As we are trying our best to figure out the best Globe plan for us, we now hear and read about the 3G iphone reception issue from the 3G owners of the July 11 release.

An article on C/Net discusses this..

"After his third iPhone 3G continued to cut him off in the middle of his conversations, Ryan Shaw had seen enough.

"The phone was a disappointment from the standpoint that it couldn't maintain a consistent connection with the 3G network...All the other features were fantastic," said Shaw, a sales professional living in a Cleveland suburb. But those other features weren't enough to prevent him from returning to Verizon and the BlackBerry after deciding the hassle just wasn't worth it.

Widespread complaints about the iPhone 3G's reception (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9997583-37.html) have spread across the Internet in the month since Apple and AT&T released the successor to the original iPhone (http://news.cnet.com/iphone-3g-launch/). The companies insist that nothing is wrong, but the complaints have been mounting through e-mails, water-cooler discussions, and message boards on Apple's own Web site (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1632695&tstart=0): iPhone 3G users are having trouble connecting, and staying connected, to the 3G networks in their areas.

Users say the iPhone 3G will switch between 3G networks and EDGE networks even when the device is sitting still. They'll lose reception in the middle of a call while traveling through a 3G-rich environment. Friends with other 3G phones on AT&T's network are not reporting similar problems. And the issues don't appear to be confined to AT&T's network: iPhone 3G users in other countries (http://forums.mactalk.com.au/47/53900-merged-3g-iphone-reception-problems-worldwide.html) report similar problems with their new phones.

As you can imagine, this doesn't sit well with many who eagerly bought the iPhone 3G (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9990149-36.html) to take advantage of 3G networks, which Apple promises are "twice as fast" as the EDGE networks in its advertising material. "Frankly, if I knew it was going to be like this, I wouldn't have paid the extra $10 a month," said iPhone 3G owner David Howard of Provo, Utah.

Repeated attempts over the past week to get Apple and AT&T to even acknowledge the uproar--if not the issues specifically--proved pointless. Apple didn't even attempt to answer the questions, deferring inquiries to AT&T, which declared that there were absolutely no widespread problems with the iPhone 3G on its network.
"What we're seeing is that the iPhone 3G is performing very well," said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T. "I'm not denying that people are having problems. But we have to deal with these on a case-by-case basis."

It's always difficult to determine the scope of an issue posted on Internet message boards--whether or not a loud minority is blowing up a relatively minor problem into something more. But this time, lots of different people are crowding the Internet (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1640412&tstart=0) to vent their frustrations and search for answers to the reception issues, and they are finding a lot of sympathizers.

Without detailed testing, it's also difficult to say for sure what is causing the dropped calls or limited access to the network. Most likely, the cause of the problem is not solely an AT&T network issue nor is it an Apple device issue: It's a combination of both.

Read the rest of the article here: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10012420-37.html

the switch to plastic from aluminum is supposed to improve reception. could be a network problem. this wasn't an issue with the first gen iphone.

the switch to plastic from aluminum is supposed to improve reception. could be a network problem. this wasn't an issue with the first gen iphone.

I would venture to argue that it's a combination of several factors, not the least of which is the iPhone 3G's deficient radio stack (http://gizmodo.com/5036104/iphone-3gs-sluggish-3g-could-be-caused-by-lousy-chipset). The fourth paragraph of the article in the first post does mention that the issues aren't confined to AT&T's network.

hi,

the 2G-3G issue is not local to iPhone 3G only, i will try to find the article (computerworld is the mag i think) linking the problem to 3G handsets incapable of switching from 2G to 3G network and vice-versa immediately. I had this problem with my nokia and P1i units

hi,

the 2G-3G issue is not local to iPhone 3G only, i will try to find the article (computerworld is the mag i think) linking the problem to 3G handsets incapable of switching from 2G to 3G network and vice-versa immediately. I had this problem with my nokia and P1i units

It's true. All 3G-capable handsets experience signal fluctuations when moving between 2G and 3G networks. In the case of the iPhone, however, anecdotal evidence points to a hardware flaw that makes its weakness in holding a signal more pronounced.

Moreover, Sony Ericsson and Nokia handsets allow for a toggle option that grants the user the privilege to set network dependency to strictly GSM or strictly UMTS. In comparison, no such option exists for the iPhone. :)

^^ well that's the said fact, you can't turn off 3G hehe. with my Nokia or SE, i can do that.

3G coverage as i understand it varies depending on demand and available capacity. the radius actually expands and contracts...i know that sounds ridiculous but it's the best explanation I know that explains the intermittent 3G connection.

dropped call issue.

I jusr recently upgraded to 3.0 on my 2G (first generation) I keep having people tell me that they try to call me but they keep getting the "out of coverage" message. I know I'm not coz i carry a second phone and people call me there. I immediately check my iphone and i see that it is at full signal strength, but still people can't get through. Even more maddening is that some calls occaisionally can get through, and ALL sms gets through.

dropped call issue.

I jusr recently upgraded to 3.0 on my 2G (first generation) I keep having people tell me that they try to call me but they keep getting the "out of coverage" message. I know I'm not coz i carry a second phone and people call me there. I immediately check my iphone and i see that it is at full signal strength, but still people can't get through. Even more maddening is that some calls occaisionally can get through, and ALL sms gets through.

I have the EXACT same problem, my iPhone 3G can't be reached even though it shows good signal strength. I think it started after I upgraded to 3.0. Anyway, I had to send my iPhone to Globe for repair (home button was difficult to press), will see if the replacement unit will still exhibit the same "out of coverage" problem.

BTW, I deleted your duplicate messages in the other threads. Please do not post the same message in multiple threads.

dropped call issue.

I jusr recently upgraded to 3.0 on my 2G (first generation) I keep having people tell me that they try to call me but they keep getting the "out of coverage" message. I know I'm not coz i carry a second phone and people call me there. I immediately check my iphone and i see that it is at full signal strength, but still people can't get through. Even more maddening is that some calls occaisionally can get through, and ALL sms gets through.


i also have the same problem..were you able to fix this problem? thanks!