The folks at BGR got their hands on Apple’s internal iPhone 4 antenna troubleshooting procedures. This is what Apple representatives are supposed to follow when you call about your reception troubles. Of course, sometimes they even give the spiel word-by-word.
As I read these guidelines provided by BGR’s source, I realised they sounded familiar. Why? Because I heard points a, b, d and e recited word-for-word when I called AppleCare to ask about the iPhone 4 antenna issue recently.
Here are the guidelines the representative may have been following:
Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.
a. The iPhone 4′s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4′s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.
b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.
c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.
d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.
e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.
- Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.
- Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.
- ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.
- We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.
[BGR]
matt
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 9:28 AMlol at the pictures, I can imagine anyone ever holding it the ‘wrong’ way… like for video calls…
I also like how they try and trick users into thinking the problem is just as prevalent on other phones, including the 3GS. probably assuming not many people would be upgrading from the 3GS, they will hope people will go “oh, well, it must be just as bad on the 3GS, I’ve never had one and wouldn’t know, but I don’t remember it being a problem for anyone on the 3GS, and as the all mighty Apple are telling me its the same problem, I guess we just all be making a fuss over nothing.”
except obviously it IS a different/worse problem, because we didn’t have the whole internet bitching about it when the 3GS came out!
Pauly
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 9:37 AMI can confirm that holding the Nokia E71 around the bottom corners (same as the “wrong way” pic above) will lower the signal significantly or actually cause the call to drop out. Still not a great start for the iPhone 4 looks like I will be waiting a while longer before upgrading.
James
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 9:58 AM“We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.”
yeah, those $30 plastic bumpers that probably cost us 50c to manufacture. screw those apple fanboys for everything they got lol
- Steve Jobs
Lu
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 2:58 PMbasically they’ve designed a phone that will not work for left handers without buying an accessory.
Australian Consumer Affairs will have a field day with them.
As a lefty you can’t browse on safari without hitting that line. I don’t see how it’s possible without dropping the phone.
I will stick with my old white 3G and wait for them to sort themselves out, or switch to Android.
Krayzie
Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 6:36 AMThis has just stopped me from upgrading to iphone 4 on its aussie release, Apple is getting to cocky again and this is the attitude that kept them behind ibm and microsoft all those many years ago,
An online patition needs to be created and i think it should start here on Gizmodo.