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How widespread is the reception problem?
- Thread starter nateharr
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Speaking for myself only here, my phone only drops bars when held very tightly in the bottom left corner. I have never lost service, the lowest I have experienced is 1 bar. Sometimes it will go down to 1 bar, and then climb back up to 4 or 5 bars and stay there. I haven't had any dropped calls either, but I don't talk on the phone that much.
I wouldn't be too worried. I don't have a case either by the way.
I wouldn't be too worried. I don't have a case either by the way.
It really depends on where you live.
It will affect every phone, but the degree to which you experience it depends on where you start out. If you have very strong signal you'll drop from 5 bars to...5 bars. So you won't even notice in that case.
If you have a "weak" 5 bars then it may drop from 5 to 3.
And if you have 3 bars you'll probably drop to 1 or 0 bars. So it's pretty hard for us to know what you'll experience.
The other thing to note is that the Apple Bumper really does seem to fix the problem for most. If you don't mind using that then I wouldn't worry at all. I've just been using that all week. It's not the best thing in the world, but it means I don't have to worry about how to hold the phone.
- - - -
What's important to remember is that the bars don't mean a hell of a lot. Imagine a signal chart that goes from 0% - 100%. Bars 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all within the bottom 10% of that chart! (Maybe even closer to the bottom 5%, honestly.)
So you could have 30% signal and see 5 bars and have 90% signal and see 5 bars. That's why some people don't have problems...they're starting with 90% and it drops them down to 70%. Who cares? But others have 5 bars which really means 20%. So they drop down to almost nothing and really notice!
Bottom line is, "where you are" matters more than anything else.
I think the bumper looks cool online, but in photos it looks soft or pale and ugly. I have to admit, a black bumper on white iPhone would look awesome. (Alas, there isn't a white iPhone yet.)
It has more to do with the feel in your hand.
I kind of like them (kind of) but my wife does not like them at all.
We both hated all other cases prior to this. So I don't know that there's a good way to know if you'll like it without going to the store and asking if they'll let you hold one.
I can also duplicate this "death grip" problem on my iPhone 4 as well as on my 3GS. Why was this never a big issue with the 3GS as it is now?
In Los Angeles I experience none of this antenna ********.
People will always find a way to complain about something. Just buy the phone and enjoy it
People will always find a way to complain about something. Just buy the phone and enjoy it
just about everyone has the reception problem. only thing is that for some, the area they are located in has a better signal which prevents bars from dropping past 4 or so.
I have 5 bars and great signal at home and it drops to no service.
I have an ok signal and 4-5 bars in town and it does not drop at all.
If it was to do with bad signal then why does it drop at home and not in town.
It's not signal quantity, it's signal quality. But 5 bars is mostly associated with quality and quantity. (However, they do not always go hand in hand.)
If you have 5 bars of quantity, but ****** quality you might suffer from this problem. (Based on what I've read today.)
The whole issue is based in how well the phone switches amongst the spectrum of available network frequencies. If you phone doesn't have anything to switch to quickly, you lose signal, no matter how many "bars" you have.