What's the Problem With iPhone 3G Reception?

CWmike writes "Apple's iPhone 3G was just a couple of days old when reports began trickling onto the company's support forum from dissatisfied customers complaining about poor reception. Although no one outside of Apple and AT&T — and maybe a chipmaker or two — really knows, that has not kept others from speculating, or in a few cases, making claims based on unnamed sources. What's going on? We may not have all the answers, but we do have questions. Gregg Keizer put together everything we know in a FAQ on the griping about iPhone 3G reception."

Comments

iphone through the iwall

[ez151]

It is extremely frustrating the amount of dropped calls and call failed's I get. I had a sony-erickson for 3 years and had maybe 3 or 4 dropped calls and maybe 2 or 3 times when i cannot make a call. I do those numbers in like 3 days of iphone use. It is not my area, I always have 3g, but the bars do fluctuate wildly from 1 or 2 to 3 or 4 in the same location. I love the phone but i am worried if this is a problem they can fix or will it get worse?

Re:iphone through the iwall

[pyrofx]

I went with a friend to the Apple store for him to get the new iPhone. While standing there I stated comparing my version 1 iPhone to the new ones. While holding them side by side for a size comparison I noticed the new version had only 3 bars while my phone had 5 bars. I thought it may have been this particular phone but nope every phone in the store had 3 bars! I'm waintg for version 3 if my battery will hold out.

Re:iphone through the iwall

[toomanyairmiles]

I initially had problems with reception my 3G iPhone and my partner had similar trouble with hers, but once we turned off the wi-fi auto connect feature and wi-fi in general all the reception problems ceased - I found much the same problem/solution with iPhone 1.0.

Keyboard is buggy too

[darien]

My reception's fine, but I really wish Apple would hurry up and fix the slow typing bug...

It sounds like a trivial thing, but coupled with the inherent inaccuracy of the iPhone keyboard it makes the phone barely usable for text messaging...

re: did apple and at&t knew about the problems

[Anonymous Coward]

There are several reasons that might lead to these
problems:

- bad antenna design
- interference noise from other electronics in the handset
- bugs in protocol processing

The most surprising aspect is that Apple and AT&T
probably knew about this much before the launch. The
amount of testing required on a cell phone to get
certification is enormous. Unless, at&t waived all testing for the iphone, it is pretty certain that they have seen the problems in the lab. And
this is the question. How can they release the
product if they know it has problems?

For anyone interested see the process for GCF and PTRCB certifications, that include both
Over-The-Air tests, drive tests and protocol tests.

Not new to iPhone

[The_Quinn]

AT&T has had these kind of problems for years with their 3G service, it only took a successful platform to bring their shortcomings into the public light.

Re:Not new to iPhone

[uberbrodt]

It has always been my experience that 3G service is spotty, no matter what phone you use. Personally, I'll stick with my Treo 755p; Palm OS may be a dinosaur, but at least I can make phone calls.

Re:Not new to iPhone

[ptbarnett]

AT&T has had these kind of problems for years with their 3G service, it only took a successful platform to bring their shortcomings into the public light.

I suspect that it's a combination of both: the network problems are just aggravating the iPhone's marginal 3G performance.

After I had the iPhone for a few days (and had departed on a trip to a client with marginal 3G coverage inside their building), I "turned off" 3G in the phone settings, forcing it to fall back to EDGE and stay there. It has worked great in that mode, and I've since left it that way.

You lose the ability to use the network and talk on the phone at the same time, but I rarely do that. If I want to use the Safari browser for anything significant, I take the 3-4 seconds required to turn on 3G for the duration, and turn it off when I'm done.

It appears to significantly extend battery life as well.

I like the "keypad"

[spineboy]

I have no problems with the touchscreen on the iPhone, but my wife doesn't like it.

I seem to be able to two thumb type on it faster than my previous phone.

Do you have fat fingers possibly? I really like the error correction, and the fact that it "learns" new words. One of my Farsi speaking friends has added a whole new vocabulary to her phone via this way.

Re:I like the "keypad"

[fastest fascist]

I don't think you understood the problem - difficulty typing on the touchscreen is one issue, but apparently people are also getting sluggish response from it, which is a separate issue. Way to pin it on fat fingers, though.

Re:I like the "keypad"

[PJ1216]

There's a horrible lag on the keyboards. I know I have a lag on mine. I could type an entire word and still wait a second before it pops up. At that point you gotta hope you didn't have a typo, or at least not a typo that autocorrection won't fix.

On a different note, how do you get it to learn new words? I have it autocorrecting the same words all the time no matter how often I tell it not to.

Re:Wide-spread discussion.

[Z00L00K]

And from another source there have been information that the Infineon chipset never had been tested in a production environment.

And if it is the chipset it may be possible that a software upgrade is insufficient.

So I suspect that we haven't heard the last of this story yet.

At least - this is the danger of being the first on new technology, and I'm happy that I didn't buy the iPhone. Even if it is a good design it seems to be more design and less function.

It's probably the fucking network.

[pdxp]

I've been using 3G in one of the pilot cities since it rolled out many years ago and the problem has always been limited coverage. Even now that the infrastructure is more mature. Going from 3G to non-3G networks isn't a smooth transition, so you might have a very weak signal where there is potential to have a better one.

Go buy a European phone that only works on our 1900MHz frequency and you'll see how limited certain types of coverage can be.

Re:"I love the phont, but..."

[try_anything]

I actually just ordered an iPhone (too lazy to keep calling around when the first four places I called were out of stock) despite the fashion accessory angle, not because of it. I am a typical socially lame Slashdotter who has the same haircut he had fifteen years ago, and I'm worried that I'm going to look like a deluded retard with an iPhone in my hand. "IIIIIIIAM KOOL MY MOM TOLD ME SOOOOOAAAAAHHH AND AAAIH HAVE iPHOOOOOONE"

There's not a "creative" bone in my body. I still freak out when I talk to girls, and it's not because I'm afraid of being outed as a heterosexual or having my styling secrets stolen. I love my boxy black ThinkPad but have a plasticky Dell at home 'cuz it was cheaper. I'm afraid to wear t-shirts with designs on them, because that would be too bold for me. Too much of a risk.

I had boxy glasses frames when thin ones were in, and I have thin frames now that thick plastic ones are cool. That's not because I'm iconoclastic or countercyclical. It's because it takes me that long to summon up the courage to follow the crowd.

Yes, to me, having an iPhone seems like a foolish boast, a pretense I can't back up, like telling everyone at school that I know karate and can kill with my hands. Someone's going to call me on it, and it will result in my humiliation. I am Not Cool Enough for an iPhone. I'm pretty sure Apple stock will drop when I'm seen on the streets with it.

But I'm getting an iPhone because I just can't deny its superiority. It would be an injustice to spend my money on something else. Credit where credit is due, and goddammit I'm tired of putting up with crappy phones when something like the iPhone is available.