iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You're Not Alone - Continued

I live in So Cal by Disneyland and my 3G coverage is horrible. If I have 3G on, one second I have a couple of bars, then the next I have no bars. I called Support and they told me that all throughout Orange, LA, San Gabriel, and parts of Inland Empire AT&T will be adding a whole lot of new 3G towers and it will not be fully completed till Feb 09. I was told just in my area alone, they are adding 4 3G towers, but it will not be done till Oct. or Nov.08. She recommended that I turn off 3G and check it periodically to see what the coverage is like. So, for anybody that lives in OC, 3G coverage horrible and it is scattered throughout the county.

Message was edited by: Starbuck_Drunk

I have to say,still very bad 3G reception in my house,but when I'm out and driving,I can use 3G speeds 90% of the time.
I'm in the middle of the highest 3G area overhere,I have to admit,but I start to believe the problem is more on the providers side,then it is on the hardware side.
2G is perfect everywhere I go.

*puts on flame suit now*

Live in a suburb of Houston, TX and i dont get 3G anywhere it seems, and have even seen the blue box with the black dot, i'm taking my phone back if a restore doesn't fix this.

no need to put on a flame suit here. 😉 this thread is about identifying the problem of low reception with the iPhone 3G, and anyone should join and make their voice heard.

nevertheless, I don't agree that this is a provider issue as other phones work well in the same spot, anywhere in the world.

For me, reception seems to have improved a bit with the new firmware. It's still weak in most places, and at home I get between -100 and -113 dbm (which is bad). But I haven't had any dropped calls lately.

I have to say though that I sometimes feel like the Roman guy in Asterix and Obelix who captured the druid to profit from the magic potion, and after drinking the potion tries to lift large stones, fails, and when finally he manages to pick up a small pebble he believes the druid has provided him with super powers ... meaning, my expectations have been lowered a lot during the past few weeks.

jabecker, thanks for clarifying this. it's about time for Apple to recognize we're not whining about bars here.

Have you seen the post by tom_cazzo (here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1640412&tstart=0):

+I checked back with the PC MAGAZINE editor and this is the email I got:+
+Tommaso -+

+I've been covering this, but I can't offer you any help. Apple steadfastly+
+refuses to discuss it with me, and pretends nothing is wrong, even though+
+there's plenty of evidence to the contrary.+

+You're not crazy, though, and it's not AT&T's problem.+

+ http://www.gearlog.com/2008/07/iphone3g_reception_problemsa.php+

*So Apple still thinks there's nothing wrong.*

That is definitely not good news. Some have reported better reception when going to the newer sim. Thought that would be worth a try because I have been experiencing poor 3G reception, dropped calls, getting call failed in strong 3G reception areas, etc... My current sim is 71234G3022. The newer sim is 71234O4022. The AT&T store had a fresh shipment of sim cards, all of which were the 3022. When I asked about the 4022, I was told this was all they had and that the 4022 wasn't newer it was just from a different manufacturer. Of course the AT&T person who told me this seemed borderline incompetent, as I had watched him helping another customer earlier and had to call Apple support to figure out how to reboot a locked up iPhone.

Bottom line - no new SIM. I didn't think it would be worthwhile to switch out to the same version sim. Was this salesman blowing smoke?

Have you tried pulling out your existing SIM, waiting a minute, and putting it back in? AT&T tech has had me do that in the past with other phones. I always thought it was useless thing to do. However, one never knows.

Reception experience:

I was flying from Philadelphia to Tampa just about every other weekend last year. As soon as the plane would land, passengers would fire up their cell phones and start making calls. I would fire up my 1st gen iPhone and wait and wait and wait to acquire a signal. I would turn airplane mode on and off, reboot the phone etc. Usually I never got signal until the plane got to the gate. This happened in Philadelphia as well as in Tampa. This has happened with multiple iPhones. I was convinced it was AT&T until I switched back to a Blackberry. As soon as we would land, my Blackberry would get signal and I could txt or make a call.

I am seeing the same behavior with the iPhone 3G. The device sometimes has a hard time acquiring a signal and holding it. I truly believe it is a design flaw and not defective phones. Don't get me wrong, I also believe there are many defective phones as well.

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Message was edited by: marcfogel

must have been some other reason than the new firmware. today i'm back to normal - i.e. bad reception at -97 to -105 db in my office.

Starbuck,
AT&T is blowing smoke up your *. If you live near Disneyland, you already have good 3G coverage. Look at the map: http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/

You have a bad iPhone, like so many of us.

I'm really surprised so many people are reporting that Apple is in denial about this problem. Both times I spoke with a "product specialist" (the second tier of support reps) about my reception problem, the issue was treated seriously. The reps never blamed AT&T. They never said that this is the first they have heard of this issue. The first time, a replacement was recommended. When I reported to another rep that the replacement had the same problem, it was suggested that I try a new SIM card and, if that didn't work, exchange the iPhone. Luckily, the new SIM card made a difference, and I have no reception complaints at this time.

Hello Hersco,

Glad to hear that the new SIM resolved your issues as well! This seems to be working for a lot of people.

Thanks,
Doug

hmmm ... 'tis difficult to judge how well we're doing ... two iPhones, no dropped 'calls ... very variable 3G bars, they go up & down, and when I'm at work I'm in a very marginal area, meaning things are slow ... have had to hold the Home button down several times, mostly when in Safari, sometimes in Mail, to restore normal operation ... but that has at least provided a cure !

'biggest complaint we have, is that we can't tether the iPhone ... which means we have to buy sticks for the laptops, meaning our costs are about doubled !

we're in the UK, so we go via O2, rather than AT&T, but our sticks will probably come from 3 (Hutchison), rather than O2 - ie: they won't gain from they're meanness over tethering (our contract with T-Mobile runs to the end of the month, via the Nokia E61 & the Samsung '560, so we have a few days, yet, to decide) ...

I too have been having myriad problems with dropped calls. AT&T declared my unit "defective" on Monday and I trekked to the apple store for a replacement. The replacement phone seems to have even more troubles. Calls aren't being dropped mid-connection as often, but am now experiencing trouble making the initial connection. For the past day and a half I've only had one call connected on my first attempt. The other 20+ calls I've made have required 2 or 3 attempts before the connection is made. Any ideas? Is this something fixable or should I return the phone and give up?

BTW: dropped calls is hardly the only issue I'm experiencing with my iphone.

Perhaps the spirit of my Powerbook 5300 has risen from the dead to haunt me. That fix took three silver bullets and wooden tent peg.