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

I live about 1/4 mile from a freeway, up on the hillside about 200 feet above the road level. I rarely get 3G that is usable and more often get "call failed" or "no service" or incoming calls simply go to voice mail. Forget using the data/web on 3G.

The iPhone is at 2.0.2. AT&T shows my location as deep, dark, solid 3G with no caveats. Being up on the hill with no obstructions tells me I should have rockin coverage.

If I turn 3G off, to no surprise, I get solid EDGE and things work just fine. And guess what- its not only at my home but almost everywhere I go except inside an AT&T or Apple store (where they probably have femtocells).

Perhaps 3G wasn't ready for primetime but I know the iPhone 3G is flawed and most likely hardware. Firmware seems like a bandaid to mask the real problem.

Dogan wrote:
I have noticed that the people in the threads are mostly clumped together in the same areas.

Then there was the guy who said he had no dropped calls in Las Vegas with 1 bar, but in NYC with multiple bars had dropped calls.

Areas I have noticed multiple posters from:
London, UK
New York City
Washington, D.C.
San Diego
Sydney, Australia

I'm in NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn) and Jersey City and around and don't have any 3G problems of the magnitude others are reporting for same places. When it comes to 3G my iPhone 3G behaves (or misbehaves) in a same pattern that my prior Samsung Blackjack 3G on same at&t 3G netwrok.

What I noticed with both phones is that at&t has scalability problems with its internet proxy and/or DNS servers. During pick hours in the middle of Midtown on park avenue both phones will have 5 bars 3G but data access is slow to a crawl if at all. On Balckjack I could see that browser is stuck on "Locating..." meaning DNS resolution.

Your logic is severely flawed. I have 4 friends with iphone 3g reception problems - they didn't even have a clue that this support forum exists. Assuming that everyone with problems will post here is a much greater leap than assuming that the majority of iphones are affected. I know of 5 people with iphones - all 5 have reception issues. Well, 4/5 anyway as I got so fed up I took mine back for a refund.

I bought my 3G 2 weeks ago and have seen no 3G when another phone next to it gets it, dropped calls like crazy, and slow web response, I returned it to the Apple store last night. The 3 dropped calls during the same business conf call last night did it for me.

I dont understand why I dont read about more people returning their phones on these forums.

Don

After so many problems with reception and dropped calls, I am truly disappointed in my iPhone purchase. I have been a long time mac fan and still am. I just wished that Apple had finished this 3G product before releasing it. Software Update did nothing for me. Hope Apple goes back to the way they used to do things...Finish The Product BEFORE The Release Date.

My wife's IPhone seems to have call failed issue with no explanation...she has a white 16Gb phone. My Black 16Gb phone seems to have less failed call....

Turning off 3G may help.

SAN FRANCISCO!!!!!!!

I just went down to apple to see if I could replace my possibly deffective iphone, and there offical response to "on going reception issues" is "turn off the 3g."
Not acceptable.
THB

chaos.theorist wrote:
Your logic is severely flawed. I have 4 friends with iphone 3g reception problems - they didn't even have a clue that this support forum exists. Assuming that everyone with problems will post here is a much greater leap than assuming that the majority of iphones are affected.

There is no way to extrapolate the number of effected users from posters in this forum. Not every person having problems knows its here and very few people without problems visit.

The biggest mystery about all of this, is the silence from Apple.

It's quite unbelievable from a PR point of view. Apart from the colossal failures of MobileMe and now the iPhone, the silence is number 1 in terms of self-inflicted harm.

As our mates across The Pond would say: "Go figure".

Indeed.

I'm just not convinced this is Apple's problem. Here in Richmond VA I get horrible 3G data performance. Calls and text messages seem to work fine. It doesn't matter if I have one bar or five bars, 3G does not work here. EDGE works just fine. I took a trip down to Nags Head for the week and during the drive everytime my phone was on 3G, even at just one bar, data worked just fine. In Nags Head 3G worked beautifully. I returned to Richmond today and 3G doesn't work.

Additionally, two ATT reps told me the 3G hardware in their towers is not working in many places, including Richmond, and they don't know when it'll be fixed. They offered, and I accepted, to credit me $65 because they are unable to provide 3G service in an area advertised as having 3G service.

Maybe there's something wrong with the iPhone. I know other people have other 3G phones that they're comparing the iPhone to in the same area. If their reports are accurate then that does lend credence to something being wrong with the phone. Still, that's difficult to assess since those other phones may not represent signal (bars) the same way.

Based on my experience, and what I've been told, I just don't have much reason to believe this is Apple's problem. Until I'm convinced otherwise I'm going to continue to ***** about it to ATT.

Dennisthedon wrote:

I dont understand why I dont read about more people returning their phones on these forums.

Don

Because a lot of us bought them as soon as they came out, and like me, I kept hold of it thinking it would get better.

It still hasn't

isn't there a big difference if you think you don't have a problem vs people that understand that there is a reception problem...

you are from america, i read a lot of posts of people getting advice turning off the 3g, why is that ? is it a 2g phone with 3g possibility...then apple can say that...

if it is not an issue with the phone, then my carrier should stop sell iphones side by side with the 3g maps that comes with other 3g phones...quite easy

curveball wrote:
isn't there a big difference if you think you don't have a problem vs people that understand that there is a reception problem...

There is. I accept that just because I don't have a reception problem doesn't mean that the problem doesn't exist.

My only point was that neither side of this great debate can use this forum to extrapolate the number of users having problems. Its clear that many users are having issues but we simply don't have access to and exact enough tally to draw any conclusions about the severity of the spread.

Call ATT and demand a credit on your bill for dropped calls. They will clean apple's clock over this. They gave me 75 bucks. I'm calling next month too, as the 2.0.2 update doesn't resolve this issue.

Time to be a man and recall your phone, Steve. Step up and do the right thing, for the future of your company.

PS - My friends in New York are selling you short as we speak.

I know some people have encountered a "call failed" bug that seems not totally related reception. The call fails before even trying to make a connection, as if the Phone just gave up without trying. Almost always the next time the call seems to go through. What version of the firmware is your wife's phone on?