Vodafone UK warns iPhone 4S owners not to upgrade to iOS 6.1 due to 3G bug

Vodafone UK don't update to iOS 6.1

Vodafone UK subscribers with an iPhone 4S who haven’t upgraded to iOS 6.1 may want to hold off on doing so. The carrier is currently sending out text messages to customers stating that there’s a bug in the new firmware.

According to the warning, the issue has to due with 3G performance. Apparently 4S users on Vodafone UK have been experiencing problems with both cell service and battery life since updating to the latest version of iOS…

Here’s the text from the message shown above:

“If you’ve not already downloaded iOS 6.1 for your iPhone 4S, please hold off for the next version while Apple fixes 3G performance issues. Thanks.”

Apple on Wednesday seeded its first beta of iOS 6.1.1 to developers, so it’s possible, as Vodafone indicates, that it’s already working on a fix. The firmware’s change log, however, only mentions Japan Maps improvements thus far.

It’s also worth noting that (via The Next Web) numerous threads have popped up in Apple’s support forums in recent weeks regarding similar problems, suggesting that 6.1’s issues are not limited to Vodafone UK’s 4S customers.

If there really is a widespread problem with iOS 6.1, that would explain why Apple pushed out the 6.1.1 beta just a week after the previous update. There has been some speculation that the quick turnaround was jailbreak-related.

Have you been experiencing any problems on iOS 6.1?

Thanks James!