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Post here if you *DO NOT* seem to have the antenna issue.

jamesryanbell

jamesryanbell

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 17, 2009
2,171
93
"Everyone does. It's hardware based."

Well, why can't I make it drop calls? Why can't any of my eight friends in Houston replicate it either? Weird.

Maybe it's more prone to happen in certain areas of the country. I know 8 people with iPhone 4 in Houston, and I've asked all of them if they've had an issue with dropping calls while covering the left corner. NONE of them have. Not one....including me. I can make the bars decrease from full to maybe 3 or so, but I can literally cover the whole bottom left corner with my hand, and it doesn't drop calls.
 
This is an issue. Issues can be small. Issues can be widespread. Just because you or your 8 friends don't, it's not weird about half of the iPhone 4 buyers do have this problem.
 
I have no antenna issues. I tried to manipulate it and indeed after 1-2 mins of holding the bottom left antenna in a certain manner I got it down to 3 bars, but it wouldn't go lower than that. When I released it was automatically back to 5 bars. I was on the phone the whole time doing this, nothing dropped. I do normally hold my hand over the bottom left antenna but it stays at 5 bars because I guess I don't grip it super hard and squeeze it. But so far I have no issues or concerns, and consider my personal experience normal for a cell phone.

jamesryanbell said:
"Everyone does. It's hardware based."

Well, why can't I make it drop calls? Why can't any of my eight friends in Houston replicate it either? Weird.

Maybe it's more prone to happen in certain areas of the country. I know 8 people with iPhone 4 in Houston, and I've asked all of them if they've had an issue with dropping calls while covering the left corner. NONE of them have. Not one....including me. I can make the bars decrease from full to maybe 3 or so, but I can literally cover the whole bottom left corner with my hand, and it doesn't drop calls.
Click to expand...
 
nickspohn said:
This is an issue. Issues can be small. Issues can be widespread. Just because you or your 8 friends don't, it's not weird about half of the iPhone 4 buyers do have this problem.
Click to expand...

i'd say that is a bit of an exageration, since it is usually only those with issues who speak up and those who are fine ttend to stay silent, plus for the most part we are talking about people on 1 forum, i know gizmodo/engadet and the like have all reported on the issue, but they are reporting on the same users over and over, no doubt there is so sort of a problem but at this point, until there are some official numbers i'd say it is premature to say half of te users havve an issue
 
You are not helping those that have problems by posting 'mine is perfect' threads.

Seriously. Some of us ARE having issues. Just enjoy your phone and let Apple address those that have problems.
 
This is clearly a hardware problem, and it likely affects ALL phones, not just a bad batch. Some people are clearly in denial. I've tested this is various locations around town.

Some places, I stay at full bars. Some I drop to 2. At Sonic, I drop to no bars and my 3G disappears.

Also, there is no deathgrip or contortionist touching required. Just hold the phone in your right hand and put your left index finger pad across the rubber strip at the bottom left.

I naturally hold the phone in my left hand, and the soft spot of my palm where the thumb goes into the hand is where I contact the strip, bridging the antennas.

If you truly don't think you have the problem, please do me a favor. Download the "Speed Test" app and sit somewhere stationary to take a baseline reading.

Then, hold your finger across the strip like a described for about 10 seconds, then run the test again without moving your finger.

Now, remove your finger for 10 seconds and test again. Put the finger back on for 10 secs and test again.

Now you have 2 readings of each and can see if there is something going on.

Take a screenshot of your results and post it up here for all to see.
 
I'm in south Houston and I can replicate these issues and I always have 5 bars at my house

c28de02c.jpg
 
Favor

For those that do NOT have the antenna issue, find someone that is having the issue, take your phone to where they are, then test it.
 
I went into the Apple store today and thought I may as well try out this signal problem on 3 of the 6 phones (people were using the others) and one on O2 dropped it's signal down to 1 bar, the other on 3 stayed on full bars and the other O2 phone dropped down to 3/4. :/
 
I have two iphone 4's. One for me and one for my wife. I can make my wife's phone do it but mine wont do it. I have tried each one inside of my house.
 
I'm from charleston WV, no issues here. I've asked multiple people to attempt to replicate it, with no luck.
 
No reception issues for me. I'm in manhattan. Works much better than my 3G
 
I hold my phone similar to how Peter does, but not as tight. Also, my palm does not go as far up the left side of the phone as his. I put my pinky on the bottom of the phone to the right of the dock to support the weight of the phone. The tip of my index fingers supports behind the screen just below the camera.

At one spot in town, I have full bars. When I hold the phone and contact across the strip, I still have full bars. But the Speed Test app shows that my download speed is cut in half.

WHEN I DID THIS TEST, I ALWAYS SHOWED FULL BARS, so you can see that the phone apparently does not require a very strong signal to display full bars.

The WEIRDNESS?? My upload was HIGHER when I touched the antennas.

Anyway, this pic is proof that you can show full bars and still be losing your signal.
 

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No issues here with mine. I'm in Chicago.
 
Some people say the reception issue has to do with iOS4. I have a 3GS and I have no reception issues at all. Im in Philadelphia and I have a Bodyguardz full shield on if that makes a difference.
 
It has nothing to do with iOS. The problem is a design oversight; the way some people naturally hold the phone causes their skin to bridge the two antennas. Apple should have put some kind of coating over the antennas or not butted them together right where people tend to grab the phone.
 
I just played around with it, and after holding the phone in completely-unnatural-to-me positions (in either hand), I can reproduce the problem.

But I don't hold my phone that way, anyway. Problem solved :D
 
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