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AT&T Signal on iPad 3 vs both the iPad 2 and iPhone 4s

S

sseelman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 28, 2007
114
0
Hi - just got the AT&T iPad 3 today. Have had an iPad 2, iPad 1, iPhone 3g, iPhone 3gs and iPhone 4s. So, I am pretty familiar with what to expect in regard to connection speeds and performance. I do not have AT&T LTE in my area yet, and knew that going into this. I travel a lot, and expect it to be where I travel to.

But, I have noticed that the number of AT&T bars is pretty consistently at 3 or even sometimes 2 on the iPad 3. On the iPad 2 it is almost always at 4 bars. On the iPhone 4 it is usually at 4 or 5.

Has anyone else seen any changes in regard to signal strength?

I will say that using the Speedtest.net app on both my iPhone 4s and iPad 3 both show fairly terrible ping rates and download speeds. I have used the AT&T 'Mark the Spot' app to send a report to AT&T. Maybe it is the influx of new iPads or who knows.
 
This is interesting cause I jumped on the forum to see if anyone else was having an issue like this.

I have a 4s that has 4 bars consistently and a new iPad right next to it with 1 bar. My iPad 2 had more bars and I'm also in an LTE area but only getting 4G.

Hmm...
 
Yes - it is very perplexing. I forgot to mention that I did a complete DFU restore. The only thing that I have not done is to set it up as a new iPad. Maybe that is next, as who knows if it is pulling something bad over from the iPad 2 backup.

I did also notice that the modem firmware version seems to have changed on the iPad 3 from the iPad 2. It almost seems like a lower version, but I am not sure.
 
Last edited:
Same here, 4 bars on my 4s, 4 bars on my 4, and only 2 on my iPad 3. I have LTE in the area and while on LTE am 'only' getting 5Mbps (which is what I get on my 4S).
 
shareef777 said:
Same here, 4 bars on my 4s, 4 bars on my 4, and only 2 on my iPad 3. I have LTE in the area and while on LTE am 'only' getting 5Mbps (which is what I get on my 4S).
Click to expand...

You're only on LTE if LTE is displayed in the upper left corner.
 
Okay, goofed around some more and it turns out that I'm just in a poor LTE service area even though the map shows differently on AT&T's website. I'm sure it'll improve eventually.

I turned off wifi and got LTE with one bar. Then I turned off LTE and I went to 4G with 4 bars (same as my iPhone).
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B179 Safari/7534.48.3)

With my Verizon iPad I'm only getting 3 bars. Not sure why. It says I have LTE coverage in my area.
 
There is definitely something wrong. I turned on my old iPad again and comes right up at 5 bars. New iPad at 3 bars and they are right next to one another.

Just tried to reset my network settings. Made no difference.

I still might try to do a reset as a new iPad - just in case it was something from the restore process.
 
Yep my AT&T iPad 3 gets about 3 bars steady at my home in sf. iPhone 4s pretty much 5 bars.

----------

But when I switch LTE off back to hspa+ I get 5 bars so must be an LTE thing.



richard371 said:
Yep my AT&T iPad 3 gets about 3 bars steady at my home in sf. iPhone 4s pretty much 5 bars.
Click to expand...
 
Keep us posted guys, as this is very intersting.

I considered a 4G iPad for a second but then thought better of it.

I'll just continue to tether from my phone, especially if the signal is lower on the new iPad.
 
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