Full bars but false service...?

[jsquared]

When I'm in my office I usually get 4-5 bars of 3G service. Yet when it comes to downloading apps, sometimes they never dowload. Or surfing on Safari will be really slow. When I'm outside the office or at home the 3G is around the same amount of bars, yet the apps download quickly and surfing is at actual
3G speeds.

I know there was specualtion that with the 2.1 software update people were suggesting that the service bug fix was kinda a hoax. That the phone will show better service but not actually have better service than before. Which I was hesitant to believe....until recently.

Is anyone else seeing this?

 

[rannddeee]

When I'm in my office I usually get 4-5 bars of 3G service. Yet when it comes to downloading apps, sometimes they never dowload. Or surfing on Safari will be really slow. When I'm outside the office or at home the 3G is around the same amount of bars, yet the apps download quickly and surfing is at actual
3G speeds.

I know there was specualtion that with the 2.1 software update people were suggesting that the service bug fix was kinda a hoax. That the phone will show better service but not actually have better service than before. Which I was hesitant to believe....until recently.

Is anyone else seeing this?

yup!

a couple days last week my phone indicated full 3G but my data wouldn't work: internet, mail, app store, etc.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

As a phone the iPhone is quite possibly one of the worst phones out there. Bad connections are more common than not.

Here is a link to another thread that you may or may not be interested in but you aren't alone.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/600519/

 

[buccsmf1]

yea, at my gf's house i have 2-3 bars but cant make or receive calls, it's great

 

[buccsmf1]

yup!

a couple days last week my phone indicated full 3G but my data wouldn't work: internet, mail, app store, etc.

i want to say that signal strength doesnt directly correlate to data. Whenever I'm in a stadium (with 50k+ people hogging up data) i have bars and can make calls, but i never get any data through.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

I hope people are beginning to understand why. The iPhone isn't capable of reliable connections. In other threads people are saying whatever but the fact is the iPhone doesn't connect steadily. Full bars or not.

 

[MATTHEWLONG]

Couldnt agree more, its so annoying!.

 

[benflick]

Bars=Useless
Use Field test mode next time.

(Hit call)

 

[wheezy]

Bars=Useless
Use Field test mode next time.

(Hit call)

That's pretty cool... but what the heck does it all mean? ATT is actually completely dead right now in Utah, at least around Salt Lake. Everyone I know cannot make calls, receive calls, texts, anything. Totally dead.

 

[benflick]

That's pretty cool... but what the heck does it all mean? ATT is actually completely dead right now in Utah, at least around Salt Lake. Everyone I know cannot make calls, receive calls, texts, anything. Totally dead.

Instead of bars at the corner, the number it displays means something, I don't know what lol

 

[ryanwarsaw]

Use a connection in Safari that needs a constant connection. Tell me how that goes for you.

 

[fireshot91]

Bars=Useless
Use Field test mode next time.

(Hit call)

is that the percent of service you have? I have -81.

 

[benflick]

is that the percent of service you have? I have -81.

I think it is, but there is a thread about this that will tell.

EDIT: Here

 

[jsquared]

So the lower the number (technically higher due to the negative sign), the better the service? Data service or Voice service? Mine is -77 at my girls' place, I'll have to try it at work tomorrow to see what I can compare it to.

It is still confusing which test to use....

 

[aristobrat]

The lower the number, the stronger the RF signal between your iPhone and the tower it's connected to.

Data speed doesn't always correlate to signal strength.

A tower only has so much data bandwidth. The more people that use that towers data simultaneously, the slower the data speeds become for everyone, including people with 5 bars of signal strength.

 

[Rayfire]

I think it is, but there is a thread about this that will tell.

EDIT: Here

Wow this one's really helpful. Thanks for the tip!

Mine's -67 (Seattle, WA)

 

[anjinha]

Mine is -65 in Lisbon, Portugal.

 

[deimos256]

my problem with the service indicator is it doesnt update often enough to give an accurate estimate. Any other phone i have had the service indicator would constantly be changing to show fluctuating service, but with the iphone ill be talking and all of a sudden the call will get muddy and drop, ill look at my phone and itll say 2 bars and then about 30 seconds later it says no service. Its just apple trying to mask things and make everything look peachy keen

 

[WhySoSerious]

I know there was specualtion that with the 2.1 software update people were suggesting that the service bug fix was kinda a hoax. That the phone will show better service but not actually have better service than before. Which I was hesitant to believe....until recently.

this is 100% true.