iPhone 3G poor reception?

[javaGuru]

I am picking up my new iPhone 3G today. But, I keep reading that people are experiencing very poor reception with 3G turned on. I hear that their signal goes from 4 or 5 bars to barely even 1 bar. Is anyone else experiencing this problem? If so, please include where you are from and how long you have had 3G service in your area. I'm just trying to get a feel for how widespread this problem is.

 

[ratbatblue]

I am picking up my new iPhone 3G today. But, I keep reading that people are experiencing very poor reception with 3G turned on. I hear that their signal goes from 4 or 5 bars to barely even 1 bar. Is anyone else experiencing this problem? If so, please include where you are from and how long you have had 3G service in your area. I'm just trying to get a feel for how widespread this problem is.

I'm in Austin/Killeen, TX. 3G has been available in Austin for a few years and in Killeen for less time, maybe a couple of years? Not sure. I've been noticing since I got the iPhone 3G that, compared to my old Razr V3xx, 3G signal strength in terms of bars on the meter seems to be very low. I'm trying to decide if it's an actual problem, because call quality seems to be okay despite low bar count. Quality with 2 bars on 3G is definitely better than 5 bars on EDGE. (I'll say up front that even so, I don't use 3G much, especially for phone calls, because it's a horrible battery killer.) Finally, there's an Apple discussion forum on this topic that is FULL of unhappy campers complaining about the few-bars issue.