So, if the antenna is not the issue and the 3G seems to work well, then what the hell is going on with those who are complaining about it? Maybe it is a small number of iPhone owners that are having problems. What was it, 2%?

theMOE

uuuummmm right....updated to 2.0.2 (the 3G fixer firmware) last night. Sitting in the same spot (my desk). Can't even make a call now without moving closer to the window, where I use to be able to. Do I still need to comment on the data connection associated with this update? I'm thinking there just might be something wrong....call me crazy. I mean, I'm sure those swedish guys really do know what they are talking about....Oh, Did they mention their office is located Inside a cell tower?

mklpickle

Like I've said before, my iPhone 3G's reception works fine. It's actually a bit better than my old Tilt, which it replaced.

pastrychef

What makes them a valid source??? No matter what anyone's says my iPhone 3G still has issues. A scientist saying it doesn't have any problems doesn't fix my problem. Point Blank and Simple.

Derek Devine

@Buzzed: We don't condone human slavery here.

Seek your own path.

strider_mt2k

owned!

Buzzed

where are most of the complaints coming from? The United States or is it more global? maybe it's AT&T's network? I don't know, but I have to say their coverage map is a load of complete BS. i'm in the heart of 3G country, and all I get is EDGE.

and i'm still not touching 2.0.2 since my phone is working well. all i will say is that 3G and wifi are a bust. i can be right next to a wifi router and it still loads websites painfully slow. i can connect my Dell laptop to the same network and i get great speeds.

and 3G is probably even slower. it' no matter though, because in spite of logic, EDGE is blazing fast, and it doesn't matter if I'm in Philly or in East Nowhere, USA. I just never turn 3G on because it's proven to be worthless, and I only rarely need wifi on the go.

Anyone else have a similar (non) issue?

spuntyb

There is something like 1% of people saying they are having problems correct? And all of these people are in America? Perhaps it's the network?

My 3G works 100x better than the 2G did, especially in call droppage. New sites, like Gizmodo always tend to pick up the problem stories as they get more hits. Then it seems like huge amounts of people are having problems, but of course 1% of all the 3Gs sold is a pretty high number on it's own. But small relatively.

Anyways, did anyone really think they just sent out phones that were that bad? You think a company like Apple doesn't do extensive testing, especially on call reception and stability?

rochec

like that chamber moves around mimicking real cell phone use

rodsky

Problem is:
Not only in usa has problems with iPhone 3G
even in Europe has connection and dropped calls problems

And still when do people trust scientist?

TBM-Fan

@theMOE - I think the take-away from this is that the problem is not based on the antenna design/function/location/etc. That still leaves a few areas to examine, but it's one important thing (no antenna-based recall required) that can be scratched off the list.

huntred

No sh*t. It's AT&T. Their 3G blows. Sure it's fast when you actually have a solid connection.. but there is a lot of hiccups and dropped speeds.

DMF

Also, all 3 Iphones on 2.0.2.

mklpickle

I have 3 different ATT accounts. Three Different 3G phones (blackjack, Q9H, Iphone). Still sitting in my work place, both WM phones can call and surf 3G network with relative ease and speed. Iphone can barely make a call. I've switched sim cards to verify with same results. So, is it the device or the network? This is also repeatable in strong and weak locations.
Oh, also verified with 2 other 3G iphones. All 5 phones in the same location at the same time. All 3 iphones had bad reception. Other 2 did not.
What's are the chances that the 3 of us here all fall under the 2% defective phone issue?

mklpickle

So did they test only the 1 phone? Shouldn't there be some sort of larger sample size before coming to a conclusion?

12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich

If it's not the antenna.... it's got to be the crappy phone and software then?

aec007

Interference problems, perhaps? That might explain why it would work fine in the lab but not out in the real world.

robo

Great, maybe in EUROPE they're comparable, since the N73 doesn't have USA-compatible 3G. I call shenanigans on the test.

UofITom

"If" there's a problem?!

BritSwedeGuy

It's not AT&T. I live in Austin, TX and my phone behaves completely different than other 3G phones on the same network. If it were the network, both phones would have an issue.

It's not America only. apple.com's discussions, and howardforums.com's posts have complaints in almost every country that sells the iPhone 3G. Understand, most complaints are english-based, giving no public avenues for those that don't know English (or giving us English-only people no avenue to know about complaints in other countries).

Saying that the reception and transmission of the device is good is a good sign. It eliminates one potential hardware issue that would almost certainly require a recall. If the chip has an issue that isn't fixable via software update, then that's a problem.

Also, they tested one phone. If this is a manufacturing defect, not all phones would be effected. They might have tested a 'good' phone. I'd love to know the first 5 digits of the phone's serial number. It shows the factory it was made in, and the year and build week. Most original iPhones are build week 20-something.

dcdttu

Sure, it's very easy to blame the Deathstar, aka AT&T. However, I know plenty of people who have 3G phones on their network and don't have any problems. My Blackjack II has wonderful reception and doesn't even drop a call on a 20 mile drive in which I must switch cell towers more than a few times. The 3G network in my area is only 2 weeks older than the iPhone, and I have yet to see my phone switch to EDGE. By the looks of it, if the antenna's fine then something else is wrong with the Jesus Phone. I guess it's not the messiah afterall!

thnkwhatyouthnk

@mklpickle:

It really sounds like a hardware issue which may explain why Apple has been very quiet about this. Even with "software update" they've been quite mum about it.

yoshi

@aec007:

I agree. It's either a hardware or software issue. I am confident Apple working very hard to figure out what the issue is...

yoshi

@DMF:

It's not AT&T. Do you realize how many 3G phones have been on the market before the iBone?

Get a grip. Apple needs to fix the problem ASAP if their still is one.

AT&T doesn't manufacture the phones.

yoshi

The thinly vieled secret here is that up till now, no-one actually used 3g on most of these networks, their rollouts are wildy incomplete and their coverage sucks (I'm talking about you at&t, rogers etc).

joelja

@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich:

Exactly, what makes their claim valid.

Derek Devine

@TBM-Fan: "And still when do people trust scientist?"

Only uneducated or miseducated people are by default "distrustful" of scientists.

johnnyabnormal

@theMOE:

It's AT&T. They suck in NYC and us New Yorkers complain the loudest.

dea136

lol uh oh guess at&t can't claim it has the fastest 3g network anymore.

lilaliendog

I'm sure the biggest issue is the phone's 3G reception, and it's inability to hand-off to a 2G network successfully.

In Japan, they have no 3G network, so they are a great test-bed for 3G connectivity.

dcdttu

@dea136: I would assume AT&T before Apple being at fault. Who has a better track record of pleasing customers? Exactly. I hear you on the New Yorkers...especially at this time of the year when everything smells like garbage, urine and rancid milk in NYC.

johnnyabnormal

@spuntyb: Dude, web page rendering is a processor-intensive task. You're comparing speeds on a Dell with what, a Core 2 Duo to an iPhone with a 412MHz ARM? Why do you think people loved Netshare? A laptop will always render faster than an iPhone on the same connection!

dssstrkl

The 2% issue is bogus.

I personally think it will be fixed with a firmware upgrade and that some of the issues is that the "bar indicator" on the phone itself is not displaying the actual strength. I have used the newest MotoQ which has been my best 3G reception to date, side by side with my new 3G iPhone in a location that has always been problematic and while I find that the indicator shows more bars for the Moto than the iPhone, I lose connectivity much easier with the MotoQ. Despite there being NO bars, I am able to get connectivity in a location in the hospital where my MOTO Q never got anything.

Having said that, I also find unexplained losses of connectivity in places I never experienced in good locations. This plus the slow access on occasion to contact list, etc. makes me think there is a bug and a fix will come in a firmware fix.

There is no doubt that the number of bars showing signal strength for the iPhone is not accurate and seeing those low number of bars definitely has an affect on the psyche.

Priaptor

I smell a bandwagon syndrom, akin to the vistasux syndrome.

ITS ALL IN YOUR MINDS.

monkichi

Coolest phone on the planet, on the worst network on the planet... welcome to AT&T.

hagrun

Thanks Giz, this is useful info.

Doubters and fanboys, pls shut up. Plenty of us have explained in detail our problems, and the difficulty of getting any credible info from Apple or AT&T.

The 2% number is irrelevant. Here in SF everyone has crappy 3g performance.

dfl

According to a post on theiphoneblog.com, it might be the 3G driver:

"90% of the disconnects are initiated inside the phone, which would exonerate AT&T. Most of the disconnects are being generated by crashes in the driver code for the 3G chip, which comes from the chip vendor, not something Apple written and outside of Apple's direct control. Complicating this - even though Apple is handing over "here is the bug, here is the fix, update the driver", the turnaround from the vendor on driver updates is on the order of 2-3 months. "

jitterthug

It's the AT&T Network...come on guys.....put 2 & 2 together!

Whirl

I'd like to address the worthless dingleberries-for-brains morons that think they know more than a physicist.

This research is useful. Why? It's simple: we can now rule out the antenna. Apple did a fine and dandy job there. Other possible causes for iPhone issues are still on the table.

Are we clear?

DisposableInterloper

I don't know guys.. .I am with 3 Hong Kong, and I have no probs whatsoever. I did a test during a taxi ride from Kowloon city to Tsing Yi using the google maps pinpoint location finder. I had a moving pinpoint the whole way. That means it is keeping its 3G data signal over the entire 13 kilometer distance while traveling at 80-100 KPH. Also, I was in Japan last week and 3G works even better than in HK (although i racked up 250 USD in roaming charges)!
Either there are different 3g iphone versions in the US and asia, or there must be something going on with the network over there, because we dont have the same issues. Dropped calls... never had one, unless i was in an elevator or going though a tunnel.

dhart001

First, the problem is worldwide. Second, they test one iPhone? That's not enough, statistically. Finally, it doesn't rule out a software or chipset problem.

DanielPashosh

After the 2.0.2 update I still have the same connection/reception problems.

At times I could be in the middle on Union Sq here in NYC and still see my 3G connection perform poorly or not work at all.

I am at the point where I am really looking forward to an alternative like Android Then again, who knows what problems it will have when is release.

Really disappointed... especially when you are forking and extra $30 a month for a service your device is not using to its full potential.

arcadiabc