After exchanging my iPhone for a white box unit that had 2.00 on it and observing its behavior before upgrading to 2.02 and then observing 2.02 behavior after the upgrade I think I understand what was done and what is happening.
First, they did not boost signal gain, this may not be possible, I don't know. However, with a weak 3G signal (1 or 2 bars) it will aggressively switch to EDGE. EDGE behavior appears worse than under 2.0 as before when I switched to EDGE manually be turning off 3G I would get 5 bars now I get 3. The result can be seen in the unit switching back and forth between EDGE and 3G as it tries to decide which signal is the better one to use. Under 2.0 it would try to hold on to 3G for as long as it could and then reluctantly shift to EDGE while dropping the call. Of course it still drops calls even with the faster shifting.
The fundamental problem is one of signal gain and since this may be a hardware issue it may be a while before we see a solution to this problem. As others have noted, there are other AT&T handsets that show a much stronger 3G signal in the same location than does the iPhone.
The problem with the aggressive changing as performed in 2.01 is that it effects data in a very bad way leading to inconsistent and generally poor data performance. The switching appears to be based on the difference between signal strength always trying for the stronger signal rather than sticking with the higher speed 3G if possible. This would explain the behavior people are seeing even in good 3G signal areas that I would assume also have good EDGE performance.
Frankly, I find this type of fix to be deceptive in that it tries to mask or hide the inherent problem of poor signal acquisition and gain in 3G by constantly switching it to EDGE and back.
What do others of you think?
First, they did not boost signal gain, this may not be possible, I don't know. However, with a weak 3G signal (1 or 2 bars) it will aggressively switch to EDGE. EDGE behavior appears worse than under 2.0 as before when I switched to EDGE manually be turning off 3G I would get 5 bars now I get 3. The result can be seen in the unit switching back and forth between EDGE and 3G as it tries to decide which signal is the better one to use. Under 2.0 it would try to hold on to 3G for as long as it could and then reluctantly shift to EDGE while dropping the call. Of course it still drops calls even with the faster shifting.
The fundamental problem is one of signal gain and since this may be a hardware issue it may be a while before we see a solution to this problem. As others have noted, there are other AT&T handsets that show a much stronger 3G signal in the same location than does the iPhone.
The problem with the aggressive changing as performed in 2.01 is that it effects data in a very bad way leading to inconsistent and generally poor data performance. The switching appears to be based on the difference between signal strength always trying for the stronger signal rather than sticking with the higher speed 3G if possible. This would explain the behavior people are seeing even in good 3G signal areas that I would assume also have good EDGE performance.
Frankly, I find this type of fix to be deceptive in that it tries to mask or hide the inherent problem of poor signal acquisition and gain in 3G by constantly switching it to EDGE and back.
What do others of you think?