2G iPhone reception now hindered by v2.0

[Barcode]

Ever since I upgraded to v2.0 on my Original 2g 8gb iPhone I've had my reception drop from full service (5 bars) down to half (2-3 bars max). I am located in Northern NJ 7 miles outside NYC. The phone has always been very responsive and the service was superb. Now with 2.0 I get half reception and constant random app errors (even on original apps such as stocks and text)

I bought the iPhone on it's original release date last year and have always had full service in my house.

Not only that but my phone has been slow and non responsive at times. This has never happened before. I've tried several restores and restarts. Ive even pulled off all the apps I downloaded and reinstalled 2.0 clean.

Wondering if anyone else has experienced the same problem?

[mikecenizal]

the exact same thing happened to me... hopefully there are others and this isnt an isolated incident. v1 owners are gonna need a fix!

[mmaguire]

In areas that I always had great coverage in the Seattle area with my Sony Ericson phone I now have 2-3 bars max. In fact my first call was dropped. I watched my signal strength bars go from max to none every 1/2 mile all the way home. I used to have perfect reception. As more people actually begin using their phone in the coming week I have a feeling we'll here more on this later since all 3G users had v2.0 preinstalled.

[Michael CM1]

I'm indoors in the Atlanta burbs and I've got 5 bars (plus 3 WiFi, um, arcs?). Signal strength can go down just because you sneeze. This phone has had the best signal/coverage of any phone I've ever had, so I can't really complain. You guys may have an isolated error.

If it makes a difference, I upgraded early using the cheat sheet from the news page.

[Nermal]

Are you using the official software, or the "early release" that was posted on MR a couple of days ago?

[JPS]

Likewise with me. I'm using the official Friday release, and though until then my ATT service was so minimal-to-none that I was considering getting a VZW Blackberry, now my service is nil, with the occasional lucky little eighth-of-a-bar. I hate to do it, but I'm going to have to bite the Blackberry--I mean bullet.

[seamuskrat]

I have the same problem. I am using the early firmware however.

I did get through to a technical signal guru at ATT. They stated they are experiening unusual volume in the area and that iPhones as well as other phones may be adversely affected. I did test my RAZR 2 and while it does have a signal, it is less than normal as well.

However, I am dubious that the signal strength being poor has any relation to users. A call being dropped or failing ar slow edge or 3G makes sense, but not signal strength.

But a coworker still have rev 1 iPhone software and his signal is FUBAR as well. Wer used to get 5 bvars in the parking lot. Now I get 0 to 1 and he gets 2 to 3. This is all since Thursday. SO SOMETHING has changed with ATT and not just the software.

[masterstyx]

Mine is having a signal problem as well. original iPhone running official 2.0. I used to get excellent signal strength at both my office and home. Now very little to none. Sometimes I've seen it go to just 1 tiny bar in these places where I use to get get 4 to 5 bars.

I've been reading the forums here and at apple and I couldn't tell if others were having the same problem... I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I hope there's a quick fix here... we can't live/work without our phones.

Austin, Texas

[zainjetha]

Is your iPhone ATT/iTunes activated or Hacktivated/JB?

[masterstyx]

Mine is ATT/iTunes activated.

The ONLY thing I've done is download the AIM and Weather bug app since the 2.0 install.

[idyll]

Eeek! My 2G has always had pretty bad reception, and I was hoping the 3G would help. I'm waiting until people calm down about them though... No sense going to the store right now to get one

[Surely]

My reception seems to have improved. I now have 2 bars in a place where I used to get 'no service'.

[Yoda3984]

I've had this problem, too. It's been sort of weird, though. I'll be at full signal, but it'll just drop to 1 bar randomly from time to time, usually when I'm trying to do something (like call, text, or surf the internet).

I'm running the official 2.0 release, at least I think I am. I had been running the unofficial one, but when everything cleared up yesterday I did a restore and it downloaded the smaller file.

[BOSS10L]

Mine is the same as it was, 5 bars.

[masterstyx]

I've had this problem, too. It's been sort of weird, though. I'll be at full signal, but it'll just drop to 1 bar randomly from time to time, usually when I'm trying to do something (like call, text, or surf the internet).

I'm running the official 2.0 release, at least I think I am. I had been running the unofficial one, but when everything cleared up yesterday I did a restore and it downloaded the smaller file.

Exactly! That's what mine does too. It can have FULL bars and then instantly drop to 1 bar during use.

[WhySoSerious]

Same here.

Had the BB Curve and had top notch reception....3G.....not so much...1 or 2 bars.

[Barcode]

I am running the official 2.0

I have deleted all apps and restored.

Still the same problem. Other people are reporting similar problems.

I cant really pinpoint exactly what would cause this to happen except is has to be associated with 2.0

Unless this is a less than sleezy attempt to make us original owners shell out for the 3G but I hear some of the 3g are having the same issues?

eh, im going fishing. :) good luck to us all

[GeeperZ]

Hi everyone,
am new on here but was looking for a solution to my problem which is very slow typing in text messages, everything else seems to be fine.

I upgraded to v2.0 software on saturday (which took about 3 hours BTW, my home connection is a 2MB service but it was the restore process that ate all the time)

I have solved my problem by turning off the 'Push' Function under 'Settings' & 'Fetch new data'

[AustinSTI]

Mine is having a signal problem as well. original iPhone running official 2.0. I used to get excellent signal strength at both my office and home. Now very little to none. Sometimes I've seen it go to just 1 tiny bar in these places where I use to get get 4 to 5 bars.

I've been reading the forums here and at apple and I couldn't tell if others were having the same problem... I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I hope there's a quick fix here... we can't live/work without our phones.

Austin, Texas


I'm in Austin and haven't had a single problem with signal reception on my 2G since updating Friday...

[AustinSTI]

Hi everyone,
am new on here but was looking for a solution to my problem which is very slow typing in text messages, everything else seems to be fine.

I upgraded to v2.0 software on saturday (which took about 3 hours BTW, my home connection is a 2MB service but it was the restore process that ate all the time)

I have solved my problem by turning off the 'Push' Function under 'Settings' & 'Fetch new data'

Push is not the problem; speading false solutions = bad.

I've had push on all weekend - 4-5 bars everywhere I've went...

[The Phazer]

My reception seems as good if not slightly better.

Phazer

[BASE91]

Add me to the list. Signal in my place used to be 5 bars. Now only getting 2 or 3. Also, noticed I am getting "No Service" in more places.

[EdLee]

I had to call AT&T today due to my iPhone 2G not connecting to EDGE properly at my home (no problems with older firmware) and resorting to GPRS constantly. Also getting a sporadic "Could not activate cellular data network" (which I guess is the same error message as "Could not activate EDGE" as they now genericized it for EDGE and 3G) at home, as well as out and about.

I went to AT&T a few days ago thinking it might be my SIM, but they said it was network problems around here due to the 3G rollout. I'm in central NJ, US at the moment.

Did a bit of searching and found that calling AT&T and having them remove the data plan and reactivate data might help.

Sure enough, after doing that, I have a more stable EDGE connection on my iPhone. I've had the "Could not activate..." message with Google Maps, but it cleared automatically whereas before, I would actually need to press Dismiss.

YMMV
Ed

[kittyflipping]

I started having this issue BEFORE I upgraded. It was a few days before the launch when my reception started fluctuating drastically, every so-often. I've noticed this at work and at home, and I can see the cell tower from the window at work, and have never had issues at home either... It's almost as if cell towers are periodically going offline.

I wonder if it's a bug with the push notification service that launched for MobileMe, and that is launching for 3rd party developers in September. That's the only thing I can think that would change on the AT&T side just prior to launch...

[gceo]

Signal strength can go down just because you sneeze.

^^ This is the best answer in here.


You can't predict signal with AT&T.


I don't believe the update has anything to do with it.... It's probably more of an effect from the almost 1 million new AT&T subscribers....

[wonderbread57]

^^ This is the best answer in here.


You can't predict signal with AT&T.


I don't believe the update has anything to do with it.... It's probably more of an effect from the almost 1 million new AT&T subscribers....

More like 400k new subscribers but yea, that many new subscribers over a weekend is more than almost any carrier could deal with. On one hand they are doing pretty well in that their network hasn't completely choked. Just as long as they adjust and quality of service increases in the next week or two.

This also seems to be a good reason why the iPhone needs to be a multiple carrier device.

[GeeperZ]

Push is not the problem; speading false solutions = bad.

I've had push on all weekend - 4-5 bars everywhere I've went...

oops, just realized that I seem to have posted in the wrong thread. Apologies to all.

[BZiPhone]

I changed push setting to fetch. It seems to have alleviated the battery problem, but not the loss of signal.
:mad:I hope Apple is not becoming another Microsoft, releasing new versions that are untried, and letting the user community be their guinea pigs.

[DiamondMac]

Since 2.0 was announced, I have seen a slight decrease in cell reception but nothing too major

AT&T service is already below-average here so it is sitting on the edge of just terrible service now

In complete open areas I can get 2-3 bars while I used to be able to get 3-4