Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

anyone have trouble sustaining reception?

M

makasin

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 28, 2007
81
0
Hey guys I just got this iPhone for xmas and it has 1.1.2 firmware. I have been having a lot of really annoying things happen like when im in my room, i completely lose service (from full bars) and then I have to wait a few minutes for my network to start working again. Why is this? Does the iPhone have crappy reception? Im coming from a SonyEricsson W810i and it used to work really well, but I noticed a lot more stupid annoying hiccups like dropped calls and such. I switched from T-Mobile which had a LOT better service and I never dropped calls or completely lost access. Plus, my visual voicemail is unavailable quite frequently. Did I get a bad phone or does AT&T just SUCK?
grrr its sooo frustrating. I keep getting dropped calls and complete loss of service at such random times. These are places where I SHOULD be getting full bars and used to have absolutely no issues before switching to the ATT/iPhone combo.

Why does AT&T have to suck so incredibly bad? I'm pretty disappointed.
 
Recently I have been getting a lot more dropped calls. Same thing is happening with me when I'm in my room. My phone will randomly have full bars then just drop to no bars out of no where.
 
If it's a brand new iPhone...

you may want to turn it off and back on, since some of those sort of problems occur shortly after making changes to your plan or updating your iPhone. I make a point of it, to make sure that I turn off/on at least once a day. Hope it helps! :cool:
 
hmm hopefully that will aleviate the issue, I'll report back if anything changes.
Would a firmware update cure this or is it more on AT&T's end?
 
makasin said:
hmm hopefully that will aleviate the issue, I'll report back if anything changes.
Would a firmware update cure this or is it more on AT&T's end?
Click to expand...

yeah power cycling didnt really fix anything. I still drop calls during the day if I power cycle when I wake up.
This is such a pain in the ass. I hate ATT. T-Mobile is a much better provider
 
I don't drop calls, I tend to get them via voicemail...

and I tend to get only a bar or two at my house, and sometimes no bars at all (though 1 to 2 bars is enough). I was with Sprint for almost 10 years (and it was the same situation), so I know I live in a "dip" and that's the major cause for my difficulty in getting a strong signal. Right now I have 4 out of 5 bars, and in about one hour or so, I'll have 2 to 3 bars. :cool:
 
To OP - it happens to me ALL THE TIME.

I hate it.

I now understand why ATT has the fewest dropped calls, too.

Even with 4-5 Bars, it will NOT let me make calls sometimes - "call failed" before even connecting. No wonder they don't drop them - they never connect in the first place.

Verizon on the other hand - would drop calls, but you could also make calls with ZERO signal - and it'd work sometimes!

And I vary from full signal to zero - completely stationary - for no apparent good reason.

You know how much better I'd like this phone if only they went CDMA and Verizon. WTF was Verizon thinking when they said no. :(
 
Big-TDI-Guy said:
Verizon on the other hand - would drop calls, but you could also make calls with ZERO signal - and it'd work sometimes!
Click to expand...

Well, ZERO signal would display "No Service" on the phone. It wouldn't let you make any calls. If you have the antenna symbol and with 1x or EV on the display there really was signal... not much but some.
 
I have experienced this as well. Oddest part, for me, is that often it will make calls, send and receive email, etc, all while claiming 0 bars.

To be fair, I've seen ATT signal go wonky on other phones too, but not like that.

It's an oddity. And my guess is its software, not ATT, because it seems to be iPhone specific.
 
Well - Zero being service - but lowest signal possible.

My point is, with ATT/iPhone - with 4 or 5 ("full") - I can't make calls. And it is not specific to just my locale - it happens like this everywhere.

Or when I make a call, I'll have 5 bars, and it'll drop to 1 / cut out. Call gets dropped, then signal "jumps" back to 5, and all is well for some reason. :confused:
 
I switched to AT&T from T-Mobile and in some areas that T-Mobile's reception was weak, AT&T would be a champ. I haven't found a place yet in my town where AT&T works poorly.

One thing my wife does notice is that when I call her using my Aliph jawbone, the reception isn't as clear as with T-Mobile. Is it the service or the phone? Who knows? I used to have a Motorola L7 unlocked and modded with iTunes.

Anyway, I hope Apple signs on with other carriers. I'd love to go back to T-Mobile and avail of their data plan which includes their hotspots for $20 a month.
 
My iPhone's signal strength continues to weaken all the time it seems. It still seems perfect at the apple store though :-/ I went almost an entire day straight with nothing but call failed messages..even with a hard reset. My Cingular 8525 got service in places I never dreamed of being able to get service in..but..it's doesn't have some of the cool stuff the iPhone does so I suppose it was worth the switch..98% of the time
 
Don't think it's an ATT thing, am in the UK on o2 and have the same problem. Got my phone replaced a last week and new one seems a bit more sensitive, I don't see "No Service" any more, but the signal is very variable.
Have seen a few threads in this on macrumors and there is one on apple's support site too.
It seems to only affect my iPhone when the signal strength is not at full strength, in a city with 5 bars it never varies.
Have been with 02 for years and never had any problems like this. I have an old SE phone with an o2 pre-pay SIM in it and it is has a steady signal in the same place that my iPhone has a variable signal.
 
I think its definatley a software issue as the same thing happens with mine (uk)

Just hope this next software upgrade fixes it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back