Serious antenna problem!

I have a 3GS with iOS4 and I can't replicate this issue no matter where I place my hand on my bare 3GS. Number of bars and call quality remain very steady. It continues to function flawlessly.

What a lot of nonsense, there are no issues with reception or dropped calls or problems caused by holding the phone in a certain way. A lot of rubbish.

When you buy an Apple product "It just works". Everyone knows that.

Yeah I'm kind of getting sick of seeing this myself. I have the iPhone 4 and I have NOT been able to hold the phone any certain way and recreate this issue that some are saying they have. So far the iPhone is just working perfectly! In fact, I have better reception on this one then I did on my 3G. A good test for me was in my office where I get almost ZERO bars, period...except for one little spot on my desk. New iPhone gets slightly better 3G reception. But inside my office it's just horrible. HOWEVER, out of the building, walking to my car, at my house, in my car...it's just working great.

So I won't say that SOME aren't having an issue...but it's certainly not IMO a widespread issue. And yes I have two other friends who have the iPhone and both say the same thing...just perfect.

Yes. If my new iPhone 4 is sitting on the table. I have 4 bars of coverage. When I pick it up in my left hand (I am right handed), after about 4-9 seconds it drops down to 1 bar or starts "searching" for a signal.

I have reset my network settings, reset the iPhone and even had AT&T reset my network settings on their end. So far no change.

So far (I have only had it since yesterday 6/23) this has happened everywhere I have taken my iPhone. Not sure what is next...

So I won't say that SOME aren't having an issue...but it's certainly not IMO a widespread
issue. And yes I have two other friends who have the iPhone and both say the same
thing...just perfect.

I think it is frequency specific. I have problem every time I pick up the phone at home. But over by the Apple store, it does not exhibit the effect at all. Signal is not that strong near Apple, but it does not drop at all no matter how I hold the phone. But here at home, just picking the phone up cause the signal to drop from 4-5 bars to No Service. Mortals of course, have no knowledge of what frequency is being used, but I suspect that one of the three bands is affected severely by the problem, and the others are not.

I received my iPhone 4 (32GB) on June 23rd and have been having this problem from the start (although it took a day to figure out why I couldn't make proper calls). I am in the New York City Metro area and even my test call with AT&T activation department on June 23rd evening failed a couple of times due to poor reception.

Now after much testing of different scenarios, I am finding that if I only cup the left bottom corner of the phone (regardless of whether I am touching the right side antenna groove), the bars cell phone bars drop from full strength to only one or zero bars.

This is a huge issue as I usually hold the phone in my left hand so I can write using my right hand. I am cursing myself for being an early adopter. I feel that Apple will eventually fix the problem in the newer production batches but I am stuck with the faulty model. I am debating returning the phone to AT&T, paying whatever restocking fee, and waiting a few months to get a newer iPhone 4, probably a fixed one.

I am a big Apple supporter, customer and even shareholder, but I am very disappointed with Apple's public responses to this issue. In fact, when I tried to make a support call back request on Apple’s website, this relatively common problem is not even listed. I guess Apple believes that this issue will just go away….

I took my iPhone 4 to the mall yesterday, and everytime I tried to use it, the person with whom I was talking could no longer hear me and then the call would drop, or they would hang up. I took it to the Apple store in the mall and explained my problem. The Genius told me it was a firmware issue that "Apple engineers are working hard to fix". He then restored my phone back to factory and told me to not sync to my last backup but to sync files. I left there and bought a case at BestBuy since the Apple store was out of bumpers, and no cases. Went back to the mall today actually to test the phone to see if I would still have the issue. No reception issue at all in the same places as yesterday. Apparently the case works, but I agree that it should not be necessary to use the phone.

I believe Apple should give each iPhone 4 user a free Bumper to remedy this issue.

Jennifer.


This issue has made the FRONT PAGE of the New York Times, Good Morning America and BBC-- not to mention THOUSANDS of other high-profile media outlets.

This is a huge problem. Apple has to make it right. Holding the phone correctly is a joke.

The way virtually everyone holds a phone covers the two lower antenna slots. On my screen, the sensor that turns the display off when you hold it to your ear, has, in mid call, muted, put on hold and changed to speaker mode. Unless they come out with a fix this week mine is going back. I’ve had every new iphone.This one has problems.

Read more: Apple iPhone Recall Latest Updates: Reception and Signal Problems [Video] | Recent Issue Today http://recentissuetoday.com/headline/5558/apple-iphone-recall-latest-updates-rec eption-and-signal-problems-video/comment-page-1/#comment-3822#ixzz0s3oM0E1Z

This is now posted on MacRumors website, interesting.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/27/steve-jobs-on-iphone-4-signal-issue-stay-tun ed/

I received my IP4 on Wednesday the 23rd. Activating it was flawless and fast. I did restore my new phone from my 3GS which was updated before beforehand.

When everything was finished transferring over the first thing that I tried to do was place a call. I could not make any calls in the house. The phone displayed "No service". I then went outside and had trouble placing calls outdoors as well. However I was able to place my call. Obviously at this point I was not aware of the aerial "problem". I reset the network settings and reception did improve however I can consistently make the bars drop by just loosely touching the bottom left of the phone (Not a death grip). The call will be dropped so it's not a display issue with the bars.

At work where I have very strong reception I can still replicate the problem but I do not loose reception even though the phone is displaying one bar.

I'm not that worried about the problem. I'm waiting for a fix from Apple and if need be I'll go back to my 3GS.

BTW a case does help maintain reception. For me at least.

I can't. My wife's 3GS with OS4 works perfectly. No matter how I hold her phone, even if I stand on my head, I can't get a loss of even 1 bar. With my 4 it's very easy to lose all the bars holding it in my left hand.

schuey100 wrote:
What a lot of nonsense, there are no issues with reception or dropped calls or problems caused by holding the phone in a certain way. A lot of rubbish.

When you buy an Apple product "It just works". Everyone knows that.

I surely hope you're being sarcastic. If not, we have a lot of people, myself included, who need therapy.

YoungCreative wrote:
Does anyone know if it helps reception if you add the rubber bumper? It might keep your "conductive" skin off the antennae?

Just curious.

I can still make my signal got down to 1 bar with a bumber on it...