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

Just wanted to put my $0.02.
When I had the original 8g model reception in and around my house was very poor. However I rarely dropped calls but quite often one side of the conversation disappeared which made it a little difficult to talk to someone hearing about every 4th or 5th word.
I thought to myself "this has got to be the worst phone I've ever used"(at my home)
But Apple surprised me with a phone that was even worse. I mean considerably worse, essentially unusable.
A bit of searching to see if this was a common problem was very successful. I happened to glance at someone's suggestion of turning 3g off. I assume that's common knowledge at this point.
I turned off 3g and lo and behold great reception. It has much better reception than my original had. So after some testing my personal opinion is that it is the phone. Hopefully the 2.1 software will fix it. Tweaking the signal delay and level switching should do it.
First the MobleMe debacle and then iPhones that are showing cracks in the plastic and bad reception out of the box. Apple disappointed me greatly and I don't know that I've ever said that.


Waiting for 2.1




Still waiting....

Doug Clements wrote:

Last, until everyone gets a 3G signal (in 3G coverage areas of course)... keep posting... hints, tips, suggestions, experiences, etc. I am really believing that this is more of an AT&T issue, than an Apple issue. Again, I know many will disagree. But as I mentioned on my original thread, I believe that AT&T and other carriers (World-Wide) over exaggerated the extent of 3G coverage area(s) at least in the U.S.

I'm in Sydney, on the Vodafone network, and I can't tell you how many times I get the "No Network" display on my phone simply because iPhone 3G can't handle switching from GPRS to 3G.

Apple, PLEASE, fix this problem. How many calls do we have to miss - and customers you lose - before you do something about it?

Al

Thanks Doug.

I really hope we will find the real reasons for the issues soon.

I have a general comment on "bars."

Bars on a cell phone represent, depending on the phone, either 1) signal strength, or 2) signal quality. (I do not know what they represent on the iPhone, or on most other phones.)

"Strength" is pretty clear. How much radio-frequency signal is your phone seeing?

Now, "Quality". You can have a "strong" signal but bad reception quality if you are getting INTERFERENCE from some source, possibly other base stations or cell phone users. Some cell phones can measure this interference and will adjust the bars according the interference level. The fewer bars, the more interference you are seeing, even if you have a strong signal. It is a more intelligent bar indication.

(On some Wi-Fi software you will see the two measures independently displayed as a percentage when you check the link status -- strength and quality.)

This is another problem with comparing bars. As others have stated here, bars do not track from phone to phone. I want to add that bars may represent different things on different phones, making the comparison more meaningless.

Also, I see the signal strength readings people are making. Remember that in the presence of interference, you can have a strong signal but one of poor quality. You may have a strong signal, but not all of it may be usable.

wheezerdoc wrote:

Technically, if AT&T has a contract to provide 3G service for your Iphone 3g and your Iphone 3G does pick up the 3g where you are supposed to be able to receive it then that is a *breach of contract*.

Problem is if you read the fine print there is language -- somewhere -- that says, basically, that it is a best-effort service. No operator can guarantee coverage 100% because of the statistical nature or signal propagation. They can make it better, though.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I booted up and saw a 3g signal in the house. This was a first for me, I usually have to stay on EDGE at home. My good mood didn't last long. I received 3 calls on my land line from 1 friend and 2 business associates saying that they went right in to voicemail. They didn't leave a message but my phone doesn't even show missed calls.

I am done (again). It is definitely going back and I am staying with Verizon. I have had 3 iPhones and although each has given me a little more than the last, it certainly isn't worth the monthly fee.
I need a phone I can count on. I also miss the voice calling feature, and it doesn't even work like my iPod Classic as far as bookmarking my audiobooks.

Return your phones and make the only statement that AT&T/Apple will pay attention to, their bottom line.

I have proudly and smugly shouted the praises of Apple for a long time now but my Windows Mobile friends are having too good of time laughing at me on this one.

Love the device, hate AT&T and the phone. I have had more dropped, failed calls in a week than I had in 8 years with Verizon. DO NOT buy an iPhone if reliable phone is your goal. I am in downtown Cincinnati. Considering returning it.

I've had my 3G phone for less then a week, I think Im at that stage, I don't know if i like it or not, I live in the Philadelphia area and use Pandora Radio app. going to and from work without any issues. Reception is OK, I do notice the signal bars go up and down allot more then pervious I-phone. (replaced due to damage). When it looses the 3G, bars drop to "No-Service" then i get the "Edge" then back to 3G. I don't know who's to blame, AT&T or Apple? But i look at it this way, The phone works when i need it, never been in area that i couldn't make a call, it's a Cell phone, not a landline.. My only issues is the 2 year contract with AT&T, i may take the phone back just to prevent that, and finish out my contact with a go-phone or something else?

perfectly understand your pain, KRBOH.

I feel the same - sometimes the signal jumps up to four bars in some places, and I wonder whether indeed some weird bug might have deleted itself and the phone works as it should - but then 0 bars again, just a few minutes later. it's just not reliable.

hope dies last. I can't return mine (kept it too long) but i will try and exchange it to a working phone as soon as they become available again.

WHY WILL APPLE NOT RESPOND TO THIS ISSUE???

I have registered a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority here in the UK as I believe Apple is breaking consumer law here by advertising the speed of the iphone when so few of us can actually achieve it. They are investigating - I don't hold out much hope frankly, although they have had some integrity in the past.

The iPhone 3G is faulty - simple. So many people are complaining now that I just go straight to voicemail it's not funny.

APPLE - IT IS BROKEN... PLEASE DO THE DECENT THING AND FIX IT.

All,

I hate to "me too" but I'm having terrible reception issues with my iPhone 3G in North Phoenix, AZ. My original iPhone never had any issues and always had all bars of signal at home. Probably because there is an AT&T tower about half a mile away. iPhone 3G has been flucuating a lot since I got it 3 weeks ago.

Yesterday, the stupid thing started to do "No Service" *a lot* -- so much so that I spent an hour on the phone with AT&T trying to figure out if they had an issue with a tower nearby. The rep tried to help me by re-sending me the GSM settings for my phone over the air but that didn't help. After much back and forth she asked me to take my iPhone 3G into the nearby AT&T store and have the SIM swapped. Did that and same result, "No Service". A Nokia 6230i also on AT&T had full signal all through this.

So hmm. My housemate got home from work and his phone had signal at first but I noticed this morning that it, too, is now saying "No Service"... ! The Nokia continued to have all bars of signal.

I am now at the PHX airport and have one bar of 3G signal here.

Sigh..

I also live in the Philadelphia area ( Northeast to be specific) and I really like my iPhone even though it has a few little quirks with the contacts app. ect. My only bone of contention is the 3G service that I'm paying for or lack of for that matter. In another thread I posted that the signal strength on the phone in 3g mode jumps around way too much, just with the location of your hand on the phone standing in the same area. If I hold the phone the proper way with my hand covering the back my signal goes from 5 bars to 2 and sometimes no service. If I hold it with my finger tips ( more of a chance to drop the darn thing) the signal goes back up to 5 bars. It's my belief the 3g antena or the service is some how faultly and I wish someone would just own up to it either Apple or AT&T. I do think I will return the phone for a replacement and I will keep on doing so until I receive a phone that works the way it's advertised even if it takes umteen returns.

+I hate to "me too"+

CNET said yesterday they weren't sure whether this was a real problem, or just a few making big noise. so anyone who want's this solved *should "me too".*

concerning the no service problem in your case: the Nokia you mentioned is AFAIK a 2G phone. so in your case, this problem will be solved by a firmware upgrade which will make the iPhone switch faster to 2G. Then your iPhone 3G will show full bars - of 2G. A workaround for the time being is to switch off 3G.

My problem is more that it can't get a 3G signal where there is good 3G coverage. If that's the same in your case you should return the device. This might help - though i can't promise it does.

Just got back from returning my iPhone at the Apple store. No questions asked why I was returning it. That in it's self ticked me off, so I told him it was my 3rd iPhone 3g and that I had it. No comment. I am starting to think they are getting afraid to ask. One would like to think so anyways.

Deep breath for me. Now I can reclaim the other half of my waking hours, as I don't have to deal with resetting, restoring, driving an hour one way, reading iPhone 3g discussions, on the land line to Apple, on the land line to AT&T and just generally wasting time to see if I have dropped calls in voicemail or even just a signal.

Hope you guys get it worked out, you are tougher than I am.....

Happily back to Verizon.

I’m in San Francisco and experience the exact same issues. I drop calls even though I have a good signal and standing still. I constantly lose 3G service and switch to Edge, but can never get back on 3G. I always have to disable 3G/turn on-off Airport Mode/force restart iPhone in order to gain some type of service back. It’s most annoying when No Service stays on the screen for extended periods. It’s incredibly annoying, and I hoped this would be fixed in a software update, but it wasn't... Perhaps this is an AT&T issue--if not, Apple, what's going on?