Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is Apple setting up AT&T with the upcoming software "fix"?

D

drift1492

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 11, 2006
32
0
It is my understanding that Apple's upcoming software "fix" merely adjusts the signal bar display to show less bars for a given signal strength than it does currently. I know it may not be quite this simple, but hear me out.

After the "fix", those of us who have grown accustomed to having 5 bars with previous iPhones and other non-iPhones will begin to see 3 maybe 4 bars. When we call Apple or go to an Apple store with a reception complaint, Apple will respond by asking us how many bars we have. Any answer of less than 5 will result in a scripted response that we must be in a low signal area. Currentley, it is difficult for Apple to defer any blame to AT&T for the issues with their antenna design because the vast majority of iPhone owners have 5 bars.

Essentially, the "fix" is going to artificially deflate the visual display of reception quality, allowing Apple to blame AT&T for reception issues that are likely the result of flawed atenna design.

P.S. I stopped by an apple store today and was not surprised by the fact that all iphones had WIFI set to on. When I turned it off, and held the phones in my hand, about half of them had problems loading espn.com. Interesting.
 
Shifting the blame on the real perpetrators. Yep. Fake ass bars should be a crime.
 
If I'm not mistaken the fix will not necessarily mean your usual bars get dropped by two, it just reports changes accurately. If you look at the graphic that anandtech posted (i think) that measures each bar by db, you'll see how skewed it is.
 
english06 said:
AT&T sucks and this "fix" will certainly go to show how crappy they actually are.
Click to expand...

You retarded? Apreantly so cause it been shown that when the i4 is not held the 'wrong way' it loads like a 5bar singal. Meaning AT&T has perfect singal and it's apple.
 
goobot said:
You retarded? Apreantly so cause it been shown that when the i4 is not held the 'wrong way' it loads like a 5bar singal. Meaning AT&T has perfect singal and it's apple.
Click to expand...

Wow.. Just.. Wow.. Yeah... 'he's' the retard here....

You should look at yourself.
 
murdercitydevil said:
If I'm not mistaken the fix will not necessarily mean your usual bars get dropped by two, it just reports changes accurately. If you look at the graphic that anandtech posted (i think) that measures each bar by db, you'll see how skewed it is.
Click to expand...

Especially given the logarithmic nature of the dB measurement. If Anand's numbers are to be believed then to drop from the best possible signal down to four bars currently requires more than a 10,000-fold decrease in signal strength. To drop from 4 to 3 requires only another 10-fold drop. From there to 2? A mere 1.59-fold drop. To 1 bar? Another 2.52-fold decrease, and finally another 4-fold drop loses signals altogether.

These numbers are downright random. I'm glad Apple is acting, even though it will rekindle the "more bars in more places" war which is silly given how arbitrary a measurement numbers of bars is.
 
I am usually not one to bump my own threads, but the closer we get to the big "announcement" tomorrow, the more AT&T must be worrying about the potential "bars" backlash. :D
 
The change will affect the signal reporting for all networks just ATT

If anything - it will show nothing conclusive except that radio signals were less than you thought and that the radio IN THE IPHONE isn't as strong as you thought.
 
I've gotten the impression that there aren't many people who are actually going to buy into any bull that the iPhone's problems are somehow AT&T's fault. I'm no champion of AT&T, their service is pretty bad where I live, but they're the same company with the same service they were before the iPhone 4 with it's faulty antenna went on sale. Further, if anyone is going to have a "bars backlash" it will most likely be Apple.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back