Phone reception worse on 3GS than on 2G

I upgraded from a 3G to a 3G S and my reception is much poorer than its predecessor. This is quite a bummer and I wouldn't have bought the new phone if I knew this was going to happen. I live in the sticks and now I mostly get NO SERVICE on Edge! My wife has an old Samsung phone that's about five years old and it gets much better reception.

Reception is worse here in the Bay Area, CA. I upgraded from 3G to 3Gs.

Maybe it's not the phones, maybe with all the added activity today AT&T's networks are swamped?

Double post deleted by OP.

Message was edited by: HeloCaptain

Stageplay, disable 3G in settings > network. That will force your phone to the Edge Network. There is a good possibility that your signal will now match that of your earlier phone.

I have the 3G, not the S. The 3G radio (the actual phone portion of the gadget), IMHO, has been very disappointing. I was hoping to read that Apple went with a different (better) radio in the 3Gs, but maybe they stuck with the inferior radio.

BTW, with 3G enabled, you can talk, surf the net, receive email etc. simultaneously. With the 3G disabled, you can use the data component (web, email, etc.) OR phone, but not both at the same time.

I am not suggesting that you permanently downgrade to the Edge network for a better signal, but just to compare your old phone's signal strength to the new phone.

You can also try looking at the signal strength numerically (this works on the 3G, I don't know if it works on the 3Gs) by dialing 3001#12345#

That will replace the signal bars with a numeric diplay. The lower the number you see, the better the signal (66 is GREAT, 113 is virtually an unusable signal). Many people consider anything worse than 101 to be unusable. The Edge and 3G network will give very different results in most cases.

Good luck!

Message was edited by: HeloCaptain

Hi everyone! This problem with the iPhone 3G S's reception is caused by AT&T's high demand for iPhone, and their company not being able to cover peoples needs. This is the same in most countries around the world, as the iPhone's demand is too high! It's appauling I know. Carriers are trying to improve their networks, but this takes lots of time & money. Most carriers aren't upgrading due to the cost. If they did decide to upgrade, they'd charge you a lot more for call rates per 30 seconds...

Neat trick about how to display signal strength, but before I try it... if I want to return to seeing bars, do I enter that same code again or a different one?

3001#12345#

I tried dialing this number on the 3G S and I get an error. Nothing happens. Must not work on the G S.

Sorry I did not notice prior to edit option timing out: apparently the forum deletes asterisks for some reason.

The correct entry to dial is asterisk (the symbol)3001#12345#asterisk (the symbol.

This opens a "field test" function and replaces the signal bars with numbers. You can tap the signal bar/numbers to toggle between the numbers and bars. If you close the "field test" by pressing the home key (as if closing any app), the toggle feature remains active.

Prior to iPhone OS 3.0, my 3G would close the "field test" and return the signal bars. One could also (< OS 3.0) hold the home key down for 7 - 10 seconds and the toggle remained active. With OS 3.0, it appears that dialing the code activates the toggle (which is the mode I have always kept mine in), so it appears that OS 3.0 will retain the toggle once implemented. (I have not done a hard restart to see if that terminates the toggle feature).

HeloCaptain, thanks for the info on the Field Test. My signal here at home with my new 3GS has been varying from 0-5 bars, and when I ran the field test it varied from low 80's to 113. What accounted for the variance? It seems to have been the way I held the phone in my hand. This may sound weird, but it would account for why I was able to make good quality calls while it appeared I had only 0-1 bars.

If I held the phone cupped in my hand as I do when viewing the screen and working with the applications it must block the antenna or interfere with the signal in some way. If I hold the phone by the edges as I tend to do when I am talking on the phone it shoots up to 5 bars and remains at that level as long as I hold it by the edges.

I did play with it for about half an hour and I could consistently go from 5 to 0 bars by just wrapping my hand around the back with the phone pressed in my palm. I have not had a chance to try it at other locations yet. At any rate, thanks again for the tip on the Field Test.

Gerry

I'm compelled to respond even though I have no interest; other than I'm a 3G owner for 11 months.

The symptoms you describe are exactly the same as I experienced when I got the 3G eleven months ago.

There is always a debate. Is it the phone or is it the network? Most usually come down on the side of Apple, blaming the network. This, I think, is a predictable outcome based on 1) the halo effect Apple is experiencing now and 2) because of the love people have for this device (it is without doubt a breakthrough product).

After 10 months using the 3G and experiencing more dropped calls than with all my prior mobile phone usage combined, I purchased another smart phone named after a dark colored fruit. Read that sentence again; I don't believe I'm exaggerating much if at all and I've been using cell phones since the bag phones of the 80s.

Short story is, after one month of using the 'other' smart phone, *not one dropped call*. Based on my admittedly limited experience, I'm not so quick to blame the "network". The differences in performance have been shocking.

And yet I love this groundbreaking device while loathing it's weak radio performance. If you need a mobile data device, congrats you have found nirvana. If you also need a phone then sadly like me you will grow to hate this device and depending on how important voice is to you get another device. People I called used to make jokes about dropped calls or say "let's just talk about this tomorrow at the office".

If you have read this far note that the service I have received from Apple has been great. Just last week I went to the Apple store and swapped out my phone for a replacement (refurb no doubt). That was the second time to do that. Meaning I'm now on my 3rd phone.

Haven't used the 3rd sample a great deal but have experienced a dropped call already. So I apologize to the Network for using it as a punching bag when in reality it may be the halo company that is using 2nd class baseband chipsets.

gmbmke,
I have actually been holding off on acquiring the 3GS specifically to view feedback on the radio component of the 3GS. As I have told many re the iPhone 3G, I love the gadget, but I hate the phone.

I had hoped (indeed, expected) that Apple would go with a high performance radio chip and better antenna placement since the phone in the 3G generated so many unpleasant reactions (see http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1727395&tstart=60).

So far, the comments have not been too favorable (re the phone). I am hoping to see some users post signal strength numbers resulting from side-by-side tests with 3G vs. 3GS.

Once AT&T starts utilizing the newly acquired frequencies that television surrendered, the issue will be probably be resolved, but that is a few years away. Those new frequencies are much better for wireless phone use as they are capable of penetrating most buildings with minimal signal strength loss. AT&T's decision to initially roll out the 3G network in the PCS spectrum (1900-2100 Mhz) vs. the original cellular spectrum (800 - 900 MHz) was, IMHO, a poor decision, though in many places they are now moving (or adding) the 3G network to the cellular spectrum (which offers improved building penetration).

Your phone results, as you will see if you view the cited link, are very similar to the 3G phone issues users raised upon release of the 3G. I am disappointed in Apple for not resolving the issue.

While I would like to have the 3GS, the feedback so far encourages me to wait for Apple to decide to make a good PHONE as part of this wonderful gadget.

Regards,
HC

Message was edited by: HeloCaptain

+"If I held the phone cupped in my hand as I do when viewing the screen and working with the applications it must block the antenna or interfere with the signal in some way. If I hold the phone by the edges as I tend to do when I am talking on the phone it shoots up to 5 bars and remains at that level as long as I hold it by the edges...I did play with it for about half an hour and I could consistently go from 5 to 0 bars by just wrapping my hand around the back with the phone pressed in my palm."+

Your description was an absolute REVELATION for me and you're on to something. I went outside where I expected to get 5 bars on 3G and got my usual 2 crappy bars. I then looked at how I was holding my 3G S and I was wrapping my entire hand around it, cupping the back of the phone to my palm exactly as you described when I got this lower signal.

I then tried holding the edges of the phone (near bottom of phone) using only my fingertips (not for the faint of heart as it felt as if I was going to drop it) and got 5 full bars.

I tried similarly holding it with fingertips but on the middle part of the phone and then the upper part of the phone (holding on the sides) and kept the strong 5 bar signal each time.

_3G Avg D/L Throughput (each held position tested 3x) using Free Speed Test app from OOKLA_:

Holding phone fully "cupped" covering from bottom to near top of phone with back resting against my palm (as feels safe & comfortable to me): 2 bars 3G: 245 kbps D/L

Holding w/fingertips on BOTTOM 1/4 of phone: 5 bars 3G: 557 kbps.

Holding w/fingertips at MIDDLE of phone: 5 bars 3G: 1353 kbps.

*Holding w/fingertips at TOP 1/4 of phone: 5 bars 3G: 2202 kbps.*

Ok, so for our 2 phones (perhaps all????), HOW you hold the phone makes ALL the difference. This does make sense when you think about the antenna being "shielded" by a hand, but this is NOT how it should be nor is this work-around a practical solution. I mean the difference is STAGGERING for latency & throughput with no observable variance in # bars displayed - sheesh!

But if nothing else, this is the first thing to try to remedy signal strength and throughput issues I guess and I'll say it - I'm NOT happy with this. I want to hold the phone very securely to avoid dropping it or having someone grab it easily out of my hand.

And then there's the waivering signal inside my home where the phone is not being touched nor moved in any way, but that's for another thread :/

AntonioMX5,
Just so you understand, the bars are NOT a very valid indicator of signal strength.

When the 3G was released, there was tremendous disappointment by users (see the previously cited link) regarding the inefficient radio chip and antenna placement (the radio chip is the main culprit though).

In one of the early OS updates to the iPhone OS, Apple altered the display so that 5 bars will display with a fairly poor signal. My 3G displays 5 bars with a signal strength a low as -103 dBm. Generally, -101 is considered the lowest signal level for a "good" connection and anything lower (down to -113) is considered poor (remember, the signal strength is a negative number, so -65 is a GREAT signal and -113 is virtually unusable).

IMHO, the industry should establish standards for the signal strength indicators to permit valid comparisons between different manufacturer's handsets.

Good luck with your new iPhone. While is may be a poor phone, it IS a wonderful gadget.

It's definitely the network---My ATT Edge phone, the BB Curve shows 4-5 Bars all the time.

I am running into the same WIFI issue. 3GS usually seems much slower on the same wireless network at home than iPhone 2G. Weird.