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Antenna reception worse after 4.0.1?

thenumbersrbad

thenumbersrbad

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
423
35
I understand that bars are now displayed different and I wasn't getting the signal that I was showing but it doesn't make sense to me how I can get 5 bars at home still with 4.0.1 but drive a mile to work and I can watch my bars dance all morning but never reach 4-5 bars.

If apple is saying the antenna is better than the 3GS are they now also saying that I wouldn't have any reception with my old 3GS at my job?

I'm thinking there might be something up with my phone but is there any way tell without going to apple for a diagnostic test? Will they even look at it?
 
You say you understand the fix they put out for the incorrect number of bars being displayed but then ask why you are only seeing 3-4 bars when before you had 5 bars?
 
I rarely get 5 bars now but don't lose all reception anymore. Only time it gives me issues is the pesky NO SIM message.
 
Me too

Since i updated my iphone i only get 3 bars at my home when i used to get a full signal, no matter where i go now i never get a full signal and mostly have only 3 bars and when on a call it can drop to one bar but i never drop a call, on the up side it holds on to the 3g network for a lot longer which is great for the internet
 
peach23 said:
Since i updated my iphone i only get 3 bars at my home when i used to get a full signal, no matter where i go now i never get a full signal and mostly have only 3 bars and when on a call it can drop to one bar but i never drop a call, on the up side it holds on to the 3g network for a lot longer which is great for the internet
Click to expand...

The actual signal strength the phone is getting is EXACTLY the same as before. Apple could change it to show 5 bars, 1 bar or no bars at all. The graphical representation of bars means nothing. They simply changed the formula that calculates the amount of bars displayed on your screen to something they felt was more accurate.
 
IMO this whole " we used the wrong calculation " is a crok...

pretty much everyone i know is hating this update....your gonna tell me that ATT every where is only 3 bars good... I just got a 32gb on friday and i refuse to do this upgrade...i did it to my 16gb IP4 before i traded up and it was ten times worse, never did it have 5bars...calls were dropping faster and sometimes i could not even redial, before the update in my house was fine...

since i did not do the update to the 32gb its been working great...again this is just what i have noticed and at least 10 of my friends...

ps
if your going to flame move onto another thread and waste your breath there...
:D
 
STEVESKI07 said:
You say you understand the fix they put out for the incorrect number of bars being displayed but then ask why you are only seeing 3-4 bars when before you had 5 bars?
Click to expand...

The whole reason I'm asking is because they say the antenna is a lot better now...a lot better compared to what? If I have an iPhone 3Gs am I gonna have no signal at all now? If this ip4 antenna is a lot better at getting a signal, then if I was still using my 3Gs I prolly wouldn't be able to make any calls
 
thenumbersrbad said:
The whole reason I'm asking is because they say the antenna is a lot better now...a lot better compared to what? If I have an iPhone 3Gs am I gonna have no signal at all now? If this ip4 antenna is a lot better at getting a signal, then if I was still using my 3Gs I prolly wouldn't be able to make any calls
Click to expand...

The iPhone 4 antenna is better then the 3gs. I can verify that based on my own experience in not so great signal areas. It gets slightly better reception. The software update has nothing to do with it though. Your 3gs will still have the exact same signal as it did before, although with the software update they may display the bars differently, that does not effect the actual signal strength.
 
thenumbersrbad said:
The whole reason I'm asking is because they say the antenna is a lot better now...a lot better compared to what? If I have an iPhone 3Gs am I gonna have no signal at all now? If this ip4 antenna is a lot better at getting a signal, then if I was still using my 3Gs I prolly wouldn't be able to make any calls
Click to expand...

3-4 bars > 1-2 bars

Why do you assume that 3-4 bars being better means that the 3Gs would have no signal?
 
RTigay said:
The actual signal strength the phone is getting is EXACTLY the same as before. Apple could change it to show 5 bars, 1 bar or no bars at all. The graphical representation of bars means nothing. They simply changed the formula that calculates the amount of bars displayed on your screen to something they felt was more accurate.
Click to expand...


Well if that is the case I would rather have apple lie to me, would make me feel better about the signal
 
RTigay said:
The actual signal strength the phone is getting is EXACTLY the same as before. Apple could change it to show 5 bars, 1 bar or no bars at all. The graphical representation of bars means nothing. They simply changed the formula that calculates the amount of bars displayed on your screen to something they felt was more accurate.
Click to expand...


Well if that is the case I would rather have apple lie to me, would make me feel better about the signal
 
I understand that they didn't change the signal strength, what I'm saying is that if the ip4 get 3 bars( even if it always should have gotten 3 but was displayed wrong) is the 3GS now on 4.0.1 also going to now show 3 bars? If the antenna is better on the ip4 will the 3GS now show 1-2 bars?

Anyway it doesn't really matter, I think there are people on this site that would buy an iPhone if apple came out and said hey we have this new phone and it's gonna change everything but you only have a 1 hour window to make calls on it and the rest of the time you can't
 
thenumbersrbad said:
I understand that they didn't change the signal strength, what I'm saying is that if the ip4 get 3 bars( even if it always should have gotten 3 but was displayed wrong) is the 3GS now on 4.0.1 also going to now show 3 bars? If the antenna is better on the ip4 will the 3GS now show 1-2 bars?

Anyway it doesn't really matter, I think there are people on this site that would buy an iPhone if apple came out and said hey we have this new phone and it's gonna change everything but you only have a 1 hour window to make calls on it and the rest of the time you can't
Click to expand...

Since each bar is a range of signal strength, that would depend on if the difference is with or outside of that bars range.

Why don't you find someone with a 3Gs, check, and report back?
 
so all in all if I was getting 1-2 bars somewhere before, will I still get 1-2 bars there with 4.0.1 or will I now have no bars because I prolly didn't have that many bars to begin with?

If that's the case that will suck, as my girlfriends family has a cabin on a lake with shoddy service but I was at least able to get service but now I'm afraid I won't since the bars weren't displayed accurately before



My gf has a 3Gs and I will be able to test out that theory when she is back in two weeks.
 
strangely, mine stayed the same.

5 bars at home went to 5 bars, with 1 bar loss with death grip

3 bars at work went to 3 bar, with 1 bar loss with death grip
 
thenumbersrbad said:
so all in all if I was getting 1-2 bars somewhere before, will I still get 1-2 bars there with 4.0.1 or will I now have no bars because I prolly didn't have that many bars to begin with?

If that's the case that will suck, as my girlfriends family has a cabin on a lake with shoddy service but I was at least able to get service but now I'm afraid I won't since the bars weren't displayed accurately before



My gf has a 3Gs and I will be able to test out that theory when she is back in two weeks.
Click to expand...

RTigay said:
The actual signal strength the phone is getting is EXACTLY the same as before. Apple could change it to show 5 bars, 1 bar or no bars at all. The graphical representation of bars means nothing. They simply changed the formula that calculates the amount of bars displayed on your screen to something they felt was more accurate.
Click to expand...

Once again, the bars have nothing to do with it. You might just be better off if you put a piece of tape over them.

If you had service before, you still will.

If you did not have service before, you still won't.

Actual service and reception DID NOT change. A little picture on your phone is all that changed. Nothing else.
 
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