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

Add me to the list of UNHAPPY CAMPERS about reception. The AT&T 3G coverage map shows the strongest possible signal levels over my home and around it in all directions for half a mile at least, and yet the signal here varies wildly and constantly from no signal at all in EDGE to full strength 3G. Very frustrating.

According to AT&T's customer service rep, I should be getting three bars. I live next to a college that should, by rights, be filled with cellphones, as most colleges don't even bother with landlines in dorms now. Yet one bar--if I'm lucky--is all I get. Usually it's No Service.

And yet this is a GLOBAL problem -

as other phones work fine, either Apple needs to recall the phones or AT&T needs to take off $20 per month, at best $10 per month until it is up and running AS ADVERTISED!!!

<post edited by host>

Seth Willits wrote:
Add me to the list of UNHAPPY CAMPERS about reception. The AT&T 3G coverage map shows the strongest possible signal levels over my home and around it in all directions for half a mile at least, and yet the signal here varies wildly and constantly from no signal at all in EDGE to full strength 3G. Very frustrating.

Hello All,

This is in response to:

Raul Henriquez wrote:
And it's clear that Doug was harassed for creating this thread, so now Doug has three perfectly working 3G iPhones. Wow what are the odds of that?

I think the difference of our problems being solved are very simple. I started the "iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You're Not Alone" post, because of poor 3G reception. Since then, I have read my thread from top to bottom. Listened, experimented, read more, made phone calls (to Apple & AT&T), went back to the Apple store, sent many emails (to Apple & AT&T), continued testing our phones, read more, re-set our phones, set them up as "new" and finally visited my local AT&T Wireless store, swapped out our SIM cards, had the phones re-registered, made sure the IMEI numbers matched, and that all the original iPhone data was erased from our account. And yes Raul... we now have a 3G reception! Excellent in fact, _when we are in/or near a 3G coverage area_. FYI... different than what the AT&T 3G coverage map indicated!

I have read other posts on this thread, where users have swapped out SIM cards and had the same success we did. I have also read where it has not worked? To be honest, I think it's all in the AT&T 2G/3G Towers. Again, AT&T over emphasized the coverage areas. I don't believe that all of the towers have been tweaked (or what ever they do) for 3G. How else would we now have coverage?

Versus... just complaining and making rude comments on this thread!

*Be happy that people are finding solutions to fix the issue!!!* This is a sign that the problems are fixable! Agreed?

I wish I could help fix your 3G issue!

Thanks,
Doug

Doug,

This is NOT AN AT&T EXCLUSIVE PROBLEM. It is happening all over the world. Perhaps you didn't read the thread carefully enough.

Hello KevLeviathan,

Thank you... I have read all of the entries. I was one of the original people who posted this is a World-Wide Issue.

*I should have added... _a possible solution for people in the U.S, on the AT&T Network_.*

Thanks for catching that!
Doug

Message was edited by: Doug Clements

UPDATE! I just got off the phone with a non-******** Rogers tech and we actually got somewhere. My phone is fine, my SIM is fine, everything is fine, my reception is OK but none of my calls come through (go right to voicemail). He took down my address and checked the nearest cell tower and said something might be up with the tower. He will be sending in a request to have a technician check the nearest tower!

Not that this applies to everybody but just an update on my individual case....

Nice work Doug and others on finding a possible solution for the AT&T network though.

I'm curious about Japan: since they don't have a 2G network to fall back on.... is there anybody here who speaks japanese so they can crawl some japanese forums to see what they are saying? Are they having the same issues we are having?

Here in San Diego I am getting very poor to no coverage at all for 3G. I live in an area that according to AT&T's website has 3G coverage and also has the best coverage available for their other network. It must be only the 3G part of the iPhone's antenna because once I shut off 3G in the preferences I bounce right back to full bars. Add me to the list of unhappy customers. Besides just fixing the problem Apple/AT&T need to compensate users somehow for the lack of service that we have been receiving for close to a month now.

KevLeviathan wrote:
Doug,

This is NOT AN AT&T EXCLUSIVE PROBLEM. It is happening all over the world.

There are only a few 3G infrastructure (base station) vendors in the world. Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, Ericsson, etc. Though all this equipment is supposed to conform to 3G standards, the vendors each use some proprietary software for managing their systems. Maybe there are distinctions unique to one infrastructure vendor's hardware and software. One operator, such as AT&T, can have a mix of vendor equipment. So can operators around the world. It would be interesting to see if these problems can be linked to one vendor's equipment. Equipment can meet standards, but there can still be conformance issues by which they do not play nicely together. If so, it is a problem that yields to engineering solutions.

Interesting to read about all the issues. Here in Canada I switched from another mobile provider and I find the coverage to be far more reliable on the iPhone and 3G network. My mother lives in a very old house and when I was there with my old phone I could barely get a bar of reception; today I was over there with my brand new iPhone 3G and I had full coverage bars. Talked on the phone with my sister and quality was fantastic. I guess there must be a bad batch of phones out there or some bad networks.

+*Be happy that people are finding solutions to fix the issue!!+!*

I do hope you are right!

But what are these fixes then?

I still only get 1 to 2 bars.... 😟

I wish someone from Apple would give an official solution & let us rest our minds.

I don't have an iphone yet. I am waiting for this problem to be fixed before I buy one. I haven't read all the posts in this topic so I don't know if this has been suggested but perhaps it may help if everyone reading this thread calls and emails AT&T and Apple on the same day and voices their opinion about this problem.

+Listened, experimented, read more, made phone calls (to Apple & AT&T), went back to the Apple store, sent many emails (to Apple & AT&T), continued testing our phones, read more, re-set our phones, set them up as "new" and finally visited my local AT&T Wireless store, swapped out our SIM cards, had the phones re-registered, made sure the IMEI numbers matched, and that all the original iPhone data was erased from our account.+

Hi Doug

Thanks for all your hard work and inspiration! But what a lot you have had to go through for something that should not have been an issue in the first place.

The Iphone 3G is a great, wonderful, beautiful product... but when it comes down to it its a phone.

Most people (including myself) don't really have the time or patience to go through all the steps, and hassle, you have gone through. We just want a phone that works. And to be able to listen to the ipod bit on the way to work.

When I go to a restaurant I want to eat the food... not wonder how to fix the temperature in the ovens because the soufflé hasn't risen....

Now if "they" came up with a firmware fix, or even a hardware upgrade, (whatever) that everyone can do easily then that's a different thing.

In regards to the SIM card issue for AT&T / U.S.A. reception issues: So far all evidence here seems to imply that the later (71234O4022) SIM cards are needed for good reception.

My iPhone 3G has been working well since I purchased it from an AT&T store on Jan 12. I didn't think this was important at the time, but I recall that, when they activated the phone at the AT&T store, they actually went and got an AT&T sim card that was still in its own plastic package, then they opened the iPhone 3G box and installed the sim card into the iPhone 3G.

I just turned off my phone and removed the sim card to look at it, and it was indeed the 71234O4022 version. Others in this thread have reported that their iPhone 3G's have been working much better when they switched to this version of the SIM card from the 71234O3022 version. Well, I apparently have always had the 4022 version, and my phone has been working great.

My only complaints have been that I have dropped a few calls on this phone, but I'd estimate it has only happened on ~20% of my calls, which is worse than my experience on verizon, but not bad enough to make me return the phone.

Hello Wan Chai Man,

*I agree 100% with everything you said!!!*

Like I said before... I wish I could help everyone resolve this issue.

If you had the original iPhone, you will remember it took Apple a few revisions (software and firmware) until the iPhone really worked well. However, after waiting in line for 8 hours (on launch day) with my kids, having to sign a two year commitment (to get the $299 price for the 16 gig's), and then pay an additional $10.00 per month (times 3 phones)... I was angry that I could not get 3G reception, where the map indicated we would.

So, I was on a "mission" and was not going to stop until these phones worked... or return them on day 29 for a refund. Apple is very much aware of these issues. Why haven't they released some kind of a statement (like they did with MobileMe)??? I will never understand. I think they have made a huge mistake. I sent the VP of World Wide Communications an email asking when Apple would make a statement... she never even sent a reply!

Have a good night!
Doug