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MacRumors Poll: iPhone 4 Signal Loss by Region

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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The success of the iPhone 4 launched has been otherwise marred by widespread reports of signal loss. The signal loss seems to occur when the iPhone 4 is held in a certain position resulting in the bridging of the two antenna on the bottom left of the device. Reports have been varied, however, with many still claiming that the issue does not affect them at all. It's been suggested that signal or tower differences may account for the different experiences.

We've organized this poll to see how common the problem is and broken down by region to see if there are any regional differences.


Article Link: MacRumors Poll: iPhone 4 Signal Loss by Region
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/26/macrumors-poll-iphone-4-signal-loss-by-region/
Its clearly not regional. This is not a useful poll.

It would be useful to poll if people have experienced the problem or not.
Or some other aspect that might be a clue to its cause. More specifically, it would be interesting to poll those who have NOT run into the problem.
Are they always in a strong 3G area?
How cool or dry is the climate? Sweat may make it worse.
Would be nice if we could determine what frequency their carrier is using to see if it affects certain frequencies more than others.
 
I can get the same signal loss when holding my 3GS at the bottom, then it returns when I change my hand position. Where's that poll? Non issue.
 
I feel sorry for you AT&T users. Never seen connection problems with iPhone here in Belgium. But I'd love to see if this is also true with the new iPhone 4.

*waiting for release*
 
Why even put a poll check box for non iPhone 4 owners?

I'm wondering how widespread an issue this actually is. The truth will out I suppose. I don't have a problem myself but I did have a small yellow spot on the screen that went away later in the day after using it a while.
 
I live in Rhode Island and both iPhone 4s I have seen haven't seen any reception loss no matter how you hold it.
 
im sorry to burst the bubble but it does depend on where u live. The signal is only affected when the left antenna and the bottom one touch, this happens when there is something that acts as a bridge like your hand. this is like the static electricity generator when u have a chain of people the charge goes all the way through (unless its too long). when the bottom of your hand is touching both antennas the bridge is short, but if u even try 2 separate fingers even on the same hand the signal wont go down. Now that that is out of the way. if u live in an area where the signal is generally very strong then if u do screw with the antenna the signal will go down little or not at all. this is why some are affected and some or not, so get a piece of scotch tape or a case to fix the problem lol:D
 
I've tried to make the signal go down by holding the iPhone 4 in low signal areas. I've had the signal go down, up, and stay the same.
 
I think the reason this is affecting some people and not others is not a case of location, but a case of the person using it. I get signal loss on my UK iPhone 4 so I went back to the store and they had no idea what I was on about, they said their demo phone was fine. I try their demo phone, signal gone within 30 seconds. The store manager then went on to try my one I'd been experiencing the issue with, nothing happened.

I think this is caused dependant on how conductive you happen to be, does anyone scientific have any idea if humans can be more or less conductive than one another?
 
Kuro said:
I think the reason this is affecting some people and not others is not a case of location, but a case of the person using it. I get signal loss on my UK iPhone 4 so I went back to the store and they had no idea what I was on about, they said their demo phone was fine. I try their demo phone, signal gone within 30 seconds. The store manager then went on to try my one I'd been experiencing the issue with, nothing happened.

I think this is caused dependant on how conductive you happen to be, does anyone scientific have any idea if humans can be more or less conductive than one another?
Click to expand...

In fact as a way of proving or disproving this theory, can anyone who is not experiencing the issue at all try putting a coin or something on the left side, that way you'll know conclusively if it's a human variable or a hardware variable.
 
I can't replicate it

I've tried all kinds of crab-handed configurations of fingers around the edge of the band and it just doesn't happen for me. I'm not saying it doesn't happen for others, but thus far, I'm seeing nothing... and it's performing much better than my 3G did in general.
 
Flawed poll

This poll is completely flawed. It assumes an equal distribution of respondents across all region, which is unlikely to be the case, given that there are many time more iPhone users / mac rumour regulars in the states than in the UK (or other regions). Also the presentation is vague, suggesting, for example, that only 6% of UK users have problems (when what it actually means is that 6% of respondents who voted live in the UK). The poll needs 2 dimensions to be provide a basis for meaningful analysis :

1) do you have signal problems and
2) where do you live.

You could then chart percentage of respondents that have issues verus those that dont, broken down by region.

Pull this nonsense before somebody gets sued! :(
 
stop!

I wish all of the reporting on this "issue" would stop! like steve says all phones have some signal loss when you hold them different ways, I love my iPhone 4 more than life itself, I want everybody else to get one, i want apple to sell a billion, and stupid people LOVE to feel 'smart' they aren't getting one because they heard 'doesn't that phone not make phone calls when you hold it hahaha blahblahblah. my phone loses some signalwhen you cover that gap, but I just don't hold it there and it works fine for the most part even if I do. it's just like with other iPhones when I would sit there trying to figure a good way o hold it when I was in a basement or something

STOP MAKING THIS THE STORY. THE STORY IS THAT THE IPHONE4 IS AWESOME!!!!!
 
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This will be interesting. Hopefully no skewed votes but i fear the people that don't like Apple will try to rig it. :(
 
i have a rubber protective case around mine and never lose signal. i'd never go without a case on my iphone. when i traded in my 3Gs it looked like i bought it yesterday, but was a year old.
 
If you hold the phone like you were born with flippers instead of hands, you can make the antenna lose signal. If you hold the phone like every normal person in the world, it's not a problem.
 
I agree, this poll really isn't the best way to find out who is having problems or not. Btw, to the ones that say this needs to stop being a big deal, it is. Iv had all 3 iPhones with no signal issues. Now I can barely talk to someone that has an iPhone 4 as well, and this was never a problem before for the last 3 years.
 
FaustsHausUK said:
I've tried all kinds of crab-handed configurations of fingers around the edge of the band and it just doesn't happen for me. I'm not saying it doesn't happen for others, but thus far, I'm seeing nothing... and it's performing much better than my 3G did in general.
Click to expand...

Ditto for me (mostly.) Where I live in South Pasadena, I had always had 4 bars on my 3G; with the iPhone 4, no matter how I hold it, full 5 bars (even when cupping it with two hands!) So the external antenna improves the signal and holding it however which way doesn't affect it when you have a fairly solid signal to begin with.

I did go to an area in Arcadia (where my friend lives) that I knew had bad reception and once I got there I had only 2 to 3 bars; when I held the phone in the bottom left corner (like I did at home with no affect) it did drop down to 1 bar. So it definitely depends on if you have a strong signal to begin with and it is not isolated to the iPhone 4 only; my Arcadia friend has the original iPhone and her's jumps around from 1 to 3 bars and almost always drops the call when we are talking. Same thing happened to her with her Razr she used to have and to her neighbor's iPhone 3G. So if you have a bad signal, you will have a bad signal...
 
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