Vodafone Tells Some iPhone Owners Not To Upgrade To iOS 6.1
iPhone 4S users report 3G and battery life problems after upgrading, but other networks appear unaffected
Vodafone has advised its iPhone 4S customers not to upgrade to iOS 6.1 until further notice, warning that it can impact 3G performance and reduce battery life.
The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system was released last month, offering expanded support for LTE networks on the iPhone 5 and faster web browsing.
In a statement, Vodafone appeared to suggest that Apple was aware of the problem and was working on a fix.
iOS 6.1 problems
“We’re aware of an issue caused by Apple iPhone 4s handsets that have been upgraded to iOS 6.1 which impacts performance on 3G,” said a spokesperson for the operator. “Some customers may occasionally experience difficulty in connecting to the network to make or receive calls or texts or to connect to the Internet. Apple is working on a solution to their software issue. These connection problems are intermittent.”
“While Apple’s investigations continue, we would recommend that anyone who has not yet installed iOS 6.1 on their iPhone 4s should delay doing so until Apple has confirmed that the problem has been fixed,” they added.
iPhone users have flocked to the Apple Support Forums to complain that their battery life appeared to be a lot shorter after the update.
It is not clear if the problems are affecting customers of other networks. EE, O2 and Three have not issued any such advice to their customers, suggesting that Vodafone is the sole UK operator affected.
The problems are unlikely to help ease the iPhone user base into iOS 6, which was heavily criticised for replacing Google Maps with the less than perfect Apple Maps as the default mapping provider.
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