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Coincidence? Or, did 4.0.1 hurt my signal strength?

KGWVU

KGWVU

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2010
207
33
I understand the metric for bars has changed but since I updated to 4.0.1, I have a hard time getting 3G. It wants to stay on Edge. Before, I rarely ever saw Edge - now, I can't get it to go to 3G unless I am in an area with great reception. I'm hoping this is just a coincidence and there is a 3G issue here in NE Ga :confused:

Edit: What is also odd is I am getting more bars on Edge. If I take the phone to a window, I can squeak in 3G service for a few seconds and I only have 1 bar. When I try to surf in safari, it tells me I have no data and reverts back to Edge. As soon as it reverts to Edge, I'm at 3 - 4 bars.
 
andy9l said:
That's how 3G signal tends to work.

My 5 bar 3G signal has gone to 3/4 bars 3G. Explanation as to what has happened.
Click to expand...

It's my understanding that I am still getting the same signal strength pre-4.0.1. The way that that signal strength is gauged and displayed to me is different, however.

In theory, this should not affect your 3G coverage, right? You should still maintain your 3G regardless of what the bars say. Unless of course, you have no service at all.

Is it possible that the phone is looking for another signal once the strength drops to a certain threshold? Say, you have 3G and it hits 1 bar (before on 4.0 it would be 3 bars), since it is now 1 bar, it looks for something else... maybe a stronger Edge signal.
 
KGWVU said:
I understand the metric for bars has changed but since I updated to 4.0.1, I have a hard time getting 3G. It wants to stay on Edge. Before, I rarely ever saw Edge - now, I can't get it to go to 3G unless I am in an area with great reception. I'm hoping this is just a coincidence and there is a 3G issue here in NE Ga :confused:

Edit: What is also odd is I am getting more bars on Edge. If I take the phone to a window, I can squeak in 3G service for a few seconds and I only have 1 bar. When I try to surf in safari, it tells me I have no data and reverts back to Edge. As soon as it reverts to Edge, I'm at 3 - 4 bars.
Click to expand...

With 4.01, I actually have one more bar (4) in my home office than I did with 4.0.
 
KGWVU said:
I understand the metric for bars has changed but since I updated to 4.0.1, I have a hard time getting 3G. It wants to stay on Edge. Before, I rarely ever saw Edge - now, I can't get it to go to 3G unless I am in an area with great reception. I'm hoping this is just a coincidence and there is a 3G issue here in NE Ga :confused:

Edit: What is also odd is I am getting more bars on Edge. If I take the phone to a window, I can squeak in 3G service for a few seconds and I only have 1 bar. When I try to surf in safari, it tells me I have no data and reverts back to Edge. As soon as it reverts to Edge, I'm at 3 - 4 bars.
Click to expand...

To answer your questions:

You receive more bars on edge because it is connecting to an edge tower, one presumably closer than the 3G tower.


You are right in assuming that displaying fewer bars should not affect 3G availability as well as your assumption that the phone searches for a different signal if yours is too weak however the iPhone does not measure by number of bars, but by dB. The dB count is still exactly the same, just the ranges for the bars have changed.

You may have a corrupt network settings profile. Try going into settings - reset - reset network settings. Note this will forget your
Wifi passwords.

If that does not work, do 2 hard resets, one after another.

If all else fails, call Att and see if there is a 3G outage in your area


Hope you get this resolved!
 
Yes some people were supposed to see a/some loss in bars. Like apple said there algorithm was wrong this is y some were having signal problems and some not. I quote and not very accurately "something something something where some were displaying more bars than actualy supposed to". It was in a previous front page article if u want to look. But there are many threads like this try to pass this on goodnight :D
 
ds111 said:
To answer your questions:

You receive more bars on edge because it is connecting to an edge tower, one presumably closer than the 3G tower.


You are right in assuming that displaying fewer bars should not affect 3G availability as well as your assumption that the phone searches for a different signal if yours is too weak however the iPhone does not measure by number of bars, but by dB. The dB count is still exactly the same, just the ranges for the bars have changed.

You may have a corrupt network settings profile. Try going into settings - reset - reset network settings. Note this will forget your
Wifi passwords.

If that does not work, do 2 hard resets, one after another.

If all else fails, call Att and see if there is a 3G outage in your area


Hope you get this resolved!
Click to expand...

Thanks, that was helpful. I reset the network settings and the phone came back in 3G but with 1 bar. I did two consecutive hard boots and it's now on 3G with 2 bars :D

Let's hope this sticks! The only other thing I have done this evening to the phone is installed a carbon fiber film on the back glass (looks great, btw!). I can't imagine that would have anything to do with it though as it does not interfere with the antenna band whatsoever.

Thanks again!
 
Dr Kevorkian94 said:
Yes some people were supposed to see a/some loss in bars. Like apple said there algorithm was wrong this is y some were having signal problems and some not. I quote and not very accurately "something something something where some were displaying more bars than actualy supposed to". It was in a previous front page article if u want to look. But there are many threads like this try to pass this on goodnight :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply. However, I understand I should be showing less bars but that should not affect whether I can access 3G or not. I'd be happy to run around all day with 1 bar as long as I'm on 3G.

Sorry, I should have been more clear in my initial post.
 
Perhaps the new firmware automatically reverts the phone to Edge if the 3G signal is weak enough for a bridging of the antennae to kill a call or data transfer.

Just a guess.
 
lostprophet894 said:
Perhaps the new firmware automatically reverts the phone to Edge if the 3G signal is weak enough for a bridging of the antennae to kill a call or data transfer.

Just a guess.
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking and hoping was not true. I use wifi for data here. The only reason I would like to keep 3G here is for MMS. But, as of right now, I'm rocking a 2-bar 3G signal :D

We'll see if it lasts!
 
KGWVU said:
Thanks, that was helpful. I reset the network settings and the phone came back in 3G but with 1 bar. I did two consecutive hard boots and it's now on 3G with 2 bars :D

Let's hope this sticks! The only other thing I have done this evening to the phone is installed a carbon fiber film on the back glass (looks great, btw!). I can't imagine that would have anything to do with it though as it does not interfere with the antenna band whatsoever.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...
No problemo!
Glad I could help!
 
KGWVU said:
I understand the metric for bars has changed but since I updated to 4.0.1, I have a hard time getting 3G. It wants to stay on Edge. Before, I rarely ever saw Edge - now, I can't get it to go to 3G unless I am in an area with great reception. I'm hoping this is just a coincidence and there is a 3G issue here in NE Ga :confused:

Edit: What is also odd is I am getting more bars on Edge. If I take the phone to a window, I can squeak in 3G service for a few seconds and I only have 1 bar. When I try to surf in safari, it tells me I have no data and reverts back to Edge. As soon as it reverts to Edge, I'm at 3 - 4 bars.
Click to expand...
It just showed how bad AT&T's network is. That's all !!
 
ios4 will connect to the best signal for voice quality. This may be EDGE even if you are in a 3G area. If there is a 3G tower near and an EDGE tower farther away, the 3G tower may be highly utilized and thus have poor voice quality, so the phone will lock on to EDGE.
 
I updated this morning and I have yet to lose 1 bar, where as before I'd go between 3-5 regularly. I know all the update did was fix how the bars display. I'm wondering, was the previously formula made to show significantly worse signal or something?
 
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