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Just tested iPhone4 at AT&T store

T

Thrifty1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 21, 2009
215
27
I just returned from trying out an iPhone4 at my local AT&T store. I made sure wifi was off so it was only using the 3G network.

I did not make any calls -- only opened various web pages. I held the phone many different ways. I put my finger across the gaps in the frame. I held it tightly in my hand and wrapped my hand / fingers around it as much as possible. In all these cases, the web pages loaded quickly and I saw little to no difference in the bars (saw it decrease by 1 bar once). I went to some obscure web pages to be sure it was not reloading pages already loaded. I had 4 bars in almost all my tests. I was pleasantly surprised I could not get the signal to drop or pages to load slowly when I held the phone covering the gaps in the frame.

I don't know how far the cell tower is from the store -- would assume it is fairly close with the strong signal.

I will continue to test this at different AT&T stores as I wait to purchase my iPhone4.

I believe the people who are having problems, but I could not replicate them. Maybe this is a quality control issue with something different / wrong in the production of some units.

I will post as I re-test this at different AT&T stores.
 
well att and apple (and verizon,tmobile,sprint, all carriers) stores have pico cells which act as mini cell towers sorta like a bigger version of the microcell. Therefore each phone has pretty much perfect signal. If you use the death grip your signal would only drop to say 60-70% which is still pretty good reception. Truth be told when using the phone in the field rarely is your signal above 50%
 
Thrifty1 said:
I just returned from trying out an iPhone4 at my local AT&T store. I made sure wifi was off so it was only using the 3G network.

I did not make any calls -- only opened various web pages. I held the phone many different ways. I put my finger across the gaps in the frame. I held it tightly in my hand and wrapped my hand / fingers around it as much as possible. In all these cases, the web pages loaded quickly and I saw little to no difference in the bars (saw it decrease by 1 bar once). I went to some obscure web pages to be sure it was not reloading pages already loaded. I had 4 bars in almost all my tests. I was pleasantly surprised I could not get the signal to drop or pages to load slowly when I held the phone covering the gaps in the frame.

I don't know how far the cell tower is from the store -- would assume it is fairly close with the strong signal.

I will continue to test this at different AT&T stores as I wait to purchase my iPhone4.

I believe the people who are having problems, but I could not replicate them. Maybe this is a quality control issue with something different / wrong in the production of some units.

I will post as I re-test this at different AT&T stores.
Click to expand...

There are such things as repeaters that are placed in stores and buildings that do not have good reception that boost the cell signal.

We had to add one to a room at corporate as we would have day long meetings and no one could check their stupid blackberrys (I was able to as the only iPhone user with wifi..hah).
 
Interesting -- I was wondering if they had some sort of boosted signal within the store. I wish there was a way to "borrow" one for an hour and test it at home. The AT&T employee said her iPhone4 was performing flawlessly (wouldn't really expect her to say anything else). I need to find someone with an iPhone4 to try it out in the real world.
 
I did test it too.

I cupped both my hands on both the top and bottom of the phone.

Wi-Fi and Signal dropped, not much signal and wi-fi dropped though.
 
Thank god you're out there testing phones for us all! Not sure what I would of done if I didn't find out this awesome info. My life is now complete!!

No to go test MY i-4 wherever I see fit.
 
I work for AT&T and can say that at least in Louisiana, 98% of the stores do not have repeaters in the store. The only stores that have repeaters or in building antenna solutions are those with less then stellar coverage in the store.
 
army91c said:
Thank god you're out there testing phones for us all! Not sure what I would of done if I didn't find out this awesome info. My life is now complete!!

No to go test MY i-4 wherever I see fit.
Click to expand...

The dude was just posting some information, don't need to get on his case.
 
b00st3d said:
I work for AT&T and can say that at least in Louisiana, 98% of the stores do not have repeaters in the store. The only stores that have repeaters or in building antenna solutions are those with less then stellar coverage in the store.
Click to expand...

your full of **** sorry. Every cell phone store has pico cell in it.
 
army91c said:
Thank god you're out there testing phones for us all! Not sure what I would of done if I didn't find out this awesome info. My life is now complete!!

No to go test MY i-4 wherever I see fit.
Click to expand...

It's a pity that comment wasn't funny. There might have been a point to it, then.
 
The AT&T stores by me do not even have display models.

I have been wanting to try one out before I buy it
 
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