.
These issues caused great inconvenience for China Mobile's iPhone 4S users. What exactly is causing these problems? For this, The Economic Daily conducted an investigation.
Multiple Users Encounter Signal Issues
On January 19th, a user named "koyota211" posted on Vphone.net, stating that the domestic version of the 4S (5.0.1(9A406)) he purchased on the 13th experienced the situation where there was signal but could not normally make or receive calls at his workplace, and text messages could not be received either. However, it worked fine in other places outside of his workplace.
The user said he tested with three domestic versions of the 4S, one of which was a China Unicom contract phone. Through testing, he found that as soon as the 4S entered the EG frequency coverage area, it would show signal but fail to make calls, or even show no signal at all, whereas in the PG frequency coverage area, call tests were normal.
According to The Economic Daily, the current mobile network covers frequencies of 885~909 MHz for uplink and 930~954 MHz for downlink. Among them, 885~890 MHz for uplink and 930~935 MHz for downlink, each with 5 MHz bandwidth, belong to the EGSM frequency, i.e., EG band; 890~909 MHz for uplink and 935~954 MHz for downlink, each with 19 MHz bandwidth, belong to the PGSM frequency coverage area, i.e., PG band.
In fact, the fault encountered by koyota211 is not an isolated case. The Economic Daily reporter noticed that many mobile users reflected the same problem on various forums and comment sections. In addition, some users stated that using a China Mobile SIM card cannot properly activate the iPhone 4S.
Mr. Yang from Beijing is one of them. According to him, the domestically produced 4S he bought from a distributor could not activate the 4S phone. He went to the mobile service hall multiple times to change his SIM card, but none of these attempts solved the problem. In the end, he could only ask the distributor to replace the 4S.
Mr. Yang revealed that the customer service at the mobile service hall told him that currently, China Mobile has launched a special SIM card for the 4S, but it is currently being piloted in Guangdong, and Beijing has not yet received it. Once available, he can try switching to the special card and wait for the latest firmware from Apple.
On the other hand, netizen koyota211 also consulted Apple's technical advisor about the frequency issue. The technician promised to consolidate the technical problems mentioned in these posts, translate them into English, and send them to Apple's headquarters in the U.S. for handling. The Chinese engineering department would also work with China Mobile to resolve the issues.
However, an Apple PR representative stated that compared to the iPhone 4, the 4S already has very good signal quality. This person also denied discussing the aforementioned issues with China Mobile.
EG Band Misdeleted?
In fact, according to the existing carrier network layout, the mobile EG band should not have been blocked. What is the reason for this situation?
User koyota211 provided an initial guess: When the iPhone 4S was introduced to the mainland market, it blocked the CDMA network, and the frequency of the CDMA network is very close to the EGSM network of the mobile network. The CDMA downlink band is 870~880 MHz, differing by only 5 MHz from the starting value of the mobile uplink band. These 5 MHz of frequency may have been mistakenly deleted. However, the user pointed out that it is currently impossible to determine whether Apple removed the CDMA band hardware or locked the CDMA band via firmware.
Koyota211's guess was endorsed by insiders within the operator. An insider from the operator told The Economic Daily that the 4S phone entering China might have been processed in part of the baseband RF unit to block CDMA network support, but due to imprecise processing, the aforementioned situation occurred.
The above-mentioned operator insider pointed out that operators restrict their market share through frequency limitations, and on the other hand, it is also to limit competitors.
However, it is currently unclear whether the blocking of the frequency band was required by Unicom in its cooperation with Apple or was Apple's own "mistake." Yesterday, The Economic Daily separately called Apple and Unicom, and both companies refused to comment.
A dealer in Zhongguancun told reporters that based on his understanding, the US version, Hong Kong version, and Unicom version of the 4S he sold all experienced unstable signals or inability to dial or answer calls.
"I have five 4S units for sale, and two of them have the aforementioned issues," the dealer said. Previously, the iOS 5.0 version did not have such problems, but when it came to iOS 5.0.1, the system became unstable, especially version 5.0.1(9A405). To solve this problem, he could only refresh some units to 5.0.1(9A406), which improved the situation after refreshing.
Previously, media reports claimed that engineers at Apple's U.S. headquarters are upgrading the iOS system, and in the future, they will launch iOS 5.1, which will address compatibility issues.
However, in the eyes of the above-mentioned operator insider, the fundamental reason should be Apple's error in processing the phone's baseband RF unit. "If Apple does not process the hardware, wouldn't all Unicom iPhones become Telecom iPhones through firmware refreshes? Unicom wouldn't take that risk."
Some experts pointed out that institutions responsible for network access testing can provide technical monitoring reports to identify the problem. If it is indeed a hardware issue, then Apple may face the risk of product recalls.
China Mobile Takes Another Hit
Even a powerful company like China Mobile has been "hit repeatedly" when encountering Apple. Just like the Unicom ad that subtly mocks China Mobile's "Guan Yu riding a wooden horse," China Mobile's 3G network has always faced the embarrassment of "a hero having no place to use his skills."
To date, the iPhone 4S supports WCDMA/CDMA/GSM three network modes, meaning China Telecom already has the prerequisite conditions for operating the iPhone 4S. Now, the only missing element is China Mobile's TD-SCDMA.
"In the large sales of Unicom's 4S, with Telecom's 4S about to hit the market, and still no clear news about Mobile introducing the TD version of the 4S, if even the 2G castrated version of the 4S cannot run normally, it will undoubtedly have a significant impact on China Mobile's high-end market," said an unnamed industry insider.
According to a dealer in Zhongguancun, there are probably several million iPhone 4S units in the Chinese market, among which those using China Mobile's network are estimated not to exceed 200,000. Therefore, the current frequency gate issue has a relatively small impact on China Mobile.
However, although the "castrated version" of the 4S has technical blind spots, it is not without solutions. CEO of Feixiang.com Xiang Ligang revealed to The Economic Daily that China Mobile can completely solve the above problems by detecting and changing its EG frequency point to the PG frequency point.
In fact, since Unicom successfully introduced the iPhone 4 at the end of 2010, China Mobile has suffered severe losses of high-end users, and its Global Pass brand has been fully impacted. Creating a star terminal with enough appeal has become a problem that China Mobile must solve. Based on the various advantages of the iPhone, China Mobile can only helplessly sell iPhones, even though the machines used by these users do not support China Mobile's TD network.
Telecommunications expert Fu Liang believes that constrained by the imperfections of the TD-SCDMA industrial chain, China Mobile's growth in 3G terminals has always been in a difficult situation. Although various terminal manufacturers have hinted that they will strongly support the growth of TD phones, actions speak louder than words, leading to insufficient competitiveness of China Mobile's 3G phones. "For China Mobile in difficulty, it needs to speed up planning for the development of 3G and 4G, and quickly launch star products."
User koyota211 provided an initial guess:
When the iPhone 4S was introduced to the mainland market, it blocked the CDMA network, and the frequency of the CDMA network is very close to the EGSM network frequency of the mobile network. The CDMA downlink band is 870~880 MHz, differing by only 5 MHz from the starting value of the mobile uplink band. These 5 MHz of frequency may have been mistakenly deleted.
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