UK 02 (poor signal strength/reception problems)

I have access to both a US and UK iPhone. When the iPhone first came out in the US I bought one and unlocked it for use in the UK. When it was released in the UK I gave the US iPhone to my sister and bought a contract UK iPhone for myself.

I have compared both the US iPhone and the UK iPhone side by side at the same location, both on O2. I can say without a doubt that the US iPhone performs better, and has a higher signal strength, at every location.

For example, with the phones side by side in my sister's house her US iPhone will typically have four bars in the kitchen whilst my UK iPhone constantly goes from one bar to no service. Similarly, in my own house the UK phone has 2 or 3 bars whilst the US phone always has 5. I have compared these phones side by side at both these locations on at least 3 separate days each with the same results.

I am seeing my sister again this Sunday and I think I'll take and upload a video so that I can demonstrate the difference.

Maverick808 wrote:
I have access to both a US and UK iPhone. When the iPhone first came out in the US I bought one and unlocked it for use in the UK. When it was released in the UK I gave the US iPhone to my sister and bought a contract UK iPhone for myself.

I have compared both the US iPhone and the UK iPhone side by side at the same location, both on O2. I can say without a doubt that the US iPhone performs better, and has a higher signal strength, at every location.

For example, with the phones side by side in my sister's house her US iPhone will typically have four bars in the kitchen whilst my UK iPhone constantly goes from one bar to no service. Similarly, in my own house the UK phone has 2 or 3 bars whilst the US phone always has 5. I have compared these phones side by side at both these locations on at least 3 separate days each with the same results.

I am seeing my sister again this Sunday and I think I'll take and upload a video so that I can demonstrate the difference.

Thanks for this - most interesting. Are both iPhones using version 1.1.2? There was a suggestion that a previous update may have tweaked the power management to save battery life, at the possible expense of signal strength. We in the UK started off with 1.1.2 unlike the States. In relation, have you noticed the US iPhone suffers from poorer battery life? I'd always assumed that the UK-shipped iPhone had the same hardware as the US ones, but perhaps not?

I have no complaints at all. In fact O2 is better for me than Orange and Vodafone put together. I see no difference between reception on the iPhone or with the SIM in my SE 990i

The US iPhone was on 1.1.1 last time I compared it but I'm going to upgrade it to 1.1.2 before I do the video at the weekend.

The hardware is definitely different. The one thing I know for certain that is different is the screen. The screen model number is shown in the field test app and I can see that they are different. Furthermore, although my UK screen does not suffer from the washed out blacks problem I've seen reported, the US screen definitely has deeper blacks. This is easily seen on the startup screen where you see the Apple logo. The US screen is a rich deep black whilst in comparison the UK screen looks a tiny bit washed out. However, I am certain my UK iPhone doesn't have the badly washed out black problem. When I watch videos on it the blacks are fine and the movies look great. I am happy the UK screen, I'm simply pointing out that some hardware, definitely at least the screen, is different between the two.

Well we might finally be onto something useful here! It will be very interesting to see how the two (US and UK) iPhones compare on signal strength, after you update the US phone to 1.1.2 (if it is currently on 1.1.1). Having said that, you may be committing the ultimate sacrifice for us, if indeed the US phone then suffers the same problem, though you will be fondly remembered by all on this list!

Thanks for the other details, which are also interesting food for thought.

Message was edited by: jia10

AndyO wrote:
Having lived in the UK and US

I don't suppose the UK=Cambridge, by any chance?

Nope!

Maverick808 wrote:
The US iPhone was on 1.1.1 last time I compared it but I'm going to upgrade it to 1.1.2 before I do the video at the weekend.

Hi Maverick

Is there any chance you could do a pre 1.1.2 and then post 1.1.2 video for comparison. Obviously once you've updated your US phone to 1.1.2 there is the real danger that it will be reduced to the same performance as your UK one, in which case that wouldn't make for a very informative video.

Just a thought.

FlatE 🙂

My sister's house is in Glasgow and I'm in Falkirk. Yeah okay, I'll try to do videos of both before the upgrade to 1.1.2 and after. My sister is coming over on Saturday evening so don't expect the videos any time before Sunday.

Excellent stuff, thanks for that, look forward to seeing the results.

FlatE 🙂

s/w 1.1.2 - November 12, 2007
Battery charge level shown in iTunes
International language & keyboard support
Patched the TIFF exploit
Adds custom ringtone field
Fixed Bugs

Some US users reported improved battery life following upgrade from 1.1.1 to 1.1.2 (UK iPhones were shipped with 1.1.2).

Hi eagle

I know the reported differences between the 2 updates, but we are concerned here with performance issues in the UK between the 2 updates, this is why we are interested in the video comparison. As you say there have been battery improvements noted when updating from 1.1.1 to 1.1.2, and there is the possibility that this is at the expense of performance in the reception in the UK.

FlatE 🙂

I agree with you, and in support of the theory that jia has related to the power management (battery life at the expense of signal strength). See previous page. We are very fortunate to have someone stepping forward with a US iPhone (currently with good signal reception) for comparison. The software upgrade will prove it one way or another.

eagle wrote:

.... We are very fortunate to have someone stepping forward with a US iPhone (currently with good signal reception) for comparison....

Indeed we are, this could give us a whole new insight into the problems we are experiencing in the UK. The good news is, of course, that if it is a firmware/battery issue then Apple can improve it for us if they so choose......here's hoping for good news.

FlatE 🙂

I do hope there is an end in sight to this 🙂