Is my iPhone broken?

[stephenmeade]

Over the last 3 months it seems my phone's reception has been getting worse and worse. It's now at the point where about 50% of calls over 5 minutes will be dropped at some point. It does it in a very funny way, though....

I'll have 4-5 bars of service and perfect call quality. All of the sudden the signal will drop to 0 or 1 bars and the call will drop. Then maybe 10-30 seconds later it will be back to 4-5 bars and I can call the person back.

It seems to do this either at my house or out and about so I don't think it's a bad cell tower around my house. I have an early-build phone (bought the first weekend) and my reception is not that great (it would drop calls in "rough spots" where my previous Siemens phone (also on AT&T) would not. But now it seems to drop calls all the time, when I'm not moving.

Is my iPhone broken or has AT&T just gotten that bad? BTW, I'm in Southern California in Orange County. Also I'm 1.1.4 and not jailbroken.

 

[EricNau]

That sounds more like a cellular network problem rather than a problem with your phone. Sounds like it could be interference or bad handoffs. At your house does it happen with any pattern (like when the microwave or other RF device is on) or when you're out and about does it happen in the same locations? ...Just a thought.

 

[dsl4c]

do you have a metal roof on your place, metal roofs can decrease reception.

 

[stephenmeade]

Thanks for the quick replies. It happens everywhere (and not just known rough spots). My house in a flat area, has a standard shingle roof, and is only 1 story high. The walls are also largely glass. No interference from other devices. My home is in a largely residential area so no industrial interference nearby.

 

[Shilling]

i was having the same problem with my iphone. it was very temperamental. i took it into at&t and they told me to reset it which of course didn't work. i decided to get a cell phone booster and it has worked great. the prices range but the one i got was only 170. its the smaller version but it is perfect for my home office. i did a lot of research on the boosters and the one i chose and the one that had the most and best review is the wi-ex zboost. they offer them at a ton of etail stores. if you're interested: http://www.wi-ex.com

i figure after dropping as much money as we did on this phone whats a few more dollars to actually make it work?