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Definitely better 3G reception on the iPad vs iPhone

A

AppleFan360

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jan 26, 2008
2,217
735
I work in a very large building which has several AT&T dead spots. The signal on my iPhone is either very low or non-existant.

Today I got a chance to walk around the building with the 3G iPad and most of the spots with low signal on the iPhone are now 2 bars stronger on the iPad. Most spots with no signal now have at least 1 bar.

I realize this is an informal test but I've been in this building with an iPhone for 2 years and never have I seen any device work this well.

Bravo Apple.
 
There are many factors that may make this true, but one that is glaring right in front of you is the size of that black strip at the top of the iPad. This is for the 3G antenna. Note the size of it versus the size of the same antenna on an iPhone 3GS.

Size does matter. :)
 
I agree with the 3G reception, I work in a building with bad 3G reception for my iPhone, but the signal is MUCH better received on my ipad.. I would say considerably better too. I'm loving this thing....
 
Significant Improvement in SF Office

I've had an iPhone 3G since day one (stood in line 10 hours) and since then I've never been able to make a call from my desk at the office in San Francisco (about 2 blocks from CNET's building). I usually see a bar or less of 3G and often Edge. Even when I have a signal I couldn't connect to the network.

Today, I brought my iPad to the oohs and aahs of my co-workers and had 5 Bars of 3G at my desk and almost everywhere in the floor. About lunch time from about Noon to 2PM, I was back to having no service (which is not unusual in San Francisco). But after 2PM it was back to 5 bars of 3G. In the same location, my iPhone 3G was showing 1/2 to 1 bar of 3G and went to Edge at least once. Of course, it had no service at the same time as my iPad 3G.

I think the larger form factor allows the antenna more space to do it's job. Plus the black plastic strip on the iPad 3G may be more efficient at letting the radiation through.

I have noticed however a few of the Apps only work if they detect a Wi-Fi signal. One called Auto Show which accesses wikipedia pages dealing with different car models refused to access even though I had 5 bars of 3G.

My WeatherBug app however did use 3G to update the weather data.
 
I had them side by side the other day in a location i can't even talk on the iPhone 3G with, and the iPad 3G had 2 bars more than the iPhone.
 
I don't have an iPhone. However, the 3g feels faster and more stable to me than the 3g on my T-Mobile Nexus One. Take with a grain of salt as I've only used the 3g a few times for testing and always in Fairfax County, VA.
 
3Pedals6Speeds said:
I had them side by side the other day in a location i can't even talk on the iPhone 3G with, and the iPad 3G had 2 bars more than the iPhone.
Click to expand...

I had the same experience. The iPad gets much better recetion most likely due to the fact that the whole frame of the LCD screen is an antenna.
 
I was in class today, which I never had any service before with iPhone 3GS. It was a total dead spot and today I had 3 bars with iPad 3G.I could finally jump on the web in class!
 
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