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Is 2.1 fooling us by just bumping up bars rather than improving signal strength?

I

impact_blue

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 2, 2005
249
0
Hopefully everyone is enjoying 2.1. While reviews are slowly trickling out most people are experiencing fast backups and a snappier iphone as promised. Also users are getting more bars.

But is 2.1 just showing us more bars and still giving us a crappy signal strength?

I bring it up just because there several people around the forums who tested their signal strength in Field Test Mode before and after 2.1. Some results ending up showing a similar dBm number for both versions but more bars with 2.1.

What do you guys think?
 
No they are not tricking us, simply fixed the read out. Which is pretty clear to see when I use to show ZERO bars on 3G...but still was able to make calls and use safari. So obviously there was reception, it was simply not reading out correctly. Now it does. Good times :)
 
UberDy said:
No they are not tricking us, simply fixed the read out. Which is pretty clear to see when I use to show ZERO bars on 3G...but still was able to make calls and use safari. So obviously there was reception, it was simply not reading out correctly. Now it does. Good times :)
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with you - they remapped it to be correct. The question is what bars are at what levels now? Did they tighten it up? I had always contended that the signal mapping was off as I get 1-2 bars almost everywhere and I'd see the signal spike up then drop off for no good reason when the phone was sitting in the exact same location!
 
I don't believe it is as much an issue that they "jacked the bars up" but rather that in the earlier software they "jacked the bars down" so to speak... It's unlikely a software fix would actually improve the reception by the antenna of the signal. Put the iPhone next to a Blackjack & a Motorola Q both GSM 3G and they all show the same number of signal bars now. So to answer... did Apple screw or cheat us? Nope. It's simply a more accurate measure of the signal... exactly what the update description says.
 
Moomba said:
I don't believe it is as much an issue that they "jacked the bars up" but rather that in the earlier software they "jacked the bars down" so to speak... It's unlikely a software fix would actually improve the reception by the antenna of the signal. Put the iPhone next to a Blackjack & a Motorola Q both GSM 3G and they all show the same number of signal bars now. So to answer... did Apple screw or cheat us? Nope. It's simply a more accurate measure of the signal... exactly what the update description says.
Click to expand...

It'd be interesting to put another 3G phone next to an iphone, note the bars AND see the DB as well to see if that is in fact the case
 
AustinSTI said:
It'd be interesting to put another 3G phone next to an iphone, note the bars AND see the DB as well to see if that is in fact the case
Click to expand...

https://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/08/25/firm-tests-iphone-3g-antenna-says-its-ok/

:)

Anyway, they fixed the read out, but I think that also helps the people who get No Service. Doesn't the firmware check whatever is given out graphically (as opposed to actual signal) to determine whether you can do anything? Has anyone ever been able to do anything while it says No Service? Cause we know that we can get good speeds from one bar in the past (so it was just the readout). But that's not the same for No Service, right?
 
Yes, thats exactly what they've done because people are stupid and think anything less than 5 bars is unacceptable. Also, they compare bars with friends with other phones and their friends have more. Bars mean NOTHING, but the average person doesn't know that. It was probably more accurate before, but now it will probably shut some people up.
 
Of course they are!

I had my phone in an area (here at work) where I KNOW 3G is hard to receive with the iPhone (although my Blackjack used to hold it consistently, but that's another thread). It read FIVE BARS 3G, and I thought cool, maybe they did increase reception abilities. the second I opened mail, and it tried to actually transfer data, it switched to EDGE. What a joke, it read 5 bars 3G for a good full minute before I attempted to transfer data, too.
 
I think this "trick" will definitely help. Every moron first time cell phone user has been on this and other boards saying "iPhone sucks, I only have 2 bars and my brother's Nokia has 5."

Hopefully manipulating the bars display will help to stem the tide of idiotic posts.
 
so now that the bars are "fixed" what do we do about the garbage reception and dropped calls? Has Apple now washed their hands of the mess and now on the providers table?
 
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