Is THIS the cause of 3G signal issues?

[dougas]

Anyone noticed that the iPhone 3G sim card tray is a really bad fit for most 3G sim cards?

Here is a picture of mine...see how the sim chip doesn't clear the edge of the tray frame?

Weird.

[thor79]

I would think that it would either work or it does not...not in between.

I would check to see what mine looks like but it's a pain in the butt to remove my phone from it's case.

[yode]

how would the SIM card affect the physical antenna of the phone?

[Apple Ink]

All in all... about 18 access pins are a must for the sim to function properly. These are located in the three columns right in b/w the sim! The edges dont mater!

[DoFoT9]

how would the SIM card affect the physical antenna of the phone?

hes probably trying to indicate that the case wouldn't let a pure connection be established between the iphone and the simcard. i agree with thor that if its working then its working otherwise it wont be working...

OP: its probably some other problem such as bad system country wide or simply not enugh bandwidth. or there could be some undercover operation which is interfering :p (i doubt that)

[thor79]

hes probably trying to indicate that the case wouldn't let a pure connection be established between the iphone and the simcard. i agree with thor that if its working then its working otherwise it wont be working...

OP: its probably some other problem such as bad system country wide or simply not enugh bandwidth. or there could be some undercover operation which is interfering :p (i doubt that)

Yeah the 3G issues are probably just a bad network in most areas...the coverage maps show coverage...but it's probably only the most basic coverage resulting in extremely low signal strength.

[DoFoT9]

Yeah the 3G issues are probably just a bad network in most areas...the coverage maps show coverage...but it's probably only the most basic coverage resulting in extremely low signal strength.

yes great point, the signal is there but only strong enough to provide basic strength. possibly someone else could explain it in more detail haha.

[Rybold]

The SIM card and the antenna are completely unrelated functions. The antenna is a radio transceiver (transmitter and receiver in one) and sends and receives the radio waves. The SIM card is your user identification card. The SIM card, like your credit card or ATM card carries a serial number that identifies you to your wireless provider. SIM stands for "Subscriber Identification Module." Think of the SIM card as like a USB flash drive on your computer; it contains data. It is not an antenna or your internet broadband connection.

[DoFoT9]

The SIM card and the antenna are completely unrelated functions. The antenna is a radio transceiver (transmitter and receiver in one) and sends and receives the radio waves. The SIM card is your user identification card. The SIM card, like your credit card or ATM card carries a serial number that identifies you to your wireless provider. SIM stands for "Subscriber Identification Module." Think of the SIM card as like a USB flash drive on your computer; it carries data. It is not an antenna.

i think he knows that its not the antenna, i think he was more of the opinion that if the iphone has to 'wait' because of this SIM card case (be it the problem or not i doubt it).

im not even 1% sure on this but if the SIM card has to be used to identify the phone on each send/request of data then it possibly could be a bottleneck.

no idea though!!!

[iBrody]

The 3G and normal reception is far worse with the iphone on O2 than it was with my N95 on O2.

My iphone fluctuates from one extreme to the other with the slightest movement. Very frustrating when taking a call (although a call hasn't dropped yet thank god).

[DoFoT9]

The 3G and normal reception is far worse with the iphone on O2 than it was with my N95 on O2.

My iphone fluctuates from one extreme to the other with the slightest movement. Very frustrating when taking a call (although a call hasn't dropped yet thank god).

maybe the antennas arent as good??

[JPIndustrie]

I've got my first dropped call in like 2 years with the iPhone 3G. I really hope it's just a firmware issue. The last iPhone I had was pretty good on reception.

[sibruk]

The 3G and normal reception is far worse with the iphone on O2 than it was with my N95 on O2.

My iphone fluctuates from one extreme to the other with the slightest movement. Very frustrating when taking a call (although a call hasn't dropped yet thank god).
I agree, I have been on O2 for years - 3G had much better coverage and always seemed faster in my last phone, a Sony Ericsson K800i. I think there is a problem with the iPhone. Hopefully it isn't a hardware thing and 2.1/2.0.1 will tweak the 3G reception and battery consumption.

[Rybold]

Hopefully it isn't a hardware thing and 2.1/2.0.1 will tweak the 3G reception and battery consumption.

I sure hope so ! Even if it was a mild hardware issue, it's amazing what can be done with software tweaks. If a computer chip has a known flaw, the core software can be rewritten to access the chip in a completely different manner; restoring the observed performance to the end-user. Computer and electronics companies have been improving total overall performance of products for years with software modifications.

[n8236]

I dunno if it's the SIM, but I did notice the SIM fitment into the little tray was a much tighter fit than my first gen. iPhone.

[imaketouchtheme]

No it's not...........

[maokh]

If the sim was a problem, you would see "Invalid SIM" ... this error message pops up when it cannot read the card. It will go from full signal to this you-cant-mistake-it state.

Also, SIM cards are 8 pin, 6 are actually used. not sure where 18 is coming from.

[philly's finest]

found this on an at&t forum.....somone suggested putting a piece of scotch tape on the back of sim card to make it thicker thus putting more pressure against the connector.....as many of you probably think this is retarded, so did i, but it seems to have helped just a little and at this point i will take anything.....i normally get 1-2 bars at my office, now i get a solid 3, doesnt go up or down....could be just me, but lets see what happens if a bunch of us try this out......pass along the idea.....

[mavis]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G (16GB, 2.0.2 JB'd): Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

found this on an at&t forum.....somone suggested putting a piece of scotch tape on the back of sim card to make it thicker thus putting more pressure against the connector.....as many of you probably think this is retarded, so did i, but it seems to have helped just a little and at this point i will take anything.....i normally get 1-2 bars at my office, now i get a solid 3, doesnt go up or down....could be just me, but lets see what happens if a bunch of us try this out......pass along the idea.....

I don't think it's "retarded" - it's just that what you're describing with the SIM card would have no effect WHATSOEVER on the iPhone's antennas.

Correction: there is one possible effect. It's known as a "placebo effect" ... ;)

[kdarling]

SIMs are computers, often ARM based with hardware data encryption aids and a CRC calculator.

For 3G, they're often used to authenticate the device and the network, and to en/decrypt data.

So it's conceivable that a bad connection, or bad programming, could prevent the phone from getting onto 3G and/or being able to communicate.