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Amblinman

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 31, 2007
208
0
This is my first 3G phone and I noticed something odd. When the phone is on EDGE, I get full bars in my home (and have for the last year.) When I put on 3G, my bars drop to 3.

Is this normal or some kind of anomaly?
 
Guys. This is normal. The 3G, 2G and wi-fi base stations are all in different places, hence the different signal strengths.

I understand that. But why is it when 3G turns on, the signal strength for calls and texts goes to like 1 bar? I know 3G may be weak in my area, but why does that affect my normally good amount of bars?

Man...I sound like a monkey...

Maybe 3G takes over phones and calls too when it's set on? I have no idea about this stuff, so I'm not in much position to criticize the product's strengths....but I spent 5 1/2 hours in a line and got cut off as the first person not to get a phone. You understand my frustration. Haha.
 
I posted earlier about reception problems, but I just now did the test with turning off 3G and the phone went up to 3 bars, whereas before I was only getting 1 or 2 in this particular spot of my house.

Now, the confusion comes in with I had a 3G Razr that I was using prior to this morning and had no signal strength issues at all. I always had 4-5 bars with my Razr. So, it either has to be due to the phone itself, or the amount of users on now. Still kind of disappointing and depressing that my cheap Razr had better reception than this expensive iphone. :(
 
# of bars are a graphical representation of a numerical value we don't see. When AT&T started advertising more bars, the # of bars i was getting magically increased over night but reliability stayed the same.

Don't trust the graphic. The 3g bars are probably more accurate of actual service.
 
I posted earlier about reception problems, but I just now did the test with turning off 3G and the phone went up to 3 bars, whereas before I was only getting 1 or 2 in this particular spot of my house.

Now, the confusion comes in with I had a 3G Razr that I was using prior to this morning and had no signal strength issues at all. I always had 4-5 bars with my Razr. So, it either has to be due to the phone itself, or the amount of users on now. Still kind of disappointing and depressing that my cheap Razr had better reception than this expensive iphone. :(

How do you turn off 3G?
 
Yup. Round where I am, most places 3G will be at least a bar or two below EDGE...not surprising as I'm at the outer ridge of Philly coverage. But I've yet to have any calls drop because of it, and it sounds better at 1 bar on 3G than 1 bar on EDGE!
 
i feel better now that i've found this thread. this is exactly what i've been experiencing since i've come home to play with my new iphone. i get 5 bars on edge and hardly 1 bar on 3g, sometimes even no service:mad:

nyc here
 
Same here in the Seattle area

I also noted this issue earlier today. My 3yr old Sony Ericson phone has perfect reception and rarely dropped a call. Today my first phone call was dropped on I-5 in Seattle. Very disappointing. My signal strength jumped up and down more times in 1 mile than I have ever seen. This will probably become a bigger issue over the next week as more and more people begin to actually use the phone and the newness feeling wears off.

Update: I just tried teh 3G on/off feature at my house. When on 3G I have a varying 1-2 bars. When on the Edge network I have 5 bars. WTFO. According to the ATT map I'm in the middle of 3G heaven. Conclusion: 3G is a scam to get us to buy a new phone. That goes for any phone on the ATT network touting 3G performance speeds. Can I get a 3G repeater tower from Home Depot for my roof and one that plugs into my car cigarette lighter? :)
 
i feel better now that i've found this thread. this is exactly what i've been experiencing since i've come home to play with my new iphone. i get 5 bars on edge and hardly 1 bar on 3g, sometimes even no service:mad:

nyc here

I feel better as well...I've gone from full bars to almost zip. I'm hoping for the best.
 
I really don't mind it. Im getting 3G speeds as good as my wifi, and i only have 1 bar.
 
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