Two New iPhones side-by-side — different reception bars??

[Kelped]

My family recently purchased 3 new iPhones so we can keep in touch through the new FaceTime feature (our first smartphones and we are very excited!)

Today I noticed that the reception bars on my mother's iPhone was 2 or 3 bars weaker than on my iPhone. I compared the phones in a few different areas of the house with the same results. In areas with good reception (e.g. outside) her phone displays full bars. Indoors she occasionally gets dropped calls.

Anyone know what's causing this? I hope her phone isn't defective. She also had a problem with her screen going black, which I've addressed in a different thread.

I'm wondering if she should exchange her phone before the problems get worse. Is it difficult returning iPhones through AT&T? Will they let her keep her current phone while her new phone is being shipped? Or would she have to go without a phone for however long it takes to ship a new iphone?

 

[-aggie-]

They don't ship a phone to you they take your phone and give you a refurb.

I wouldn't return a phone to AT&T. There were reports for previous models where they gave users used phones and not what are called refurbs Return it to an Apple store.

 

[chrispholt]

It may be due to them having different firmware, as apple released 4.0.1 to change the algorithms the signal bar uses.

So plug them into iTunes and if yours is 4.0.1 OR 4.0.2 and hers is 4.0.0..... That will be the reason.

If so, to "fix" it you just need to click update software... (unless she wants to jailbreak the phone )

 

[crawfish963]

I think you might be reading into it too much. Unless 1 phone has five bars and the other has 1, it's probably nothing too big.