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Some Customers with iPhone 3G Connection Issues

I too have been having connection issues with my iPhone 3G when it is connected to the 3G network. Not only does the signal seem dismal when compared to that of my old iPhone but I often have call failures for extended periods of time and cannot receive or dial-out.

That being said, if I turn off 3G in settings I have no issues at all, and so now I usually keep 3G turned off if I am just at home, and will only turn it on if i am doing something that requires 3G speed like using Maps or extensive internet browsing.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but here's hoping that it can be resolved.

DaviCon said:
My 3G reception is spotty and inconsistent at best most places I go in Chicago (live in Lincoln Square, work in River North). I keep it on EDGE most of the time, and still don't seem to have good reception compared to friends with other AT&T phones. Bah
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Agreed, live in Wicker Park, same deal.
 
Hey link the two

Mobile me outages and issues
iphone 3g outages.

it's the iphone screwing up mobile me :p

Sorry, for the sarcasm, but the new iphone and Mobile me were launched the same day. and this is the most furoms on the same subject (my mobile me sucks, my iphone sucks) we have seen.....

Has anyone looked into the connection between the two as a cause? Probably shouldn't link the two problems together - but the number of posts, the number of days are starting to become a way to coincidental......
 
That being said, if I turn off 3G in settings I have no issues at all, and so now I usually keep 3G turned off if I am just at home, and will only turn it on if i am doing something that requires 3G speed like using Maps or extensive internet browsing.

I'm not sure what the problem is, but here's hoping that it can be resolved.
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I can't believe how many people are just resorting to turning 3g off and living with it. If a product is not working the way it should, why are you keeping it? If Apple was getting all these phones returned...maybe they would act a little more quickly.

I've had the 2g Iphone for a year now and think it's great overall...ok as a phone. I really want to upgrade to the 3G, but there is no way I'm going to until this problem is fixed. It's really unacceptable.
 
We also have to keep in mind that people generally post about their problems and not how they're so great. Especially with a device like the iPhone. People that get these phones, especially when they're first out, tend to be pretty technically savy and expect much of the device and will be very vocal when something goes wrong.

That said... I'm in Chicago and I'm also having reception issues. I've just switched to edge for the time being. I'm going to have my phone replaced (they didn't have any) in a few days and so hopefully my phone just had a short antenna or something.

But I definitely think this is an Apple issue. While AT&T's coverage is not nearly as good as let's say Verizon, the service can be so atrocious with the iPhone that I can't imagine how AT&T could get away with it if phones from any brand also had trouble connecting to the network.

I'm glad that this is starting to get more and more attention. Hopefully it will mean that Apple gets their **** together. It's obvious that they didn't quite think the whole launch day/mobileme thing through thoroughly with all the problems people were having activating and such. I think this is all an extension of the 3G iPhone being rushed to production too soon.
 
On Dutch forums a lot of people are complaining. Although T-Mobile doesn't have the best 3G network in the Netherlands. It certainly isn't bad. But the iPhone reception is making it worse. Compared to similar 3G phones from HTC and Nokia, the reception of the iPhone is really bad.

Let's hope Apple can fix this :(
 
Worst Service EVER!!!!

This iPhone/At&T is horrible. I've always had Cingular/AT&T and the receptions always been great. I get the iPhone and the reception goes from full bars in 3g to no bars/only like 2 with the 3g iPhone. I also thought that if the 3g reception was bad it drops down to EDGE by itself which it doesn't at all. I live in Elmhurst, Il which is like 20miles from Chicago and that's supposed to be covered by 3g. I get dropped calls everyday and sometimes when I make calls it goes straight to other peoples voice mail because it can't complete a call. I called my brother to test this out and we were outside and he was right next to me and he didn't even get the call. I turned off 3g and used EDGE and still he got no calls even though he had full bars on his Samsung.
 

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riversky said:
T-Mobile in Europe is reporting it is the device!

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10015661-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

If it was AT&T you would not have the large numbers in Europe/Canada/Australia with this issue as well!!!

Come on Apple step up and quit with the silence on this issue!
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From the site:
Again, it's unclear just how widespread the iPhone 3G reception problems are, but they are being reported all over the globe, and I've never received as much e-mail from Apple customers about a single product issue (even before asking for submissions) as I have over this one.


FINALLY SOME ONE HAS ACKNOWLEDGED WHAT I HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT FOR SO D*MN LONG.
The iPhone's 3G reception is seriously F*cked up and it needs to be improved ASAP. :mad:
 
I have absolutely no problems with my 3G coverage here in the UK on O2. I always have full reception and have never had a dropped call. I am in London though.

Battery life is pretty poor with 3G though, although I always keep of ok because EDGE is painfully slow.
 
pdxrealtor said:
I assume you've visited my site at www.fixmy3giphone.com?
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sure I did. and posted some comments. thanks for building this site, and for collecting the links!

they are pretty strict over there at apple. they have deleted a couple of angry comments, one of mine, and edited some of them ...

anyway, i hope apple fixes this soon - i honestly want to enjoy this phone asap.
 
I have AT&T and have been experiencing some weird reception problems (sometimes its full, and then 1 step later it's dropped to "No Service") with 3G. No dropped calls, but the reception/signal has been fluctuating.
 
Could it be that there's a bad batch of Infineon chips out there? Because it sounds like this is affecting a subset of users, not everyone...

Regardless, whether this is a hardware or software issue, I hope it gets cleared up soon.
 
Small White Car said:
I'm sure these complaints are all true, but I'm willing to bet they're the same percentage as any other cell phone.

It's just that people don't blog about their other phones. I know I never made a pos on the Internet about my old phone.
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You are way off bar here. The people reporting these problems are only having the problems with the 3G reception in their iPhone, which is not just an AT&T problem, but also an Apple problem. Many of these people have tried other 3G phones to compare to the iPhone, and do not have the same issues in the EXACT same spots where they had issues with their iPhones.
 
Antenna Too Short

DPinTX mention on this thread that an Apple Tech told him some of the phones' 3G antenna's were too short. They swapped his phone out for a new one and that solved his problem. I was wondering where I'd heard this before: Ding! David Pogue's criticism of the GPS function. He said someone at Apple told him the directions wouldn't work well because the antenna was too short. Many people thought that didn't make sense - unless they were actually talking about the 3G antenna - which is how the google maps would load. I wonder if Pogue thought he meant the GPS antenna when in fact he meant the 3G antenna??
 
My first 8GB iPhone 3G dropped every single call after about 25 seconds on the 3G network.. edge was fine. I returned it during the 14 day period after a Genius played with it and had the same results. Decided to upgrade to the 16 GB version at that time, and have had better results, but I still drop at least 1 call every day. My girlfriend's 8GB 3G drops calls pretty frequently also. Quite annoying.
 
Wow on these posts. For once I am glad to be locked in with Sprint?

But seriously... the only thing I hate about Apple is Mobile Me and now it looks like I am glad to NOT? :confused: have an iphone :confused:

Other than this iphone and mobile me debacle. I can honestly say I love my macs, and my 5 yr old classic ipod 15 gb, along with my wife's 3 yr old nano (even if it does not play video).
 
8CoreWhore said:
DPinTX mention on this thread that an Apple Tech told him some of the phones' 3G antenna's were too short. They swapped his phone out for a new one and that solved his problem. I was wondering where I'd heard this before: Ding! David Pogue's criticism of the GPS function. He said someone at Apple told him the directions wouldn't work well because the antenna was too short. Many people thought that didn't make sense - unless they were actually talking about the 3G antenna - which is how the google maps would load. I wonder if Pogue thought he meant the GPS antenna when in fact he meant the 3G antenna??
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That would make perfect sense....You would get map packet drops with a bad 3G signal in data mode that would screw up the GPS function. Not the GPS triangulation but parsing it with the google maps data.

Brilliant in putting that together!
 
focus on facts

people, please ignore the rubbish here. The 3g iPhone is flawed. I live in central London, and the 3g reception is disastrous. ANYONE can do this simple test to prove the issue. Get another 3g phone on the same network, wherever you are. Place it side by side with the iPhone. Look at the signal indicator. When the iPhone shows 1 bar or nothing the other phone will show a much stronger signal. For example, here at home in north London, on o2, my new iPhone shows 1 bar and most calls go straight to voicemail. A nokia n95 with the SAME sim card inserted (to rule that out) the n95 shows a full signal and makes and receives calls perfectly. Try it. This is an objective, unarguable test.

The iphone is flawed and Apple should be ashamed at pretending it is not. I am a huge fan, loved the original iPhone, and I just want this one to work properly.

Apple - own up and sort it out.
 
riversky said:
True that it might be the AT&T network in the US.

The only problem with that theory is there are a number of people in Canada, and Europe having the same issues. Those areas are not AT&T. That would point to the iPhone hardware itself.

Wait until a class action suit happens and then Apple will respond.
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It's GSM - it's not as good in fringe areas (which include inside buildings) as CDMA. That's one of the primary reasons why Verizon's network is consistently ranked as the most reliable.

And AT&T is one of the worst GSM based providers - they turned off the entire network where I live over a weekend in order to 'upgrade it' without prior notice to customers. A few months later, WNP (wireless number portability) came along, and poof - I dumped AT&T for Verizon. Never had a network problem since.

Not that Verizon doesn't suck too - but at least their network works well enough to call and complain! :D
 
mkwilson68 said:
people, please ignore the rubbish here. The 3g iPhone is flawed. I live in central London, and the 3g reception is disastrous. ANYONE can do this simple test to prove the issue. Get another 3g phone on the same network, wherever you are. Place it side by side with the iPhone. Look at the signal indicator. When the iPhone shows 1 bar or nothing the other phone will show a much stronger signal. For example, here at home in north London, on o2, my new iPhone shows 1 bar and most calls go straight to voicemail. A nokia n95 with the SAME sim card inserted (to rule that out) the n95 shows a full signal and makes and receives calls perfectly. Try it. This is an objective, unarguable test.

The iphone is flawed and Apple should be ashamed at pretending it is not. I am a huge fan, loved the original iPhone, and I just want this one to work properly.

Apple - own up and sort it out.
Click to expand...

Except that 'bars' is not an objective test. The bars aren't an indicator of signal strength, rather they show a signal to noise ratio, and the particular calculation can differ from brand to brand and phone to phone.

Your idea of calling both phones while they're next to each other is valid - that's the real-world validation. I suspect that the iPhone is more susceptible to noise (or even may generate it's own because it's not just a phone) than other models.

The best phones in the world are just phones (no other functions) with external antennas. If you want a merged device, you'll have to deal with a sub-optimal phone (and a dead battery when you get off a plane after watching movies on the flight).
 
I smell a class action law suit coming on!

I have the same issues here with reception, LA area, covina, west covina. I have been in touch with at&t over email and they admit there are some bad areas they are not willing to even lower the service fee. How can you have a product and know it is not ready and yet they still charge full price. I know there will be a class action law suit against at&t very soon if this does not get better fast.
 
fewer bars on 3G

ok, so a bunch of people have mentioned this..

i also have fewer bars on my 3G than on the original..
but it seems to me that the 3G is just more... honest about the service.

for example i get very poor service at work, but my old iphone would show 4-5 bars. yet, i couldn't talk on it successfully. the 3G shows me 0-1 bars and well, that is about what the service is..

so is it really worse, or just more honest with us? :)
 
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