3GS/ Was the Signal that bad?

[nlr]

I understand that the iphone 4 has a improved antenna, do you think it will that good vs other phones?

and was iphone 3GS signal that bad?

 

[maflynn]

and was iphone 3GS signal that bad?

No, but it could be improved. I have a Nexus one and I've finding very little difference between that phone and my old 3Gs.

Where I had no bars on the 3Gs, I'd have one maybe two on the N1. Most of the time where I live/work, the reception difference between those two phones was too small to care.

So what does that mean for the iPhone 4, well better reception.

You have to give kudos to apple on this, too many phone manufacturers seem to give the antenna the short shift, but they took something that as decent, and improved upon it.

 

[nlr]

But the iphone 4 is the first phone to have this sort of antenna concept so technically it SHOULD be the best phone signal-wise?

 

[rusty2192]

Not too many of my friends have smart phones (other than the iphone at least) so I don't know how the 3GS compares to them, but compared to dumb phones, my 3GS usually loses hands down. My parents house is right on the edge of 3G service, and my 3GS sometimes picks it up, but then it gets caught in the never-ending 3G>EDGE>3G>EDGE loop that renders the phone useless. My brother's Sony Ericsson dumb phone gets perfect 3G in the area.

So, in short, I'm looking forward to the improved antenna design. Plus, it's one more feature to show off on my cool new gadget 😀

 

[deannnnn]

It's AT&T is bad. The antenna on the 3GS is fine. So this new super awesome antenna won't do much to improve anything until AT&T actually gets out there and adds more towers while increasing the capacity of their current towers.

EDIT: I'm talking about New York, specifically, and if the new antenna solves all my problems then great, bring it on 🙂

 

[Chupa Chupa]

I don't think so, and, in fact, this topic was discussed briefly on This Week In Google (TWIT.TV). The founder of GigaOM said he had the same poor service w/ his iPhone as the rest of his ATT phones.

That said, the whole concept of ATT sucks is 100% depending on where you are. Before the iPhone I had Sprint. I would lose the signal as soon as I was in my garage (door didn't even need to be closed). W/ ATT I get 5 bars all over town and my 3G speed is a hair faster than my home DSL (3.1 mbps vs 2.8).

I was in SF last summer and service was pathetic. No way would I own and iPhone there and I don't know why people there put up with it.

 

[gianly1985]

It was not that bad, the problem was overestimated by trolls and astroturfers.

It was just slow (sometimes up to 1-2 minutes in my experience) in picking up the network and in the 2g to 3g (or viceversa) handover.

My network: 3 Italy

 

[AustinSTI]

I understand that the iphone 4 has a improved antenna, do you think it will that good vs other phones?

and was iphone 3GS signal that bad?

The simple answer to your question is yes I expect it will be good or better than other phones in the US on ATTs network. The reason why is a bit more complex to explain but here goes:

When the iPhone 3G was released most of us who had one remember the abysmal signal it got (2-3 bars where we'd typically get 4-5 with the edge network). Shortly after release and as a result of this apple released an update. The update to the laymen fixed the problem, but in reality all it did was remap DB values to the signal bars so that you'd see more bars. Immediately you'd be seeing 5 bars where you were previously seeing 2 but the DB (signal strength) was the exact same as before. I confirmed this by observing the DB before updating my 3g in a specific location, plugging it in at that location, updating, and observing the same DB post update, with more bars. That has been the resolution of this issue since that time. I expect that with the new hardware you'll see the DB (signal strength) at a much higher number much more frequently. While the mapping may not change, your signal strength will be better at 5 bars than it was with a 3G or 3GS as a result. If you have a 3G you can view the signal (DB) by going into the field test app and toggling the bars/DB number as the display.

I hope I'm right; if I am it may alleviate a lot of the 3g/3gs signal strength issues and dropped call issues as I've been contending they are as much reception issues (signal strength) on the handset as they are network issues. Here's hoping...

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I'm one of the lucky ones that live in NYC and never had any problems 95% of the time in all boros and tri-state area. 3G is always there when I need it and never had a dropped call yet since I got the 3GS in Oct.