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iPhone 4 Reception Issue? [Video]

iPhone 4 Issues

Hi All,

Well just received my new device.
This is the first time I'm having issues since the 1st generation iPhone .
Here are the issues:

WiFi reception is very weak. Even over my airport extreme it will only display 2 bars of the 3.

The home button was having a delay in response, but after a restore, it seems to be better.

As far as cellular reception, its great. No issues at all.
I have viewed some videos showing reception dropping while the phone is being held in hand.
Not experiencing this at all.

:apple:
 
KCWolfPck said:
When I started reading the reports of this signal loss issue, I did a little test. I have an iPhone 3G...probably close to two years old. My house typically has a week cellular signal, but the bars are usually at 4 or 5 bars most places in the house. I picked up my 3G and cupped my hand around the back of the phone like anyone would when they talk on a cell phone. Guess what.....the bars went down to 1.

Now, I am at work in downtown DC where the signal is very strong. I pick up my 3G and hold it in the same manner. Guess what......still 5 bars.

Am I surprised by this result? Nope! There is going to be signal loss when you cover up part of an antenna. That only makes sense.

My suspicion as follows:

1) Certain percentages of signal reception equal a given amount of bars displayed. I don't know what that is, but for the sake of argument, let's say they are as follows:

60 - 100% = 5 bars
50 - 60% = 4 bars
40 - 50% = 3 bars
30 - 40% = 2 bars
20 - 30% = 1 bar
0 - 20 = 0 bars

2) When you place your hand over the antenna, if degrades the signal by a certain percentage (varies depending on how you hold it).

So, if someone has a very strong signal and picks up their phone, covering the antenna, the signal may drop from 100% to 70 %, but the bars still indicate the same.....5 bars.

However, someone with a weaker signal may pick up their phone, covering the antenna, and the signal may drop from 60% to 30% dropping from just barely getting 5 bars to 1 bar....even though the signal is dropping the same 30%.

Based on the above theory, people that are experiencing this issue are likely receiving weaking cellular signals than those that are not experiencing this issue.

Just a theory........but I bet I'm right.
Click to expand...

It makes sense. If touching the antenna gives you a 40% drop or so in reception, then it would go down from 5 bars to 1.

On mine I can easily experience this "feature" when I'm on the phone. Whenever I'm on the phone in my office (which doesn't have great reception to begin with) all it takes me is just touching the antenna, and that makes my voice immediately start cutting off to the other party. Speedtest app is a great way to test it too, since you can make the speed flactuate just by holding the phone in different ways.

Btw, the reception drops no matter how you hold the phone as opposed to making it sit on a table, but it drops horribly if you touch the bottom.
 
RBR2 said:
While it would be interesting, informative even, to see the -db level, it is not significant. The iPhone 4 dropped the signal/call. That is the bottom line.
Click to expand...

Right, but perhaps once it goes to "Searching" or "No Service" the phone automatically drops the call...regardless of what the actual connection is.


How could it be that a 3G phone which has operated without this problem for 2 years just starts having this problem after the iOS 4 upgrade WITHOUT it being a software problem?


Apple has put this thing under intense testing in the R&D phase. They couldn't have not thought of this being an issue....they built the gaps for a reason. This was the innovative design process....it needed testing.


Thus, it has to be a software issue - perhaps something not prevalent in earlier beta firmwares.

If not, they screwed up here major....but if people are actually replicating on 3G and 3GS phones, it is no doubt software.
 
At home with my Nexus 1 I hold the phone in my hand and watch my phone lose reception. At my office in Downtown DC, I can't make the bars go down but my signal strength reading goes from -69dBm (on desk) to -81dBm (with hands around it). I think I'm a block away from a cell tower.
Still waiting for my iPhone 4 to be delivered but I will say I'm very curious if I will have the same problems. I never had problems with my 3GS before I sold it. Actually have more dropped calls with my Nexus....

I wonder if it's a 850 vs 1900 thing?
 
This is one of the biggest blunders I have ever seen from an iphone launch. Good job Steve, your iphone is so magical it does a dissappearing act when holding it.
 
Hello everyone, I currently have a nexus one with T mobile,

and in my apartment i get 5 bars on Edge connection, not even 3G,

I just held my nexus one still in the palm of my hand covering up the back and wow.. to my amazement, the bars started to disappear, it dropped down to 2 bars left.


it's possible that the signal strength theory is correct, and not just with iPhones.
 
I'm pretty sure it has to do with the feature in OS4 to pick the tower signal with the least noise and not best strength (and touching adds noise)... just sayin ;)
 
KCWolfPck said:
When I started reading the reports of this signal loss issue, I did a little test. I have an iPhone 3G...probably close to two years old. My house typically has a week cellular signal, but the bars are usually at 4 or 5 bars most places in the house. I picked up my 3G and cupped my hand around the back of the phone like anyone would when they talk on a cell phone. Guess what.....the bars went down to 1.

Now, I am at work in downtown DC where the signal is very strong. I pick up my 3G and hold it in the same manner. Guess what......still 5 bars.

Am I surprised by this result? Nope! There is going to be signal loss when you cover up part of an antenna. That only makes sense.

My suspicion as follows:

1) Certain percentages of signal reception equal a given amount of bars displayed. I don't know what that is, but for the sake of argument, let's say they are as follows:

60 - 100% = 5 bars
50 - 60% = 4 bars
40 - 50% = 3 bars
30 - 40% = 2 bars
20 - 30% = 1 bar
0 - 20 = 0 bars

2) When you place your hand over the antenna, if degrades the signal by a certain percentage (varies depending on how you hold it).

So, if someone has a very strong signal and picks up their phone, covering the antenna, the signal may drop from 100% to 70 %, but the bars still indicate the same.....5 bars.

However, someone with a weaker signal may pick up their phone, covering the antenna, and the signal may drop from 60% to 30% dropping from just barely getting 5 bars to 1 bar....even though the signal is dropping the same 30%.

Based on the above theory, people that are experiencing this issue are likely receiving weaking cellular signals than those that are not experiencing this issue.

Just a theory........but I bet I'm right.
Click to expand...

This is EXACTLY what I thought the moment I heard about this issue. You've done a great job of summarizing this concept. In fact, I know some are saying that disabling 3G "seems to fix" the issue. Following onto what you've presented here, it just says to me that they are receiving stronger 2G signal than 3G so the 2G signal is far less affected by the difference, using the signal strength bars as an indicator.
 
crazyitalian198 said:
Right, but perhaps once it goes to "Searching" or "No Service" the phone automatically drops the call...regardless of what the actual connection is.


How could it be that a 3G phone which has operated without this problem for 2 years just starts having this problem after the iOS 4 upgrade WITHOUT it being a software problem?


Apple has put this thing under intense testing in the R&D phase. They couldn't have not thought of this being an issue....they built the gaps for a reason. This was the innovative design process....it needed testing.


Thus, it has to be a software issue - perhaps something not prevalent in earlier beta firmwares.

If not, they screwed up here major....but if people are actually replicating on 3G and 3GS phones, it is no doubt software.
Click to expand...

We don't actually know what testing was performed, under what conditions and with what hardware/software. One should always remember that there are no promises that there is only one thing causing a problem. It might be a software issue. It might be a hardware issue. It might be both. Frankly, antenna design has not been Apple's strong point and the iPhones (of all generations) have not had the best reputation with regard to dropped calls. My own experience with an iPhone 3G was that it had about a 50% dropped call rate, which, by any measure, is not good.

I will reserve judgment until more is known, but the information presently available does not make me want to rush out to purchase an iPhone 4 right now.
 
KCWolfPck said:
When I started reading the reports of this signal loss issue, I did a little test. I have an iPhone 3G...probably close to two years old. My house typically has a week cellular signal, but the bars are usually at 4 or 5 bars most places in the house. I picked up my 3G and cupped my hand around the back of the phone like anyone would when they talk on a cell phone. Guess what.....the bars went down to 1.

Now, I am at work in downtown DC where the signal is very strong. I pick up my 3G and hold it in the same manner. Guess what......still 5 bars.

Am I surprised by this result? Nope! There is going to be signal loss when you cover up part of an antenna. That only makes sense.

My suspicion as follows:

1) Certain percentages of signal reception equal a given amount of bars displayed. I don't know what that is, but for the sake of argument, let's say they are as follows:

60 - 100% = 5 bars
50 - 60% = 4 bars
40 - 50% = 3 bars
30 - 40% = 2 bars
20 - 30% = 1 bar
0 - 20 = 0 bars

2) When you place your hand over the antenna, if degrades the signal by a certain percentage (varies depending on how you hold it).

So, if someone has a very strong signal and picks up their phone, covering the antenna, the signal may drop from 100% to 70 %, but the bars still indicate the same.....5 bars.

However, someone with a weaker signal may pick up their phone, covering the antenna, and the signal may drop from 60% to 30% dropping from just barely getting 5 bars to 1 bar....even though the signal is dropping the same 30%.

Based on the above theory, people that are experiencing this issue are likely receiving weaking cellular signals than those that are not experiencing this issue.

Just a theory........but I bet I'm right.
Click to expand...

To take it even a step further, it could be a problem in how the iPhone firmware interprets the signal from the antenna along with the new way the iPhone chooses what tower to connect to.
 
Reception issue

I received my iPhone 4 yesterday morning. I also received the "rubber" case that I ordered from Ideal-case the same day. I have absolutely no reception or bar loss issues with the phone.
 
funny thing is I doubt we will hear from Apple until Monday about this.Sales are ongoing as we speak and there not going to talk about the support part before people have bought there pre orders
 
I can't make the signal drop when I pick mine up or bridge the connections, but I'm struggling to get 3G or even EDGE in my home even though Orange say that my area has 'excellent' data coverage. I saw lots of full bar 3G reception on the way home though, so I'm confident that its more likely a network coverage issue. Slightly concerning that I can't get any kind of data connection anywhere in the house though.
 
I got my hands on a bumper today for the iphone 4. It completely solves the reception issue. It's not a "solution" of sorts that apple needs to come up with, but it will let you play with your new shiny toy problem free for the time being.
 
LIguy said:
I got my hands on a bumper today for the iphone 4. It completely solves the reception issue. It's not a "solution" of sorts that apple needs to come up with, but it will let you play with your new shiny toy problem free for the time being.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I was going to use a bumper anyway, so now I officially no longer care. :cool:
 
donbenjy said:
I can't make the signal drop when I pick mine up or bridge the connections, but I'm struggling to get 3G or even EDGE in my home even though Orange say that my area has 'excellent' data coverage. I saw lots of full bar 3G reception on the way home though, so I'm confident that its more likely a network coverage issue. Slightly concerning that I can't get any kind of data connection anywhere in the house though.
Click to expand...

Pop the SIM card in your old phone and see how it does by way of comparison.
 
Must be the iOS4

Last night I updated my iPhone 3Gs with the new iOS4 software and immediately afterwards I started having receiption issues. Also I have watched multiple videos about the iPhone 4 and one person put a rubber cover on it and his receiption stayed the same as if he wasn't holding it. In other words putting the rubber cover on the phone for now seems to help a little.
 
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