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

From the previous thread:

HeloCaptain wrote:
michaelab,
We all appreciate your +empirical evidence+"

My empirical evidence is just as valid, if not more so, than the people here claiming that the 3G problem is affecting the majority of users. People who have problems will post here. Generally, people who don't, won't. The number of people posting about 3G issues here indicates that there is a problem that affects a small minority of users.

It's always amusing when people post about an issue to a support forum and find there are a few others with a similar problem so they jump immediately to the conclusion that the problem must affect all or the majority of users.

Apple have indicated the problem is affecting 2% of users. Even if they are being conservative and the real number is 4 or 5% that's still a small minority, nevertheless, a minority that should not be ignored.

Ever since I installed the 2.0.2 update, I get No Service at my home when 3G is enabled (I used to get 1 or 2 bars). If I turn off 3G, I get 4 bars of Edge.

It seems the new update still has issues switching services. It ticks me off that I have to manually tell my phone the right thing to do. Apple, listen up. It's simple; If there is not enough 3G and plenty of Edge, automatically switch! Lets go Apple!!! Get on the ball!!

Down at my local MAC store here in Lone Tree, CO, I wanted to see if it was just 2% of the phones by way of just hooking up with the display models. Surely, Apple would have the best models out on the floor for the people to see, use, test, and enjoy.
Model #1 5 bars. Model #2 5 bars... all 8 of them 5 bars. Incredible. My poor phone had one little nub and at times no service. Man I was bummed and ready to return my phone.
BUT THEN I began to wonder if the 5 bars were 3G or EDGE since the WIFI signal was showing on all of them.
Much to our surprise... EVERY SINGLE PHONE HAD 3G TURNED OFF!!!!!!
Are you kidding me? My 3G is at 101-105 consistently here at my desk.
It's phone friends. Go to your Apple store and see if you find the same thing.

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

There are some scattered elsewhere as well.

Could it be a combination of things, not just all having the same root cause?

where does these 2-3 % come from, this mysterious SteveJ e-mail ?

if that would be true...then you most likely will get a not-defected phone if you exchange. it would be..+97 % chance to get a phone that works like other 3g phones.

i read about people exchanging phones 2-4 times, it's not *2-3 %*

also, i told you before, i can get a good signal in some areas, especially in town but not if i go outside the zone "zone", like in my apartment, my street outside and other places away..

i think it is exactly the same with your phone...the difference is that for you
it's not that big deal as it is for me...i bought a 3g phone not a 2,5 g

other 3g phones works perfectly indoors and outside..in sweden we do have thicker walls than in portugal..so maybe that does not affect you very much


i noticed this after 5 minutes of use and since then i have been trying to find
a solution..i did not plan to sit and watch forums like this in the middle of the summer..

what i also found out is the following

i'm a new customer of apple, i bought the phone, it's not working as it should, many people complain...still there is no official answer from apple, it's very strange...if it was like you said 2 %, then admit it and give me a good phone

reading all these forumposts, i've noticed...there are some people defending apple and the iphone, what ever i say..i notice this on their arguments and many
posts, and they always have perfect reception everywhere with the iphone and i believe they don't get paid..i find quite amazing it's like belonging to "the party"...

there are to many people here and in other forums complaining on the same issue...don't you find that strange ?

Message was edited by: curveball

Some more bad news.. it might just be the CHIP everyones biggest fear read link below

BlackBerry Bold may be joining the iPhone 3G with reception issues | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com

Well it must be true we are all up for some type of hardware issue as iphone. the report suggests they use the same chip.. what now??? i guess we play the waiting game, i think the company that makes the chip will go broke if they need to replace all these phones so that could be the reason why apple is so quiet, they need to find a win / win solution

EdTedT,

I did the same thing and went to the Manhattan Beach, CA apple store as I was considering buying an iphone (Luckily I've been reading these forums first). The phones there all had 3g turned on, but were all connected to Wifi so I couldn't tell if they were on 3G for calls (they were showing 5 bars which turned out to be edge). I turned the wifi off on all of them and toggled on and off the 3G. All seven phones without exception went to no service and then after a few minutes switched over to edge. Not a single phone could pick up 3g coverage in the store. Made my choice easy of not going through with the purchase.

I have a week 29 build and I have been having pretty bad reception issues as well. No reception in my house unless I walk out in the yard. Between my office and home where much of the trip is on I-64 I continually drop calls. I am heading up to the ATT store to see what they suggest now.

I am in the Hampton Roads area.

BlackBerry Bold may be joining the iPhone 3G with reception issues | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com

http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=1381 oops sry here is the link

curveball wrote:
if that would be true...then you most likely will get a not-defected phone if you exchange. it would be..+97 % chance to get a phone that works like other 3g phones.

i read about people exchanging phones 2-4 times, it's not *2-3 %*

Well, if the problem was network or location related then you could exchange your phone as much as you liked and it wouldn't fix it. It's 2-3% of users not phones.

i think it is exactly the same with your phone...the difference is that for you
it's not that big deal as it is for me...i bought a 3g phone not a 2,5 g

It's very arrogant of you to assume what is or isn't an issue for me. I also bought a 3G phone, not 2,5G and I'm getting 3G service. The only places my phone switches to GPRS (we don't have EDGE network in Portugal) is deep inside buildings, and the switch from 3G to GPRS and back is always seamless.

reading all these forumposts, i've noticed...there are some people defending apple and the iphone, what ever i say..i notice this on their arguments and many
posts, and they always have perfect reception everywhere with the iphone and i believe they don't get paid..i find quite amazing it's like belonging to "the party"...

I don't get perfect reception everywhere but it's at least as good as any other 3G phone which, here in Portugal, is in most places.

there are to many people here and in other forums complaining on the same issue...don't you find that strange ?

No. People with problems complain. Even a small minority can become very 'vocal' at making their complaints heard.

paul in sydney au wrote:
BlackBerry Bold may be joining the iPhone 3G with reception issues | The Mobile Gadgeteer | ZDNet.com

Maybe if you actually read the entire article, you would have found that the author contradicts himself and that the entire premise that the BB would have problems is based on a completely undocumented speculation about the Infineon chip. Here is what he wrote:

"I haven’t seen a definite release date for the BlackBerry Curve on the AT&T network and the reported issues with the 3G radio may be delaying the release. There were reports that the Infineon chip was a possible cause of the problem. *My search results indicate the BlackBerry Bold uses the Marvell Tavor platform for 3G so the problem with the iPhone may be on the software side, which means it can be fixed by Apple.*"

Message was edited by: modular747

michaelab, check swisskiltbear post, regarding tests against other 3g devices...it says it all..

it's in the last locked thread

ps. we have a mature 3g network in sweden, it covers almost all area, except up in the north

//curveball

Message was edited by: curveball

Message was edited by: curveball

modular747 wrote:
*My search results indicate the BlackBerry Bold uses the Marvell Tavor platform for 3G so the problem with the iPhone may be on the software side, which means it can be fixed by Apple.*"

That right there is what peaks my interest. The idea that two different phones that use chips by two different companies both having identical hardware issues is a hard one to swallow.

It does point to the network being the main culprit.

Message was edited by: Ansuz82

Aluminum Siding on the House?


(Don't laugh, I have friends that have to sit in front of a window in their aluminum sided house.

3G is much more sensitive to this than Edge, but even Edge can be virtually
shut down by metal walls.

I only have a signal if i turn 3g off. With 3g on I get little to no reception. In fact every phone call I make with 3g on, the other caller cannot here me or speach if garbled. Why am I paying an extra 15bucks a month for an original iphone?