Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

So glad I got the 3G iPad, much stronger antenna than my iPhone

A

aneftp

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jul 28, 2007
4,379
574
So my wife is going to be induced for labor today. I am in the medical field myself so I know this is going to be a long day for me.

Anyways I know The hospital was free wifi. And I already have mywi on my iPhone 3GS.

So I get to the hospital log onto the free wifi. It's ok, but they obviously reduced the free wifi speeds down to about 300kpbs. Kinda of frustating to stream netflix movies with that speed but ok for basic webpage viewing.

So I look at my iPhone 3GS and I only get "searching" or 1-2 bars and it goes in and out so I can't use mywi very well on the iPhone.

I look at my iPad and it's got 4 bars. I signed up for unlimited data last week on the iPad 3G. So glad I did this. Nothing beats the iPad 3G cellular connection. Its got such a strong signal compared to other cellular devices I am getting 2mb/s data transfer speeds. So I am good to go for the next 10-12 hours.

So for those who are on the fence about 3G vs wifi. You can never go wrong with the 3G cause you can always have that option. So if you can afford the extra money apple charges for the 3G and know you may use it in the future, do hesitate to get the 3G.

I travel a lot for business anyways so the 3G was the best option for me since I stay at a lot of hotels and I know they throttle their wifi speeds to lower speed levels to discourage high multimedia bandwidth use.
 
Yeah -I've found that too - and better than my trusty Blackberry too which was always better than my iPhone.
 
The battery and signal on my ipad 3g blow away my iphone.
I'm hoping next week when i upgrade to the iphone 4, the signal and the battery life of the ipad roll into that :)
 
Dlanod said:
Yeah -I've found that too - and better than my trusty Blackberry too which was always better than my iPhone.
Click to expand...

I live in Canada and I am finding the opposite on the Rogers network. I can get full bars on my Blackberry Bold in places where my iPad (also Rogers) wont even pick up the network. I don't know if my iPad is a dud or what...

The iPad can pick up the Rogers 3G network, but I find that the receptions zones seem to be alot less than my BB... :confused:
 
nodootabooteet said:
I live in Canada and I am finding the opposite on the Rogers network. I can get full bars on my Blackberry Bold in places where my iPad (also Rogers) wont even pick up the network. I don't know if my iPad is a dud or what...

The iPad can pick up the Rogers 3G network, but I find that the receptions zones seem to be alot less than my BB... :confused:
Click to expand...


I think it might be a dud, I have an iphone, ipad and blackberry on the same network and the iPad kicks the ass of all of them for signal.. Where I can't get 3G on the iphone and am stuck on 2g, the pad will still have 4-5 bars of 3G..

I'm actually starting to think my iphone is a dud now seeing this thing perform for 3G signal..
 
Yea, same story here...places where my 3GS has "Searching..." or is on EDGE...the iPad has 2-3 bars every time. It's great because it means there is hope for the iPhone as well...it's not ATT that sucks as many blame, it's the iPhone's reception. Hopefully iPhone 4 will act more like the 3G iPad.
 
This was the first thing I noticed when I go my 3G iPad. I'm getting reception in areas where I my iPhone struggled. Love it!
 
I thought it was just me! I normally get NO 3G reception in my house, on my iPhone. Not because of AT&T's service, but because I live at the bottom of a steep hill and you usually have to walk past the hill to begin to pick up bars.

But I can be inside my house and get 2-3 3G bars regularly! I thought it was a fluke at first but it's consistent!!!

Why is this? Is the 3G antenna a new kind? :p
 
I talked to Apple today about my lack of 3G connection and they suggested that I 'Restore' my iPad (even though it had these issues right out of the box). I will be trying that today and let you guys know if the problem is resolved.

If this does not work, it sound like they are going to just swap me with a new on in an Apple store. I hope the software restore works...
 
Yeah hopefully the new iPhone 4 "stainless steel" construction side panels that contains supposedly I strong cell antenna will improve the phones reception so it's similar to the iPad.
 
I used to be on the boat of just thethering my jailbroken iphone 3gs to my wifi ipad and be happy with the $30 a month savings.

If I had to do it all over again, I would of bought a 3G iPad instead. Pretty much for all the reason just listed in this thread.

I'm also really beginning to think it was more of an iPhone issue this whole time when I receive a drop call rather than a AT&T issue.
 
Did a full restore on the iPad and it did not help. I guess this means I will be returning it. There is no reason why it should not be getting better reception or equal to other devices using the same network. :(
 
aneftp said:
So my wife is going to be induced for labor today. I am in the medical field myself so I know this is going to be a long day for me.

Anyways I know The hospital was free wifi. And I already have mywi on my iPhone 3GS.

So I get to the hospital log onto the free wifi. It's ok, but they obviously reduced the free wifi speeds down to about 300kpbs. Kinda of frustating to stream netflix movies with that speed but ok for basic webpage viewing.

So I look at my iPhone 3GS and I only get "searching" or 1-2 bars and it goes in and out so I can't use mywi very well on the iPhone.

I look at my iPad and it's got 4 bars. I signed up for unlimited data last week on the iPad 3G. So glad I did this. Nothing beats the iPad 3G cellular connection. Its got such a strong signal compared to other cellular devices I am getting 2mb/s data transfer speeds. So I am good to go for the next 10-12 hours.

So for those who are on the fence about 3G vs wifi. You can never go wrong with the 3G cause you can always have that option. So if you can afford the extra money apple charges for the 3G and know you may use it in the future, do hesitate to get the 3G.

I travel a lot for business anyways so the 3G was the best option for me since I stay at a lot of hotels and I know they throttle their wifi speeds to lower speed levels to discourage high multimedia bandwidth use.
Click to expand...

Agree with all your points there.... I am able to pick up wifi points on the iPad that my iPhone 1G doesn't. So happy that I did an upgrade to the iPad 3G 64GB model over the iPad 32GB one... unlimited rocks!
 
I have also noted that the 3G and wifi signal is much better on the iPad then the iPhone 3GS. At first I did not think I would activate the 3G very often but after 1 month, I find that I use the 3G all the time. In fact many time the 3G is faster then the wifi where I am at. I also like knowing that I can pull out my iPad wherever I am out and start surfing without worrying about looking for a wifi hotspot.
 
aneftp said:
So my wife is going to be induced for labor today. I am in the medical field myself so I know this is going to be a long day for me.
So I get to the hospital log onto the free wifi. It's ok, but they obviously reduced the free wifi speeds down to about 300kpbs. Kinda of frustating to stream netflix movies with that speed but ok for basic webpage viewing.
So I am good to go for the next 10-12 hours.
Click to expand...

Wow, no one commented on the fact this guys wife is going into labor, and all he talks about is the HIS long day, and his frustration with netflix...and wifi, but he's good to go for the next 10-12 hours!

probably didn't mean it this way, maybe just needs to be distracted but it comes off kinda odd to me.
hope the baby and Mom are well.
 
So I went to the apple store today and had them replace my iPad 3G. Problem solved. 3G coverage works great in all the areas that it would not work before. NOW the only problem that I have is that the iPod player in the iPad will not work. I got to load stand it just crashes.

I restored my iPad from a backup version of my previous one. I guess I will try to restore it as a new iPad and hope that I can transfer my apps to it one by one or something. Will let you guys know what happens... :)
 
gigaguy said:
Wow, no one commented on the fact this guys wife is going into labor, and all he talks about is the HIS long day, and his frustration with netflix...and wifi, but he's good to go for the next 10-12 hours!

probably didn't mean it this way, maybe just needs to be distracted but it comes off kinda odd to me.
hope the baby and Mom are well.
Click to expand...

Wasn't going to go there LOL
 
Found a thread online that discussed the iPad iPod crashing. Turns out you can just open the video app, go back to main screen and try the iPod app again and it will stop crashing... Worked.
 
It's incredible the amount of flack AT&T receive over signal issues yet it looks to be partly Apple's fault too by giving the iPhone a pretty crap aerial. I can vouch for that too since my partner's Nokia could get a full 3G signal on O2 at home where my iPhone 3GS got GPRS at best.

I guess Apple realised they need to step up their game as far as signal quality is concerned, and I really hope the iPhone 4 has this vastly improved!
 
gigaguy said:
Wow, no one commented on the fact this guys wife is going into labor, and all he talks about is the HIS long day, and his frustration with netflix...and wifi, but he's good to go for the next 10-12 hours!

probably didn't mean it this way, maybe just needs to be distracted but it comes off kinda odd to me.
hope the baby and Mom are well.
Click to expand...

OP here.

Update: My wife ended up having a c section late Friday night. Big baby boy. 8 pounds 4 ounces. Healthy. There was no way she was getting that baby out. Both mommy and baby are doing well. They are expected to be discharged sometime tomorrow.

Yeah my wife was the one who encouraged me to take the iPad to the hospital along with our new Canon T2i and our iPad camera connection kit. Only one problem....the ipad camera connection kit was dealyed and was in the middle of shipping from China and arrives on Tuesday June 15th.

But she did get annoyed I was playing with iPad was she was in pain with the contractions. So I haven't used the iPad until today.
 
gigaguy said:
Wow, no one commented on the fact this guys wife is going into labor, and all he talks about is the HIS long day, and his frustration with netflix...and wifi, but he's good to go for the next 10-12 hours!

probably didn't mean it this way, maybe just needs to be distracted but it comes off kinda odd to me.
hope the baby and Mom are well.
Click to expand...

OP here.

Update: My wife ended up having a c section late Friday night. Big baby boy. 8 pounds 4 ounces. Healthy. There was no way she was getting that baby out. Both mommy and baby are doing well. They are expected to be discharged sometime tomorrow.

Yeah my wife was the one who encouraged me to take the iPad to the hospital along with our new Canon T2i and our iPad camera connection kit. Only one problem....the ipad camera connection kit was dealyed and was in the middle of shipping from China and arrives on Tuesday June 15th.

But she did get annoyed I was playing with iPad was she was in pain with the contractions. So I haven't used the iPad until today.
 
aneftp said:
OP here.

Update: My wife ended up having a c section late Friday night. Big baby boy. 8 pounds 4 ounces. Healthy. There was no way she was getting that baby out. Both mommy and baby are doing well. They are expected to be discharged sometime tomorrow.

Yeah my wife was the one who encouraged me to take the iPad to the hospital along with our new Canon T2i and our iPad camera connection kit. Only one problem....the ipad camera connection kit was dealyed and was in the middle of shipping from China and arrives on Tuesday June 15th.

But she did get annoyed I was playing with iPad was she was in pain with the contractions. So I haven't used the iPad until today.
Click to expand...

Congrats!

Never been thru a birth here... but spent plenty of time in hospitals with others just waiting... so I know it was tough for you both...
 
To the OP: Congratulations on the birth of your son! This is great news. I'm a Dad too (with 3 kids), and having kids is the best thing that ever happened to me. Congratulations to you!

[Thank you for the information about the iPad 3G signal strengths. I ordered my iPad a couple weeks ago and am looking forward to receiving it soon.]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back