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

There isn't going to be a fix. Ten weeks after launch Apple still hasn't acknowledged the problem. It thinks it's gotten away with this.

I'm in the process of making a formal complaint to O2 here in the UK. I've written to the Which consumer magazine and I'm going to write to a consumer TV programme called Watchdog. I'm also going to write to OFCOM about O2's coverage claims, which are lies, and might contact Trading Standards about Apple's claims about the phone. Advertising Standards is also an option because their current TV ads are blatantly dishonest.

All my efforts in trying to contact Apple have been a complete and utter waste of time so forcing O2 to do something about it is a more realistic option.

In the meantime perhaps someone at Apple will finally realise that this sort of behaviour will permanently bar them from any kind of entry into the business market. Business simply cannot tolerate this sort of behaviour.

Bought my iPhone 3G a week ago from AT&T in Washington DC and started with Version 2.1 software. Good 3G service downtown and on Capitol Hill comparable to what I had on Verizon Wireless. Good call setup and quality on 3G or Edge. (Did not use enough to experience a 3G/Edge voice handover.) Mostly 3 to 5 3G bars except deep inside big buildings, and then can usually get an Edge signal. A speed test I tried from the Applications library showed download speed of about 400 kbps on 3G and 100 kbps on Edge. The 3G speed is about what I had on my Verizon Wireless 1xEV-DO 3G connection. One observation is that Edge is fast enough for most of what I do. Oh well.

To get the best battery life I leave the phone on Edge with 3G, WiFi, and Location Services off except when I need those services which is not often. Pushing mail once per hour. Gives me about two days battery life. (I am a light cell phone user.)

Overall a good experience so far. Everything works. No quality control issues.

I ordered my Apple 3G Iphone from Hong-Kong online and will get it this week in Hong-Kong. I will report on how it works once I get it. I doubt I will use this phone for phone calls but most likely it will be needed for its wifi features and the 3G when wifi is not available. I doubt one can beat a Motorola or Nokia when it comes to simple phone calls. I have a HTC P3600i and I don't use it for basic phone calls as it is just not as good as my Nokia phone is.

This 3G Iphone will not be the only phone I will carry or I will most likely be crying like most other posters here but will to comment until I receive my device in Hong-Kong hopefully by this Wedensday. I still look forward to receiving this $800 device that I just paid for and for $800 I hope it can at least get some reception and not drop calls or data transmissions.

so your conclusion is that werwerwerwer should move to Washington ?

everybody has the same reception, and you can of course get perfect reception with the iphone 3g...like me 150 yards from here or like at my parents 3 km from here..and that's the reason why some people don't experience any reception problems !!

but the problem is that you should get good reception in ALL areas pointed at the map as "good coverage"..

at first you naturally ask if it is the carrier, but then you find out that you are in solid zone where other 3g phones works and then you find out that is many users all over the world experience the same...and then you blame the phone

also, bars does not say anything..dBm values do

"so your conclusion is that werwerwerwer should move to Washington ?"

No.

Unfortunately I tend to agree with werwerwerwer; if Apple didn't fix it with 2.1 given all the bad press, they're never going to fix it. My guess is that they're hunkering down now to wait and see what happens, balancing the risk of mass defections with the cost of doing something about it. They're probably betting that there are enough people in good reception areas and few enough in bad, which means from a purely commercial perspective it'll be cheaper just to let people like werwerwerwer and myself swing in the wind.

The really sad thing for me is that I want to keep the iPhone 3G as it's an excellent all-round device. Best I've ever had for mobile internet when it actually works. But the unreliability of it on 3G even in excellent reception areas, and the dreadful performance on even phone calls in poor 2G areas means it's touch and go for me whether to return it to O2 citing breach-of-contract. My wife's old Nokia 6210 for example has no trouble making calls in an area where the iPhone does jack, as the American's like to say 🙂

werwerwerwer, please let us know how you get on with the formal complaint as I'm considering the same approach. If we don't hear from you we'll know you've been censored and I'll complain anyway.....

But what I'd rather happen is that Apple fix this, preferably with firmware if at all possible. And in the meantime admitting they're trying, whilst more commercially risky for them (if they fail) would at least significantly reduce the bad press and the people returning their phones to no avail.

I'm sure most people have access to a second phone.

You can rule out the phone by using another phone. I have done this and there is no fault with the iPhone. My Nokia gives an identical signal reading.

gilesjuk - you're spot on that the best way is to compare with another phone, but I disagree that the number of bars is the key indicator.

What's important is how well the phone holds the calls and/or pulls down data. For me the N95 and iPhone show 2 bars in a relatively poor reception area but the iPhone almost immediately bails out when you try to make a call or surf the web, whereas the N95 just works.

Same SIM, same place, same network - only difference is the phone.

Only way to be sure is make calls, not look at the bars......

Hello,

To be honest... I feel if Apple was, going to, or could fix this problem... it would have been done by now? For those who do not have stable 3G, tried my most updated SIM procedure, swapped out phones... etc, etc, etc... I think this is as good as its ever going to get. *I hope I'm wrong!* But way to much time has passed since launch day.

Even AT&T can (and always could) prove its Apple. Just "try" another AT&T 3G phone and do the comparison yourself. This is what AT&T did with someone else who has posted on the Apple forum. Thats a pretty strong, pointed "non-direct" statement.

Agreed?

Thanks,
Doug

Nokia N95 will always be better as a phone then the Iphone. If you compare other features though things could be different. I don't think the Iphone's strength is in reception and call quality. The Iphone is not alone in this as most other PDA/Phones are the same including HTC. HTC is a bit better but not much better and certainly not better then Nokias and Motorolas.

But remember Doug, iPhone 3G is not just available in the US, so AT&T is clearly not responsible, or at least not for the bulk of the issues. I'm in the UK on O2 and the 3G is similarly rubbish.

And in terms of the N95 comparison, as I said earlier the iPhone is the best ever mobile internet device I've had bar none, but as a phone it's rubbish and in terms of reception it's rubbish.

That's simply not good enough for an Apple product when they have a reputation to uphold.

I think it is a combo AT&T/iPhone!

I think the iPhone has reception issues, just by picking mine up the dbm goes down! (There is a video on YouTube about this.. something near the bottom of the phone ?antenna? gets blocked or something)

I live in a smaller town where the 3G will switch to EDGE and sometimes even No Service and back and forth, however, when I visited the bigger city (covered in 3G on AT&T map) I still have the 3G dbm jumping around a bit, but it stayed connect to 3G and was a really fast connection. BUT, when I was in the lower part of the mall in the restroom are my phone went to No Service where I would have at least been able to make phone calls on my old Raz-R

Hey Doug - thanks for the link to complete the purchase details online.. I was thinking of getting it from the AT&T store right next to where I live... one qn though - I'd read on this thread a while back that if I do buy from AT&T and end up w/ problems, then the Apple store won't exchange the phone if I go in and I'll need to go to AT&T who would then send it to Apple to do a swap.. is this true? I asked the AT&T store guy the same qn today and he said I can take it in to the Apple store for any warranty related issues.. so just wanted to make sure.. thanks!

I bought my phone when it came out from an AT&T store, and yesterday I went to Apple store and they change the phone.

Great! Thanks!