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MacRumors Poll: iPhone 4 Signal Loss by Region

I have some other evidence that points to a potential hardware issue. Working on video now.

I had my phone replaced this morning - they gave me 0 problems doing this. I've felt that my phone is worse than others because when even gingerly touched in the bottom left corner, all data ceases to transmit and the call is dropped. This didn't occur in the Apple store but they said that they have an actual AT&T repeater IN the store (it was over my head!). It does occur at my home in St. Petersburg, FL.

FYI - I wanted to just return the phone this AM - but they convinced me to give it another try with the new phone. It wasn't hard to convince me because I LOVED my old 3GS and I really don't want to get a different phone. All of the complaining that I do on here is for no other reason than I want my phone to work.

I'll be back soon - probably start a new thread to discuss the video.
 
Problem depends on current specific connection!

I have been experimenting with my iPhone 4 and it's clear to me that this problem does not occur every time.

On my drive from work yesterday during which there was lots of stop and go traffic on the highway, I experimented with the "death grip" many times. I could reproduce the problem very easily in one area then, less than a mile later, I couldn't reproduce it no matter how much I tried. This hppenned over and over again on an 18 mile drive.

Is clear to me that there are some conditions under which shorting the antennae in this way is a non-issue while it is a real issue under different conditions.

In Walt Mossberg's review of the iPhone 4, he mentioned that Apple has tuned the iPhone 4 firmware in such a way that it would sometimes choose towers with weaker signals because, based on other factors, they determined that it would result in a better call (quote: "to stress the quality of a signal over its raw strength"). I wonder if it is under this (or some other "non-standard") type of connection that the phone becomes vulnerable to this problem.

But even if what Walt Mossberg described is not related this problem, it is obvious to me that the problem is dependent on the current connection the phone has.
 
I have the signal loss issue but it seems the closer I am to a tower, the problem goes away. Yesterday I was near a tower and could not reproduce the problem.
 
skeebers said:
Look at it this way.. This is all they can find bad with the phone..it's fine by me. This boils down to individual usage.. This phone gets great reception unless I'm in BFE.
Click to expand...

well said.

also, i think people are gonna miss dropped calls when they're gone.
 
Dr Kevorkian94 said:
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
Click to expand...

This is so true. Bravo. If I have a weak signal that might fluctuate on its own, then I can drop it more by touching the lower left. But if I have a strong 5 bar signal that doesn't fluctuate, it will stay strong no matter how I hold the phone.
 
Whatever it is I don't exactly know but it has to be more than just the phone because I think the phones are all the same if it was a defect then they would have to address it. But they told us that it's the antennas witch are the same on all the new iPhones so it has to be the network. Be it the stength of the signal or the frequency of that signal it's more than just the phone. I give that if the flipen phone dident have been designed or manufactured so the antennas would do this it wouldent matter but what we guna do. I love my iPhone 4 the signal is a nucence but I got to learn to deal or get a case or something.
 
I'm also in the boat where it happens sometimes but not other times depending on where I am.

For example, in my house, the call drops when holding the phone in a particular way (as in the video) but at the Apple store in the mall I bought the phone from, there is no effect.
 
My other half and I just did another test by calling one iPhone 4 from the other in the same room, more than 10 ft apart (so as to avoid cross-signal muddying which can occur when two phones are within 3 feet of each other).

We could NOT reproduce the issue, no matter how we tried holding the phone, whether cupped or just squeezing along the bottom, in particular where the two antenna's come together on the lower left.

This is the same Dearborn, MI location as I noted above (GSM-1900 about 3-4 miles from nearest tower).

Throughout three back to back tests we had 5 bars, which is rare in and of itself, but anyway at no time during the test did the signal drop below 5 bars, nor did we experience any call quality degradation of any kind.
 
I wonder if it will be Monday, or Tuesday that Apple announces free bumpers for all iPhone 4 owners? I really see this coming, imminently. Apple can't stop this bad PR fast enough.

I'm sure a software fix will come that distorts the AT&T bars, as was done on previous iPhones. Thus lumping any dropped calls blame on the network in general.

But that will take a week or two and not totally satisfy everyone. Since Apple CS reps are already shipping free bumpers to complaining customers, it's only a matter of time before they beat the whiners to the punch and offer free bumpers.
 
I believe we can come to a consensus that this is more or less location based since there is a fair share of people who can and also cannot replicate the problem.

Only variable at large right now is location. How about we get a whole bunch of people at a couple of locations to test it?
 
ios4 issue?

After seeing the video of the guy reproducing the problem on a 3G running ios4, I decided to try it on mine and my wife's 3GS.

I was able to reproduce the issue on both phones, however, I had to REALLY wrap my hand around the phone and give it a good squeeze.

I'm now somewhat convinced that
a) this is a ios4 issue
b) this has always been happening but it's easier on an iPhone 4 due to antenna placement
c) this could easily happen on other devices as well

On a somewhat related note... I swear that ios4 has screwed up the sensitivity on the keypad. Since the very moment my 3GS finished the ios4 update, I've had more typing errors in a week than I've had in my entire iPhone experience.

Anybody else experiencing this?
 
It is where you have the best signal.
I couldn't for the life of me recreate this signal loss no matter how I held my 3GS.
 
OtherJesus said:
...

On a somewhat related note... I swear that ios4 has screwed up the sensitivity on the keypad. Since the very moment my 3GS finished the ios4 update, I've had more typing errors in a week than I've had in my entire iPhone experience.

Anybody else experiencing this?
Click to expand...

This is really off-topic, but I replaced my iPhone 3G with the iPhone 4 and, YES, I've been having a lot of typing errors with the new iPhone! I was wondering if it has to do with the slipperiness of the glass or something, but I do think that the software is a little different, but it's enough so that we have to get used to it all over again.
 
OtherJesus said:
After seeing the video of the guy reproducing the problem on a 3G running ios4, I decided to try it on mine and my wife's 3GS.

I was able to reproduce the issue on both phones, however, I had to REALLY wrap my hand around the phone and give it a good squeeze.

I'm now somewhat convinced that
a) this is a ios4 issue
b) this has always been happening but it's easier on an iPhone 4 due to antenna placement
c) this could easily happen on other devices as well

On a somewhat related note... I swear that ios4 has screwed up the sensitivity on the keypad. Since the very moment my 3GS finished the ios4 update, I've had more typing errors in a week than I've had in my entire iPhone experience.

Anybody else experiencing this?
Click to expand...

Your logic is flawed. See post #138.
 
lshaner said:
My other half and I just did another test by calling one iPhone 4 from the other in the same room, more than 10 ft apart (so as to avoid cross-signal muddying which can occur when two phones are within 3 feet of each other).

We could NOT reproduce the issue, no matter how we tried holding the phone, whether cupped or just squeezing along the bottom, in particular where the two antenna's come together on the lower left.

This is the same Dearborn, MI location as I noted above (GSM-1900 about 3-4 miles from nearest tower).

Throughout three back to back tests we had 5 bars, which is rare in and of itself, but anyway at no time during the test did the signal drop below 5 bars, nor did we experience any call quality degradation of any kind.
Click to expand...

So you tested it where you get a great signal with 2 iPhones. How about testing it in other areas outside that ten feet? Might be a more helpful test. It's been said over and over that the problem occurs when you are getting a weak signal. Just because you can't replicate the problem with a great signal within 10 feet doesn't mean the problem doesn't exist.

I have no problems whatsoever when I'm at work, but drop 50% of my calls when I'm at home.
 
Well I can also confirm a problem with my iPhone 4 here Romford, Essex, UK
When the iPhone is connected using O2's 3G network and I place my fingers across the 2 black lines bridging the antenna's the signal bars drop until I get no service.
However if I switch off the 3G option in settings and revert to the standard O2 network then bridge the antenna's again the signal bars remain the same (Full)....?
Very Very Strange......!
 
went to apple store yesterday to check out the iPhone 4, they had several demos there...all with 5 bars. As soon as I picked it up, it dropped all the way down to 1 bar on all of them.

I asked them about it, and he said, since you are left handed, your palm is shorting out the antenna. he said I shouldn't buy one because I am left handed unless I want to use a case on it.

IMO: Apple should include a case with the phone!

wtf?

-marco114
 
Signal doesn't have anything to do with it honestly. I have a Micro Cell. My 3GS had full bars with that device no matter how I held it. It also had iOS4 installed.

My iPhone 4 with iOS4 goes from full bars to NO SERVICE connected to my Micro Cell. My brothers 3GS also connected to the Micro Cell, does not have this issue at all. Again, iOS4 is installed.

So, how is it a signal issue when I am attached to a Micro Cell that's blasting out a 5 bar signal? :confused:
 
firewood said:
It's not your region. It's how close you are to a cell tower. If you barely get 5 bars, and short/cover the antenna, you might lose 5 bars and lose your connection. If you are much closer to a cell tower than needed for 5 bars, you might be getting a signal strong enough to be equivalent to 10 or 15 bars (but the phone only shows a max of 5). So if you drop 5 bars of signal strength (from the 10 or 15) by shorting/covering the antenna, the phone will still show 5 bars, and you can make your phone call.

The only good place to test the antenna issue is where the phone just barely switches from indicating 4 bars to 5 bars.

I have that at my house. One room gets only 3 bars on the 3GS, and 4 to 5 on the i4 lying on a table.
Click to expand...


i tried the 3gs and the iphone 4 in an at&t store and that was 1 mile away from the tower, both phones had 5 solid bars with no fluctuation until i held the iphone 4 in my hand and thats when the phone dropped 5 bars, the 3gs didnt lose 1 single bar when i hold it and cupped my palm around the bottom of it
 
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