Disapointed with ATT&T reception

It's easy to forget this fact (or completely ignore it) but cellular phone services are nothing but rather complex, but very low power two-way radios. As such, service quality and signal levels are as affected by interference, geography, vehicles, people, other objects, building materials and structural density, interference sources and even weather in the same way any other radio technology is. The only real difference is that while your local radio stations in the FM2 band transmit at megawatts of power so have a range of maybe 100 miles, cellphones and towers transmit at milliwatts, so have a very limited range and are, unfortunately, more prone to degrading influences due to the low power levels.

Added to that, the frequencies at which cellphones work are so high that they are easily deflected such that in towns they can bounce between and around buildings causing multipath distortion which serious degrades signal quality, readily absorbed by structures, and prone to the disruptive harmonic transmissions of other services such as paging systems - which are typically poorly policed by the FCC. Even when cellular carriers want to plug service gaps where they know it's needed, they often find themselves being delayed by local communities who don't want a cell tower in their neighborhood, and by complex regulatory requirements, even if they can find a suitable site.

Cellular service is far from perfect as a result. And sadly all the carriers are much the same in that in some areas they work well and in others not.

All of what you said is compounded by the fact that phones have become multi-functional gadgets and the more that gets thrown on them -- music, video, email, etc., etc., etc. the more people will keep buying them, ignoring the fact that it's main function is supposed to be that of a communication device and be forgiving of its shortfalls in this area.

Once the functionality that can be packed into a pocket device reaches some kind of terminus, if it ever does, people will start demanding better phone service again, so the technology for this will advance much more quickly.

In preparation for the iPhone, AT&T revamped its EDGE system and has been throwing up more and more towers, which costs them boatloads of money but only increases the size of a mediocre network. Once they feel as if 99% of the country can receive between mediocre and excellent service, they'll focus their R&D into eliminating the "mediocre" portion of that quotient.

Message was edited by: everettwolf

I agree with you somewhat. I do notice quite a difference between carriers in the number of dropped calls.

I read that AT&T and Verizon are in major debt. We're talkin' billions here. Then I heard a rumor about Google possibly picking up the cellular ball and running with it. Let me find the article.

It is in the new Portfolio magazine that I was reading while at the grocery store today. Maybe it is online. Yep it is: The article is called "Hello, Ma Google"

http://www.portfolio.com/views/columns/2007/09/17/Cellphone-Carrier-Breakups

"Just a whiff of such a future has created consternation in one of the most important business sectors on the planet. The big cellular incumbents—AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint—could be toast. The cell companies have spent tens of billions of dollars building their networks. AT&T is $54 billion in debt; Verizon, $29 billion. Even a slight erosion of their customer base and pricing plans would hurt them. They could find themselves in that dangerous place where I.B.M. was in the early 1990s and where General Motors is now: with overpriced products and an overburdened legacy, unable to respond to disruption from below." From Portfolio magazine.

That article doesn't point out that another - very cash rich - company has also filed the initial paperwork to bid on the 700MHz bandwidth in January . . . APPLE! That auction is going to be intense.

The FCC is requiring that at least some of the bandwidth be reserved for public use - specifically for a nationwide WiFi system - probably a very low speed WiFi system. The remaining bandwidth can be used for what ever purpose they want - cell service, pay for high speed WiFi, etc.

Imagine APPLE owning a service that would provide cell service and high speed internet for their products ONLY! Download movies to your AppleTV wirelessly without a computer pass thru! How about free high speed internet anywhere, any time for your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, or Macbook. A GREAT selling point that would move a lot of equipment, and convert a lot of PC users.

Imagine Google developing their own version of the iPhone to use on their system if they win. Anyone for a G-phone?

As that article points out, it is going to be years until we actually see anything from whomever wins the auction. First the TV Stations don't give up their use of the 700MHz frequencies until sometime in 2009. Second, who ever wins will have to build their own infrastructure to deliver the signal. I doubt the auction includes the broadcast antennas the TV Stations currently use/own . . . they'll be using those to broadcast in digital.

Message was edited by: sneirbo2k7

Message was edited by: sneirbo2k7

Message was edited by: sneirbo2k7

Wellll, Apple probably won't bid because of the open access requirement, 'cuz we know how they feel about that, especially the people whose iPhones got bricked after the latest firmware update....

Although AT&T servise is not the best on the market i wouldnt only blame At&t for the bad reception. I had a Nokia (i dont remember the model) also with Cingular before the iPhone and my reception was much better. Now i have no bars in the same places i had 2 with Nokia. I'm assuming it is iPhone's antena...

In your case, it could be Cingular, pre AT&T merge. Haven't seen ANY data on this forum or others that have shown that the iPhone antenna is inferior in any way to other phones'.

I had my Nokia through Cingular and At&t with no difference in reception. Definately, worse reception with the iPhone. I still like my iPhone and i do recommend it to my friends.
You said, you dont hear people complaning about antena? They complain about the service which also could have to do with the iPhone's antena. Not only At&t.

+You said, you dont hear people complaning about antena? They complain about the service which also could have to do with the iPhone's antena. Not only At&t.+

True, but I came on to this forum to try to figure out this very thing. My threads on the subject were alive for weeks while trying to determine whether the poor reception I was seeing was iPhone related or AT&T related. Had a bunch of real life experiments run with a variety of AT&T phones and iPhones with a whole bunch of people responding. People were going to the Apple stores, talking to Apple Support over the phone, talking to AT&T, getting their phones replaced and all reporting their findings back here, and everything pointed to the problem being with AT&T not the iPhone or its antenna.

I also borrowed a friends AT&T RAZR for a week and conducted a series of tests from different areas around my home base, and my Verizon phone won out on all counts with the RAZR and iPhone having eqaul results (I'd like to say the iPhone was better in this case, but it wasn't, it was just the same as the RAZR, but no worse).

I'd suggest this for you: Assuming you don't still have your Nokia phone handy, grab a friend's AT&T phone and compare it side-by-side with the iPhone. If the other phone is better, you should take your iPhone to a store and have it replaced.

Oh, one thing that came out with all the testing that was done was that AT&T was having a LOT of tower problems (in my area at least) post-iPhone launch -- I don't know if this was iPhone related or a coincidence, but the point is, even with prior good service, your current bad service might be related to tower problems.

Ok then. Is there a way to update the towers? I used to be able to do this with Verizon. I woudl do it once per month. This could resolve some issues.

It looks like you did more research than i did. Its good to know. I was just saying that I have problems with the reception more than i had before the iPhone. Maybe i should go to the Apple and ask for a replacement?
FYI: there might be another thing you could disagree with me about. Take a look at the end of that line where it says what computers, OS, etc, ... i have 🙂

Not that I know of, but that doesn't mean anything. But nobody I talked to suggested I could do something like that from my phone.

My problem was mainly in my home area, and when I'm in my home area, 99% of the time I'm in my house. I actually followed through on the issue so far, that AT&T finally agreed to credit my bill for the purchase of a repeater antenna.

The antenna cost me $300 but I faxed my receipt to the AT&T supervisor I ended up talking with and she DID credit my bill (I was amazed).

AT&T does not make these antennas, but I looked up on the Internet for a good one (I forget the brand, and I'm not at home to look), went to a computer/hardware store (Fry's here in SoCal) and bought it -- I put the antenna on the roof (looks like a small, white light sabre) and ran the wire down next to my cable TV wire, through to my computer room to the transceiver which is about the size of my DSL modem.

This solved my problem in my home (previously, I couldn't make ANY calls without them being garbled or dropped). At my WORK, the reception problem has appeared to have gone away. I'd talked to AT&T and they confirmed there were two towers that were down in Downtown L.A. (where I work) and they'd been furiously trying to get them up and going again for weeks. They're probably functional now.

Overall, in the time I've had my iPhone, the reception has appeared to be improved, but still not to the level I experience on my Verizon phone (a Treo).

But you should really see about getting your phone replaced -- maybe they'll give you a loaner to test. You shouldn't have to fight with it if it IS an antenna problem.

oh, I thought I was responding to you when I was responding to Lainer below... Either way...

You hate Dell?? Whyever for??? (that was sarcasm... hehe)

Good luck!!!!

EW