Trying to make sense of this (twist on reception)

[bluush]

My iPhone4 goes from 5 to 1 bars when I touch the seam on the lower left hand side. No surprise there. However, what I've noticed is that when I bridge the lower left seam while on a call, even by the time it hits 1 bar reception is clear and there appears to be no degradation in call quality.

Now when it comes to web surfing, if I turn Wi-Fi off and force the phone to use 3G, then bridge the lower left seam, the signal dies instantly - and when I remove my finger the signal is instantly back.

So I get the bars to drop, but it seems to not affect call quality while severely affecting 3G internet browsing.

Is this the same with anyone else?

 

[Chimpware]

My iPhone4 goes from 5 to 1 bars when I touch the seam on the lower left hand side. No surprise there. However, what I've noticed is that when I bridge the lower left seam while on a call, even by the time it hits 1 bar reception is clear and there appears to be no degradation in call quality.

Now when it comes to web surfing, if I turn Wi-Fi off and force the phone to use 3G, then bridge the lower left seam, the signal dies instantly - and when I remove my finger the signal is instantly back.

So I get the bars to drop, but it seems to not affect call quality while severely affecting 3G internet browsing.

Is this the same with anyone else?

Two Things:

1. It is a digital signal so the call will not suffer quality degradation until right before failure typically.

2. The problem seems to be more severe depending on your location. In my testing I can find places where the signal only goes down to 2 bars and there is no issue with calls, but data speed is severely reduced, and I have tested in spots where I lost signal completely, and have experienced dropped calls while holding the phone left handed.

 

[bluush]

Yeah, I saw a video on youtube where as soon as the guy put the tip of his finger on the troublespot, the call seemed to halt.. whereas I had my entire palm covering that whole left side for at least three minutes and the call never cut out or seemed remotely in danger of being dropped.

However, the 3G signal while using Safari was instantaneously killed when I put just the very tip of my finger on the same spot.