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Like I said initially I have 2 3GS and 2 3G here and the ALL display the same properties.

3G good reception
3GS poor reception
 
Not as good on my 3GS either. My buddies tell me all the time..."your new phone sucks".
 
Try resetting your network settings.

Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings
 
I'm having reception problems on the 3GS too, since upgrading from a 2G, and I've noticed that when it's been out of range for a while, it doesn't pick up a signal when it's back in an area of good service (it's like it stops polling for a signal after a while). A reboot is usually needed to get it back online.

I left feedback on the Apple link - thanks for that.
 
I'm getting "No service" for a minute or so at a time quite frequently using the 3GS in all the same places I used the 3G. I never once got "No service" with the 3G so I'd say there's a problem.
 
I do get the Searching... thing up at the top of my phone every once in a while. But then again, I have bad reception to begin with at home. I find the signal to be good though.
 
3GS Signal reception not as good as iPhone 3G?

The reception is definitely worse on the 3GS vs 3G. We had two 3G phones and "upgraded" to 3GS and in both cases the quality of the reception went down. We live .75 mile from a tower and have always received 5 bars of 3G. Now, there are times when it will flip into EDGE - what's up with that? There appears to be something wrong with these phones - hopefully it can be fixed with a firmware upgrade.
 
I'm suddenly back to getting 5 bars at my beach house. Perhaps they had put the tower closest to me out of maintenance for a while? It was strange.
 
I will get my 3GS soon...this thread worries me..
The question is...is it HW or SW driven...if SW i would keep it...if HW i return it.
Have you seen this...Some say it is due to the antena location so it would be HW driven? Did the antena location changed from 3G to 3GS? Some say it is SW driven and others due to the netwrk provider...well...no one knows...hopefully it is SW and an update will fix the issue.

Don't mind the french just look at the video
http://iphone-apple.fr/2009/07/16/problemes-de-reception-avec-le-3gs/
 
I'm in the UK.
Mine 3GS signal is better then my 3G. I would get GPRS / no signal in some places i went where i live on my 3G. I've only seen GPRS a few times on my 3GS since launch day.
 
I was having all the reception problems described on my first 3gs. The phone cycled from full bars down to no signal. I went the apple store and they ran some tests, said my modem was resetting a lot (but was within normal range), but gave me a new phone. The problem is NOT present with my replacement. No more cycling or dropped calls.

As a bonus, the battery on the replacement is significantly better than my first phone.
 
3GS Reception Poor

I had iPhone 3G and the 3G reception was poor whilst I was at work in office. I can't remember which software update it was (I think it was 2.2.1), but after that it improved greatly and I had no problem with streaming radio. I figure that if I can stream radio uninterrupted for longer than 30 minutes, then that's a good benchmark of reception.

Now with my 3GS, sitting in exactly the same spot, the 3G reception is in and out frequently. I can barely stream radio for longer than 5 minutes before it cuts out, sometimes reception for data going all the way out to nothing before eventually returning back to 3G.

There are 2 other people with iPhone 3G in the office, and when we put all our phones together in the same place, they consistently get better 3G reception.

I think this is pretty good indication that there is something wrong with the 3GS reception. I will report it to Apple and see if they offer me a replacement phone.
 
I'm getting normal reception on my 32gb 3Gs iphone but since the update to 3.1 software, I no longer see the Edge symbol or the 3G symbol to the right of "AT&T" at the top left of the screen. They have been replaced by a symbol consisting of two arched lines above a dot. What does this mean :confused:
 
Someone run a speedtest with the app. Do EDGE and 3G on both phones in the same area. Make sure u set the same server.
 
I figured I would revive this one as my phone decides sometimes to go to the Edge network when my 2 coworkers 3G phones are still on the 3G network. I have to go to airport or whatever to get it to go back to 3G. But it will usually switch back. This only happens at my job, although twice now it has stayed on E even at my house where I have full 3G signal strength. A quick switch to airport and back and it was fine.

I got a new sim card, have restored not from back up and did network resets. Are people still finding the 3GS to have worse reception?
 
I figured I would revive this one as my phone decides sometimes to go to the Edge network when my 2 coworkers 3G phones are still on the 3G network. I have to go to airport or whatever to get it to go back to 3G. But it will usually switch back. This only happens at my job, although twice now it has stayed on E even at my house where I have full 3G signal strength. A quick switch to airport and back and it was fine.

I got a new sim card, have restored not from back up and did network resets. Are people still finding the 3GS to have worse reception?

Perhaps it's not worse reception but a downside to having a fast iPhone. The phone is soooo fast that it is able to immediately switch to EDGE when 3G is out of range, but with the iPhone 3G, it takes so long to SHOW that it's on EDGE that you've already passed the EDGE area and you're back in 3G so it doesn't bother changing the symbol.
 
Perhaps it's not worse reception but a downside to having a fast iPhone. The phone is soooo fast that it is able to immediately switch to EDGE when 3G is out of range, but with the iPhone 3G, it takes so long to SHOW that it's on EDGE that you've already passed the EDGE area and you're back in 3G so it doesn't bother changing the symbol.

They will both have 3-4 bars of 3G for long periods of time where I won't have any bars or will be on E. I am not sure though if you are messing with me or not either.:)
 
The reception on the 3GS is just awful full stop.

Not just on mine button just everybody I know who has the phone on o2.
 
Has anyone noticed if newer produced 3Gs still have the problem of worse reception than 3G phones?

My June 3Gs gets about 100 times worst signal than my 3G.
 
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