Why is 2G call quality better than 3G?

Just upgraded to the 3G from the 2G.

Why does call quality take a hit when supposedly upgrading? Granted, I haven't moved jobs or homes, so I've been making the same calls in the same places, just with different phones.

Both were running the latest 2.1 software, which was supposedly the magic pill for the 3G.

Am I missing something?

My friend told me to turn 3G off when making phone calls, to which I replied with a stare that said "You've got to be f-ing kidding me."

That's like telling someone whose car won't make a right turn to make three lefts to fix the problem.

iPhone 2G - MacBook Pro 17 - MacPro Dual 2GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.4), 4GB iPhone - 4GB RAM (MBP) - 2GB RAM (MP)

Posted on Nov 4, 2008 10:27 AM

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9 replies

Nov 4, 2008 10:52 AM in response to PatrickL

Are you generally that rude to your friends? Try turning 3G off and see if call quality improves. My house is in a marginal 3G area and making calls with 3G is choppy because the phone is switching in and out of 3G. If I turn off 3G, call quality is excellent and my battery life is incredible. If I'm out of a wifi area and in 3G, I turn 3G on for data.

Nov 4, 2008 11:19 AM in response to locondcoco

If 3G is only beneficial for data transfer, why then would it affect call quality?

It's amazing how afraid everyone seems to be to call the 3G iPhone what it is--inferior to the 2G. Is that so hard to do?

Why do you care how I treat my friends? If I want to treat them well, I would tell them to hold on to their 2G iPhone until Apple/at&t fixes these glaring issues.

Nov 4, 2008 11:25 AM in response to PatrickL

It does affect call quality. The quality on my 3G is significantly better when on 3G then when I'm in an area only with EDGE. Others I know with the 3G have experienced the same thing.

It is just in your opinion that the 3G is inferior to the first iPhone. It is hard for me to call the 3G inferior just because PatrickL says so.

I am assuming that you have been through all the troubleshooting steps such as Reset, Resetting your network settings, Restore, etc. If you have and that does not help then get your phone serviced. And do remember that your call quality, i.e. how good you sound is also impacted by the signal quality of the person you are talking to.

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Why is 2G call quality better than 3G?

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