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jasondono

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 6, 2009
56
0
Brooklyn, NY
I live in NYC, and AT&T service is terrible. Though getting between 3 and 5 bars of 3G in my home, I can only make calls near the window, and those are of low quality. I've been hoping for the Verizon iPhone, but if I could get better reception from At&T I wouldn't mind staying. Do you think the new antenna on the iPhone 4 will improve things?
 
I live in NYC, and AT&T service is terrible. Though getting between 3 and 5 bars of 3G in my home, I can only make calls near the window, and those are of low quality. I've been hoping for the Verizon iPhone, but if I could get better reception from At&T I wouldn't mind staying. Do you think the new antenna on the iPhone 4 will improve things?

Expectations go nowhere. It's just a way of Apple saying publicly: Look, we hear you about dropped connections and poor reception. This is us showing that we are listening .. (by appearing to do something about it).

If it is true, we will know in 6 months, when there are 3+ months of data available. Either there will be mass complaints, or mass praise. Or nothing noticeable.

If the purchase of the phone is because of the antenna, then don't buy it until you hear something about it. I am sure MacRumors has a story in their queue waiting for the fresh data.
 
The only comfort I can offer is that it won't be worse. Network congestion is different than reception though.
 
Reception has to be better. The antenna surface area for both 3G and WiFi is larger than the older iPhones, and there will be no interference from internal structure. It was a really interesting design decision on Apple's part.

I found an article on the functional possibilities of that design:

http://www.wirelessweek.com/Articles/2010/06/iPhone-4-Antenna-Big-Improvement/

“In fairness, the cellular antenna – it looks like it goes all the way around the phone, so it looks like they’re getting a lot space out of the antenna … I think the reception challenge they would have is on the lower 850 MHz frequency that AT&T uses,” O'Shea says, noting that the thinness of the antenna could still lead to dropped calls on that frequency.

"If we keep everything else the same, a larger antenna has always, always had a significant positive impact on RF performance, and size-wise this antenna rivals satellite phone antennas," Entner says.
 
Prediction: Apple will put this new antenna system in the next Airport Extreme.
 
I hope so. I don't think I have such bad experience with AT&T as other people (I have full signal in my apartment), but I do experience dropped calls or calls not going through or poor sound quality from time to time. Thing is, I never have the expectation that a cellphone will have pristine and perfect reception at all times, so I'm not complaining.
 
So, a question of interest... if there has been scares about cellular phone antennas having potential to cause cancer in excessive users, would having a larger antenna increase that risk?
 
So, a question of interest... if there has been scares about cellular phone antennas having potential to cause cancer in excessive users, would having a larger antenna increase that risk?
Actually, it might be the reverse as the if the phone can get better reception with better antenna, the radio won't produce higher output of power trying to get a signal.
 
I think if they went to the effort of making the antennas part of the outer steel casing, it would make some improvement on the reception
 
Do you think the new antenna on the iPhone 4 will improve things?
It's not what we think, it's what Apple claims the change will do. And they said it will. But I am not sure I like the antenna transmitting while touching my face during a call.
 
If I remember correctly, Steve also said that the 3G had some "intelligent engineering," and used the chrome bezel and the ring around the headphone jack as part of the antenna system. So while the surface area is larger in the new design, I don't see reception becoming that much better.
 
I......So while the surface area is larger in the new design, I don't see reception becoming that much better.

Yeah because giving something like an antenna a larger surface area won't do anything for reception :rolleyes:

I have no clue if it will help or not (I could really care less, my at&t service is top notch) but I don't see how it could hurt. Lots of people will still bitch just to bitch.
 
well i think the reception will be a lot better, but att's network is another problem

i live in a rural area and when i was on the original iphone i would not get signal in the basement, but once i switched over to the 3gs i had 2-3 bars and can make calls...

i would have to say since ur in NYC its probably more of network congestion and not reception.
 
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