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

I'll share my own experience with you with respect to verizon. When you switch over to ATT you will be disappointed with the service. There is just no comparison on the level of service ... Verizon will trump all. Your decision has to be is the allure of having the iPhone with all the bells and whistles worth the downgrade in service. For me it was but only you know if you can handle it .... if your using your device for work and depend on it your going to be aggravated as well as those who try to get you. Just my two cents on the issue.

Well I guess everybody has different experiences with different companies. The only problem I've had with AT&T so far isn't even AT&T's fault, its Apple's fault. The problem I'm having is the 3G to Edge transfer. Basically it holds onto the 3G too long and doesn't switch to the Edge when it should, so my calls will drop sometimes and the clarity is degraded. Basically the only time I have 3G turned on is when I need to use the internet and Wi-Fi isn't available, otherwise I just have it turned off.

From my own testing between Verizon and AT&T regarding signal strength they are similar. Different areas I've been will have better Verizon signal than AT&T and then I go to another area and AT&T has a better signal than Verizon (yes I'm looking at the dbm numbers). From all the different tests I've done and for how long I've had Verizon and now I'm using AT&T, I really haven't noticed a difference in service. Now obviously a lot is going to depend on the area you live in (I live around the Cleveland Akron area in Ohio). That's just my 2 cents.

I don't want to exactly perpetuate a Verizon / AT&T debate in this thread. I just wanted to say that my experience in this city is that AT&T GSM was always more reliable and calls were clearer (less garbling) than verizon. But AT&T's 3G is a bit spotty in areas, where it's good it's magnificently clear and reliable.

But once you get out of the populated areas in California, AT&T signals cease to exist. It's all Verizon in the rural areas.

So in town, AT&T is better, out of town, Verizon is you're only shot.
That's why I keep a Verizon pre paid phone (on PagePlus, an MVNO that uses Verizon) so I can make calls during the infrequent road trips I take to rural areas.

And as I have seen argued time and time again, it most certainly depends on the areas. I've heard and seen stories that favor the two carriers and it just depends.

Well folks. I have had an occasional dropped call (for no apparent reason) on my iPhone 3G, but it's certainly infrequent in my case.
But I also have an AT&T pre paid SIM in an AT&T Tilt (long story) and in the last 1/2 hour, I made 3 calls on 3G and every single one of them dropped.
I'm sitting in front of Starbucks and the cell tower is across the street (I can see it. By the way, 3 calls to the same land line person because I was calling back after getting dropped.

So I can't say that all of our probems are the iPhone 3G in every case. This Tilt rarely ever dropped 3G calls when I used it on post paid before July when I got the iPhone.

Now I know pre-paid customers get lower priority than post paid. So perhaps the network is kicking me off beause I'm on pre-paid and it can't handle it.

But this makes me very suspicious of this being AT&T's issue (not all Apple) and possibly something to do with a massive influx of 3G customers due to the iPhone 3G sales. Before July, the number of people on 3G was quite low by comparison.

So, network oversold and under powered? It's starting to get my vote.

Well it's clear it's not just one problem. I could be phones, SIMs, or the network, and it differs for everyone. All I know is that my trusty Tilt is getting dropped more than my iPhone is today.

hi there,

a couple of days ago, i spoke to a network engineer who is a friend of mine. he installs and adjusts 3G networks all over Germany with one of the large cell tower equipment providers.

now this is what he said:
1- the iPhone 3G has a worse than average antenna. one indicator of this would be the comparatively high SAR value.
2- t-mobile germany forces the phone to stay on 3G very long - sometimes too long (i.e. dropped calls).
3- all that switching back and forth between 2G and 3G when in one spot was a result of a bad signal handling of the iPhone 3G.
4- personally, he said (being a networks engineer) - he keeps 3G switched off when he really needs the phone.

so the bottom line is, according to what he says: the iPhone 3G has difficulties, some of which are due to hardware (bad antenna), some are due to software (bad signal handling), some are due to the network configuration (prioritising 3G), and finally some are due to the 3G standard in general.

my conclusion from that is that i hope apple fixes the problems with the software, especially handovers from 2G to 3G, and I REALLY hope this time they will test this on the 1.9 and 2.1 Mhz networks in Europe.

I still get a lot of dropped calls, but even worse than that is the inability to use the internet in most places, when the iPhone can't decide whether to stay on 2G or switch back to 3G, and then keeps flipping networks.

hope this works out soon - it's a georgeous device apart from the reception.

I completely agree with you on AT&T isn't so well when you leave the city areas. I've been driving a lot in the country lately and don't really have reception. I think I'm going to follow your example and buy a prepaid Verizon phone for when I need to make calls in those areas, thanks for the great idea!

Hi all,

I'm from HK, I found the same problem here.

People can't get through my line and my phone didn't ring at all....

I search from google and found this looooooooong thread.

Any clue for this issue at the moment?

Cheers!

Yep here too. My v3xx was fine. I rarely ever dropped a call and that was a 3g phone. Then my iphone comes along. I drop calls far too often. I have had 3G switched off for that past couple months now and forget I even have the possibility sometimes because it's so bad.
Even my edge drops on occasion. This is a phone right?

I hope 2.2 fixes the handling capability of the phone. No matter how limited the antenna is the phone should be able to handle the maximum of its capability.

has anyone found out whether reception is improved with 2.2?

Especially on European 2,100 networks?

And concerning the switching back and forth when trying to use 3G?

thanks.

Interesting to get feedback on 2.2 release regarding this issue, interesting apple mentioned dropped call improvements on the release notes. Will update later today and judge it myself.

that would be great, musicvan.

as always when apple published new firmware updates, i'm on the road with no mac/internet access.

but i'll post as soon as i've tested it.

Another way to keep your 3G connected a little better than usual is to hard reset your iphone. I haven't had to much of a problem with my network as long as I hard reset about 2-3 times a day.

Reception has not improved here, i.e. similarly unstable - my iPhone still switches from 5 bars 3G to EDGE when I try to use safari. This is getting boring.

how does it work for you, musicvan?

No change.