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Do the Apple bumpers hurt reception?

K

ks-man

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 25, 2007
742
15
I recently got an official Apple bumper and I feel that the reception is a little worse when it is on vs. when it is off. I'm not at all testing Death grip, just regular holding of the phone with and without the bumper.

It isn't so blatant that I put on the bumper and the # of bars plummet or I take it off and they instantly go up. More I am noticing during periods of wearing the bumper the phone has more 1-3 bars and when it is off I see more 4 and 5 bars.

Anybody else noticing this?
 
Your bumper must have been in the batch that was contaminated with lead. You should probably demand :apple: exchange it for you.
 
Applejuiced said:
You're saying it hurts, others say it improves and solves all reception problems.
Im still waiting for my bumper to arrive to see whats really going on.
Click to expand...

I said it feels like it may be affecting my reception but I'm far from claiming it as a fact. I haven't had enough time with it on or off to conclude it is an issue. I'm glad to hear from the responses on this thread that it likely isn't the bumper and more likely just poor reception as a whole.
 
i just got my bumper today and it has definatly improved reception when I hold the phone. At my house, before when i would hold it (either hand not touching the left corner) I would have 3 or 4 bars and would lose all reception if i touched the left corner, phone would go to no service. With the bumper I now have 4 or 5 bars when holding it, and if I really cup it and do a death grip reception goes down to 1 or 2 bars but I don't lose connectivity.
 
Let us put this into layman's terms.

The bumper is a figurative band-aid for the infamous bottom left corner. However, putting anything over the entire antenna will decrease performance, albeit slightly.

You will get better reception with a naked phone if people could just figure out how to stop touching less than 1% of the perimeter surface area. (Not directed at you, but to everyone who has complained about that problem. Depends on if you got your bumper for the protective purpose it was made for, or if you can hold the phone without touching that area ;))
 
Minimoose 360 said:
Let us put this into layman's terms.

The bumper is a figurative band-aid for the infamous bottom left corner. However, putting anything over the entire antenna will decrease performance, albeit slightly.

You will get better reception with a naked phone if people could just figure out how to stop touching less than 1% of the perimeter surface area. (Not directed at you, but to everyone who has complained about that problem. Depends on if you got your bumper for the protective purpose it was made for, or if you can hold the phone without touching that area ;))
Click to expand...

Touching the metal antenna band affects the phone, period. Touching it in one specific spot - the seam bridging the antennas - tends to make it even worse, but the point is:

It's not necessary to touch just that "1% of the perimeter surface area" to cause problems. Many people have actually altered how they hold the phone so they don't touch that area specifically and they still have problems.
 
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