iPhone 3G- improved reception over original?

[tmodrich]

Hey everyone,
Well, my iPhone had excellent reception at my school's campus, but then when I moved to a house about a mile away, my ATT service went way downhill. (ATT's coverage map says "moderate") I'm lucky if I get one bar, and then when I pick up the phone I lose service entirely.

Now I've read conflicting reports as to whether or not the iPhone 3G would improve my reception...some people have said that they run on different towers etc. According to the coverage map, the entire metro area I'm in, we get excellent 3G coverage. Some people have also said that one bar of 3G actually allows decent calls, whereas one bar of Edge is useless. The folks at the Apple and ATT stores haven't been able to really give me any solid help, so I'm hoping someone here will have gone through something similar to me. I searched the forums and couldn't find anything quite what I'm looking for.

Any help/advice would be great, thanks!

 

[AFPoster]

Well obviously I am not in your area but hopefully this helps. I am in the military and I used to live in the dorms. I had the first gen iPhone and I got horrible service on base, unfortantely (but luckily) I took the phone back 3 days later since I am on call 24/7 and with no service means a lot of crap I will be in. So 8 months later 3g came out, I now live off base since I recently got married and bought the 3g iPhone (why I said luckily). Well since the iPhone 3g has a plastic back piece it allows for a better / stronger signal from towers. The old iPhone didn't it was aluminium or w/e (materials might be wrong) so it blocked the signal to a degree, but with the new ones you don't have that blockage which is one of the reasons why the price of the 3g is low b/c material costs were cheaper and a smart move.
I keep 3g on everywhere even if I don't get it where I am at only because I believe it allows me to get a better signal as well which I am all for better signal. I would just get the 3g try it out if it doesn't work take it back in 30 days. Just my suggestion. I am completely impressed with the 3g and how great it is I can truely see a difference compared to the old one.

Hope that helps

 

[denm316]

Better the the original

With the original iPhone I got good reception with AT&T at my house and never had a problem. However at work my server was barely existent, I would go from one bar to no service thought out the day.

I got the new phone and no get about 2-3 bars of EDGE at work now. I have 3G turned off and I know I am paying more for it, but I am just happy that I can now use my phone everyday while at work

 

[kellen]

Definitely better on my end. I frequent a bar that is in a hotel, underneath. Used to get one bar on the old iphone, with it dropping out. Sometimes text messages wouldn't go through. Now I jump between 2 and 3 bars. 3g as well.

Also I gave my GF my old phone and she was with me there with the phone, she was getting that one bar, while I had 3.