Poor reception on 3GS.

[elie.fares]

It started a few days ago that my 3GS started getting bad reception. I thought it's because I'm in my hometown, which is in a more or less dead zone. But then, when I got back to my dorms, which is in a very strong reception area, I got like 2 signals max and often, the signal went off completely.
I tried to reset network settings, toggle airplane mode and 3G service, etc... but they didn't affect the signal.
I restored my phone yesterday but the problem persisted. It's less severe than before, where simply moving around the house meant huge fluctuations in my signal strength. Today, it simply fluctuates between 2 or 3 bars.

I tried my sim on my brother's iPhone and I got full reception on it, which means the problem is with the phone. I'm not sure if it's hardware since it wasn't like this prior to Saturday. Anyone has any ideas?

The problem with returning it to Apple is that I'm using the phone in Lebanon where Apple has no official stores yet. And the phone was sent to me as a gift from Australia. So returning it means I have to send it back there and I'm not sure if Apple would replace it. My aunt bought it around August but it took her some time to be able to send it over here.

 

[Raidel]

I know this sucks as a response, but have you tried calling Apple? They've been pretty damn helpful for me before.

 

[elie.fares]

^ I didn't do so yet because calling Apple involves international calls and I'm too late to call the Australian branch, which might help me. I've had a problem with my brother's iPhone activation in summer before and I called Apple (the US branch) and they kept me for 20 minutes on hold (which translates to lots of money in my phone bill) before saying they can't help me.

 

[iliramove]

Or you could try to reset your network settings and see if it fixes it? Note that you'll lose all the WiFi spots that you've saved and probably you'll need to rejoin those wireless networks again.

Hope this helps.