iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You're Not Alone - Continued
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iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You're Not Alone, which has been locked. The thread was too long and some browsers were timing out. The above link goes back to the original thread.
I have played around with blackberries on Verizon, AT&T and Nextel's networks. They are pretty decent devices. I think it serves a different segment (oh! wait the 3G iPhone does Exchange email) of the industry. I think Apple's attempt to get a slice of that pie is a valid one. No one seems to be trying (oh wait Pocket PCs... yeah! right), so let them fight for it. Blackberries are not perfect nor is the iPhone; I think the competition will make us consumers happier than ever since innovation and robustness will be key for both to get and edge over each other..
Pocket PC phones are also bound to get better for sure, but they have a lot of catching up to do. I am glad WM7 will also get better (I just sold my 8525) including must features like multitouch and so on... HTC's is trying, but the interface is not native to WM6... it is an app on top of an aging OS.
If WM7 devices and Blackberries make it friendlier for users to get their hands on decent apps then it will be interesting to see how everything pans out.
As for now, my suggestions for everyone is to keep your iPhones if you can live with 2.5G for voice. 3G voice is only slightly better in IMHO since it uses a different voice codec but then again some users will perceive the difference.
The worst it can happen is that you'll get some money from a class action suit... that is if Apple does not get their 3G issue resolve on the new iPhone.
I have been following this thread for a couple of days. I see a lot of statistics about signal strength, serial numbers etc. This is what my experience has been. I bought my phone on 7/25 at an Apple store. I had to go to AT&T after my purchase to have a discount added to my account (Long story, but I had to "give away" the discount if I bought at an Apple store). The AT&T employee immediately asked if I had my SIM card replaced. He replaced it and gave me a new one for my old iPhone for when I activated it on another number in my plan (lucky daughter). My 3G has worked flawlessly in Long Island, NYC, Brooklyn and even in the Adirondacks (brother in law had no Verizon signal in Lake George area, but I did. Go figure). Edge and 3G flip/flopped as I went through urban areas as expected, such as Albany. Watched YouTube videos, which loaded faster than the old model. From monitoring this thread, I am wondering whether this is the 2.0 update. Why would the AT&T guy give me a new SIM for both the old and new phone? I have had no dropped calls either.
The SIM in my new 16 3G was the exact SIM the guy had at the AT&T store. He offered to change it, but their system was down. I never went back and the downtown store played down the SIM issue. I've noticed that reception has slowly been improving in my area. I think it is due to a combination of many things. If the vendor puts a 2G SIM in your phone, you will have issues. Your store rep probably thinks that replacement must be done. Glad your phone is working well, mine is too!
Thank you so much for all your efforts on this! After reading both threads in their entirety (whew), I can now understand why my reception has always been so much better than my friends. I am in Portland and picked up my iPhone 3G 16G Black phone the evening of the launch. I mostly use the phone on WiFi either at my home or office, but even when traveling the reception has been great.
I pulled my SIM card out tonight to check it, and lo and behold, I have the "newer" SIM number of 71234O4022.
Even if you don't agree with me, that's no reason for personal insults.
I am well aware that 3G is only really relevant for data.
And no I am not happy with the voice call due to all the dropped and failed calls on a mature, strong 3G network where other 3G handsets don't drop calls and calls to them don't go straight to voice mail.
Other handsets also step down to 2G quickly and transparently, the iPhone 3G can sit for 20 minutes or longer with no signal before finally going 2G.
Then, the core functions, as I have said numerous times and many reviews agree, are nowhere near up to par with current 3G handsets. Again, there's the crippled bluetooth, very basic text messaging lack of MMS, only basic phone functions (no selective divert, etc) that even the most basic mobile handsets have these days.
Let's not even get into what I expect from a business smartphone these days, because there, the iPhone looks even worse, with it's lack of Ofiice document suopport, lack of ToDo and Notes sync, lack of a transparent file system, inability to sync multiple folder levels from Outlook and so on.
Just for the record: I'd really love to love the iPhone 3G (I already love my iPods and the MacBook Air) but with all its shortcomings, limitations and omissions, I just can't.
'wonder how many of that the long list of gaps are / will soon be filled by stuff from the App Store ... seems quite likely, if there's an need for something, it'll get filled there ... ?
Haven't tried transfering notes from our Nokia, yet, but am hoping there'll move across as easily as all my Contacts & Calendar information (which was so easy & quick I couldn't believe it had really happened - it had taken me two trans-Atlantic flights to achieve the same from my old Palm to the Nokia)
(here's hoping MAcalc finds it's way there soon !)
where they compare dbm values on different phones? does anyone have an att 3g phone at their place and can post dbm values, both for their low reception iPhone 3G and the other 3G devices on the same network?
Maybe that depends on the carrier. I can't hear much of a difference on my Nokia 6280 between talking on 2G in some rural areas and 3G in the cities, just have fewer echo problems on 3G than on GSM.
I am having the same problems with my 2 3g iphones. Wifes 8g and my 16g. We are smack dab in the middle of a large Blue 3g area in michigan and we get 1 to 2 bars at most at our house, inside and out. Edge has 3 to 4 bars and works just fine. I go to other areas with the phone and I can get full 3g signals in certain areas but it fluctuates when I'm not real close to a tower. I am fine with using edge if thats what I have to do until the 3g gets stronger/beefed up/phones get replaced/whatever they decide to call this. My gripe is first and foremost the denial of any problem from my two local att stores and 1 local apple store. They all acted like this was the first they have heard of it. I work for a global multi billion dollar company and I we all get up to date news even "rumors" that have to deal with our company so don't pretend like you have no clue this issue exists. My other issue is paying the $10 premium a month per phone for a network that is mostly non existent in most areas they claim to have coverage. I would keep the phones and stand by until a solution is found and use the edge if I didn't have to pay the extra money a month. For now i guess I return both phones and keep an eye on the blogs/forums until something gets resolved cause I love the phone otherwise. Like I said, I even like it in Edge but don't charge me a premium if you can't hold up your end.
I know Apple and a few other sites have posted the technical reasons as to why voice is better on 3G (notably that it can use multiple towers at once and process more voice data), but I suppose how noticeable it would be to any individual is dependent on the quality of their 2G network. Where I am, my carrier's 2G network was pretty marginal, so the move to 3G made a significant difference in voice quality. A couple of my regular contacts have even commented on the difference.
Yes, I compared my old LG CU500 (3G as well) in test mode and the iPhone 3G in test mode.
I found the difference to be around 6dB-9dB (less on the iPhone). Now this was just a visual comparison, but more scientific tests can be done with the right software. In fact, operators such as AT&T have a clear view of what's going on because every phone maker has a particular serial that identifies them on the network. AT&T has a way of seeing what model drops calls and why and compare them to other phones around.
I read the article you mentioned, and although it does not seem to be a big difference, when you are looking at logarithmic values (dB), 9 dB is a lot! Just a silly example, if you buy 3 light bulbs, one at 50watts, one at 100watts, and another at 200watts, 3dB is difference between the 50 and 100 bulbs, and 6dB would be the difference between the 50 and 200 bulbs. It is a lot of power considering that wireless networks are planned with very minimal margins (it costs millions of dollars to extend your coverage by 3dB).
If the iPhone is going to get better signal performance, it is up to Apple. AT&T is not going to do much as other phones seem to be working OK.
As far as the SIMs not being provisioned properly, yes, that can cause problems with random drop calls or no service glitches, but those drop calls would unlikely be due to signal strength.
Just reporting back....it's been a week since I went to the ATT store and swapped out the SIM cards for new ones, and both phones now operate like they're supposed to. Signals are where they used to be when I had my old phone.
For those having issues that don't want to treck all the way back to an Apple store, try swapping out your SIM cards at an ATT store first and see if this helps.
I didn't link to the above article to defend the iPhone's reception versus Nokia, but rather to show that comparing how many bars a Nokia (or any other phone) may get versus the iPhone isn't a meaningful way to compare the two. With -db numbers in the -94 to -101 range, the iPhone displayed 2 bars. With the same numbers, the Nokia displayed 5. From what I understand about those numbers, I'd say 2 bars is a more accurate representation of that signal. Since Nokia and Apple display bars differently based on identical -db numbers (if the comparisons MobileTech performed were accurate), comparing bars between phones isn't helpful.
I accidentally discovered this this weekend. Once you've entered field test mode, then force quit out of it to leave the -db numbers in place of bars, you can switch back and forth between bars and numbers at anytime by tapping on them. Very cool!
I've never had to go back into field test again, and I've restarted my iPhone, yet whenever I want the -db numbers, I just tap on the bars in the upper left corner. Works in virtually all the apps.
