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.
Maybe a bad phone then - I've read of some phones have a crimped wire lead to the antenna. Maybe you got one of those. Either that or am just **** lucky with the phone I got.
On 3G, inside my house I get 1 and 2 bars (that's concrete and semi-sub-terrain) - step outside the door and I get 3-4 bars. Almost any where I go around Seattle I get 4 - 5 bars outside.
After a lot of reading, it seems like everything's on a case-by-case basis... might be the hardware, the network, the firmware, the sim, none of the above, or all of the above! Unfortunately, I don't have another 3G phone around to test (or any friends with one), but I know that the edge network is poor in my neighborhood for other phones... and I'm of the mind that AT&T wants to fix the problem but just hasn't received complaints through the right channels....
Anybody come across a google maps mashup with coverage and comments for the iphone 3g?
DougRidgway: Great post. I'll look forward to your post on the 8th, I just wished this explanation came from some sort of official resource, and not just from a consumer who had to work his way to get a clear answer.
That may be the case where you live, but this is a problem world wide and other phones that are 3g have zero problems right next to each other with one with full signal and the iPhone with one bar. It isn't AT&T, it is a defect with the iPhone. That has been said over and over a thousand times in this post regardless what they've told you.
This is a problem all over the world with the iPhone on different carriers, where other 3g phones work perfectly and the iPhone doesn't work at all or barely. Do you think AT&T would have a 3g network in existence if it were this bad? No way! This is the iPhone. Maybe you don't have 3g where you live, but for those that do, the iPhone still fails through out the world with 3g reception.
What makes the most sense is that the wire to the antenna or something got pinched during production of the iPhone and so the antenna is only receiving half way. So if you are right near the source (repeater, tower) you have full signal, but if you get a mile or two away from it you have no signal, where other 3g phones will still have full signal because their antenna is working by 100%. This theory I read makes the most sense.
Think if you cut the antenna wire in your car, it would receive right near the broadcasting radio station, but further out you went it wouldn't receive anymore. While other radios with an antenna that isn't defective or the wire cut in this example would still receive the radio station for up to 100 miles out because the antenna isn't defective.
Please by no means do I want to tell people not to exchange there iphones, because that is are only options at this time. And you could be right I have really bad luck with products so it might be that my handsets came from the same batch. I hope so because the way it looks apple nor at&t are willing to take the blame for what is going on. From my experience they are both pointing the finger at one another. Another thing is to give at&t a call and see if they can credit your account as they did mine. Its not a permanent fix but it does help. It seems like my phone is hanging on to a signal a little better since the 2.01 update last night. The funny things is I am not getting as many bars as I was before the update but bars are not everything. As long as I can keep away from dropping calls I could care less how many bars my phone is showing. I have had only 1 bar of 3g getting speeds twice as fast as I would with 4-5 3g bars. Sounds crazy but true.
I am inclined to think you are correct on the iPhone build defect. The sad thing is, Apple and/or AT&T have surely figured out the problem by now, notwithstanding their silence and proclaimed ignorance of the problem.
I think most of us would be a lot happier if they would just tell us they have identified the problem and will soon offer instructions for resolving the problem.
For me, the deafening silence by the manufacturer and their network partners on the issue is what I find most frustrating.
(I do suspect there is some loud yelling in Cupertino though! I sure wish Apple wasn't so successful with their corporate shroud of secrecy so we could have some hints on the net.)
Please make sure you understand my intent — I'm trying to say that there are many possible (and probable) problems with the rollout — If I had a pinched antenna, I probably wouldn't get 5 bars of 3g coverage in other locations...who knows, but whatever the case, I'm sure there are all sorts of problems with hardware, software, and network — and they're potentially different for every carrier, every 'batch' of phones, every firmware release, etc...
I'm just trying to localize things a little (and reduce the number of variables to solve my problem in my area for my phone.... and the other users who are in the same boat) by saying that in the Duboce Triangle / Castro / Mission areas of San Francisco, I've had really bad reception (despite claims that coverage is good). In my case, it seems like the likely culprit is AT&T, given how my phone works in other areas, and how other people (non-iphone) have similar reception on the Edge network in my area.
Believe me, I'm happy to return iPhone's until the sun goes down (and I will if things head in this direction), but if that's not going to get me better service...it's not worth the time. I'm simply trying to illustrate that we're probably not all talking about the same (singular) problem, regardless of if there are some pervasive problems with the hardware...
You are having the same problem everyone else is having! The iPhone gets full 3g signal when it's right near the source because the signal is the strongest there. As you get further away the signal drops way off because you aren't using the full antenna. As other 3g phones with a functional antenna still pick up the signal perfectly.
You have the same problem as hundreds of thousands of other iPhone users throughout the World.
After checking with at&t and checking my sim out in another 3g iPhone, I went in for an exchange.
After a software update failed to help my 1 bar of 3g signal(in most places) I went in today to get a swap. The apple workers acted like they haven't seen many, if any, cases from reception here. They looked at my 5 bars(go figure, only at apple. 1 bar at at&t/work/home) and looked at me like I was crazy.
They swapped it anyway and I can now report 100% increase in satisfaction. I now have 5 bars where I only had one. Occasionally it will drop from 5-4, but I have yet to see the little E come back from the dead.
If you can get your hands on another 3G, swap sim cards and see if the signal difference is great. if it is, you may need a new phone.
If that's the case, then why do non-iphone's on the edge network not get reception at the same locations (middle of sf)? Let's forget 3g (even tho it's part of the problem), I'm not getting ANYTHING but wifi and bluetooth at my home. This has been the case on 3 different iPhone 3g's, 2 Old-model iPhones (pre 2.0) and numerous other non-3g phones.
On second thought, I'll just keep returning phones because it HAS to be a hardware problem.
So, how about this, an OPEN CALL for anyone in the Duboce Triangle, Castro, Mission areas of San Francisco who has good 3g coverage...to help confirm that it indeed is my phone and not the network.
This discussion is about 3g iPhones that have little or no 3g signal in known 3g areas. Your post is complaining about not having any signal on edge or 3g with any phone. That's not what this topic on this board is about.
Swapping the sim card will do nothing. Sim card has nothing to do with it. I already did that and it had no effect. It's the phone, you have to swap the phone with a phone that isn't defective from production.
Jacob - really, I feel like you're trying to turn this into a battle about who is right, and are saying that my post is not relevant now? Seriously, read my posts again if you need to, but I live in a 3g area (San Francisco), I have an iPhone 3g, I have a weaker than weak signal and no 3g in many areas. I also have next to no voice at home, despite being told by AT&T that I should.
So whether you're right and it is faulty hardware, or someone else is right and it's a network issue, the current situation (my service is not good) and the end result (I get better service or go back to sprint) will be the same. It's only through systematic and thorough exploration (ie: the scientific method???) of all the possibilities that my situation's going to get resolved.
In other words, as it stands, no one has proven that it's the phone OR the network (and here's a kicker, there's probably more than one partially right answer - this thing is global) and by everyone intelligently documenting their experience maybe more of us who are choosing to go down this path (rather than buy a blackberry, switch networks, etc...) will find a reasonable solution.
