This is odd

[Tulsa]

I still have my 3GS phone but have a 32 and a 16 iPhone 4 on order for myself and my wife. Ever since the update to 4.0.1 fixed the bars issue I've consistently averaged about 1 bar at my home. Kind of sucks to be sure.

Anyway, tried to make a call today when I had 5 bars and nothing, nada, zilch, zippo, wouldn't connect. It really torqued me out and I was thinking on my way home, "screw this, I'm going droid".

Reality stuck when I got home and read the droid forum and found those folks having as many difficulties as iPhone users. So, my opinion swung back again to the iPhone 4.

Now to the odd part of this. Suddenly and without warning I had 3, then 4 and WOW 5 bars at my house. Amazing, maybe all that complaining through "mark this spot" was paying off. Oh wait, I have 5 bars but there's this ugly little "E" showing, no 3G!

After about an hour or so of enjoying seeing 5 bars even if that ugly "E" is there, my 3G came back! Woohoo!

Wait, my bars dropped again, accordingly. I now have two bars showing.

So what's the deal here? If I want good reception I lose my 3G? If I want 3G I lose my bars? What the devil is going on here?

 

[XJ13sd]

OCD much.

 

[maddux2005]

It's all depending on where you live. You could be in a poor 3G area. So you'll only get a bar or two. But Edge might be 5. Either way, assuming you have wifi at home, I'd just use that. It's faster anyways. And it saves alot of battery life.

Though even with 1 bar, that should be plenty enough to make calls and do data. Least in my own personal experience it has been.

 

[Tulsa]

OCD much.

Remember to eat your Wheaties, you can still grow up to be big and strong.

It's all depending on where you live. You could be in a poor 3G area. So you'll only get a bar or two. But Edge might be 5. Either way, assuming you have wifi at home, I'd just use that. It's faster anyways. And it saves alot of battery life.

Though even with 1 bar, that should be plenty enough to make calls and do data. Least in my own personal experience it has been.

Thank you for bothering to make an intelligent reply. 3G is my area has always been fairly decent, it's been the phone reception that has been a bit iffy and frustrating. Seeing the Edge pop up is something that never really happens at my home.

I was glad to see the reception get better but I'm not sure at the cost of the 3G...

 

[maddux2005]

Remember to eat your Wheaties, you can still grow up to be big and strong.



Thank you for bothering to make an intelligent reply. 3G is my area has always been fairly decent, it's been the phone reception that has been a bit iffy and frustrating. Seeing the Edge pop up is something that never really happens at my home.

I was glad to see the reception get better but I'm not sure at the cost of the 3G...

Do you have wifi in your house? I dont live in a 3G area unfortunately, but I use wifi since Edge is almost too painfully slow to browse on. Maybe they are working on your cell towers possibly?

I would imagine the edge/3g thing would/should happen with any phone in your area.

 

[ToroidalZeus]

So what's the deal here? If I want good reception I lose my 3G? If I want 3G I lose my bars? What the devil is going on here?

I've noticed that as well, sometimes you'll have crap 3G service but great Edge.

 

[maddux2005]

I've noticed that as well, sometimes you'll have crap 3G service but great Edge.

yep it happens, thats more of an at&t problem unfortunately. But were supposed to have 3g in my area by october. AT&T is working hard though, its the amount of data traffic they get that is hard to overcome. what like 40 million iphone owners? not to mention all the other smartphones.

Its the busiest data network in the country. But it will improve, over time. Any network would be crippled if they had all the iphone owners on it.

with that said, Im a happy customer of AT&T and can make calls just fine in my area without drops. So I can live with Edge in my area for now, especially since I can use wifi.

 

[Tulsa]

Do you have wifi in your house? I dont live in a 3G area unfortunately, but I use wifi since Edge is almost too painfully slow to browse on. Maybe they are working on your cell towers possibly?

I would imagine the edge/3g thing would/should happen with any phone in your area.

I was wondering the same thing, if they were working on their towers here? I do have wifi at my home and flip it on if I'm using the phone for something other than making a call. Since I've had numerous voice mails that just suddenly pop up on my phone, without the benefit of it ringing when the actual call came in I was hoping they were fixing the reception issues around here. I love everything about this phone except it's reliability as an actual phone.

When you're getting ready to drop $500 on two phones and commit to 2 years of payments to them, reliability issues does give one pause...

I have no experience with Verizon and no clue if they are any better, my wife's current phone on Sprint is horrible, thankfully her contract is up.

 

[maddux2005]

I was wondering the same thing, if they were working on their towers here? I do have wifi at my home and flip it on if I'm using the phone for something other than making a call. Since I've had numerous voice mails that just suddenly pop up on my phone, without the benefit of it ringing when the actual call came in I was hoping they were fixing the reception issues around here. I love everything about this phone except it's reliability as an actual phone.

When you're getting ready to drop $500 on two phones and commit to 2 years of payments to them, reliability issues does give one pause...

I have no experience with Verizon and no clue if they are any better, my wife's current phone on Sprint is horrible, thankfully her contract is up.

my company phone was verizon for a period, it was terrible....but again it depends on location. I always keep wifi on, never turn it off. But the issues your describing like voicemails popping up late etc sounds AT&T related and not iphone related.

Its very possible they are working on your towers. I think there was a website to check. May have been att.com/towers or something like that.

 

[Tulsa]

my company phone was verizon for a period, it was terrible....but again it depends on location. I always keep wifi on, never turn it off. But the issues your describing like voicemails popping up late etc sounds AT&T related and not iphone related.

Its very possible they are working on your towers. I think there was a website to check. May have been att.com/towers or something like that.

I don't kid myself in thinking there is anything wrong with the phone. I'm also not concerned with the issues I've read, here and elsewhere about the "death grip" and such. The iPhone is the best out there in my opinion. Since it's tied directly to AT&T though and there are no other current options, AT&T issues are iPhone issues. I can't see any other way to see that one.

 

[101AirAssault]

Pretty simple... You live in a crap 3G area so low 3G bars. The phone changes to edge which is strong = more bars. Doesn't really seem like rocket science but when your at home, turn off 3G and your problem of getting voice "popping up" will end. You say you have wifi at the house so what's the point of keeping 3G on if it isn't getting good reception?

When you're getting ready to drop $500 on two phones and commit to 2 years of payments to them, reliability issues does give one pause...

This statement sounds like you're complaining about reception issues on a phone you don't even own.

 

[Tulsa]

Pretty simple... You live in a crap 3G area so low 3G bars. The phone changes to edge which is strong = more bars. Doesn't really seem like rocket science but when your at home, turn off 3G and your problem of getting voice "popping up" will end. You say you have wifi at the house so what's the point of keeping 3G on if it isn't getting good reception?

Maybe I'm just a bit confused here but isn't 3G the data and has nothing to do with the bars of reception?

 

[maddux2005]

I don't kid myself in thinking there is anything wrong with the phone. I'm also not concerned with the issues I've read, here and elsewhere about the "death grip" and such. The iPhone is the best out there in my opinion. Since it's tied directly to AT&T though and there are no other current options, AT&T issues are iPhone issues. I can't see any other way to see that one.

your right, they are one in the same. But what I would do is just use wifi and turn 3g off for a while, see how that goes. You will also have alot more battery life and your reception should be better. (since your 3g area is just "poor" or "decent")

and no, 3g does effect reception. The only time your phone will even go to Edge is if the 3g quality is none.

But like I said, its very possible they are working on the towers and such, best thing I know to tell ya is use wifi at home and see how your calls/voicemail do. I would turn 3g completely off in the settings if it were me, because your phone may switch to 3g with 1 bar and in between miss a call or vmail etc. I would just turn it all the way off

 

[Tulsa]

This statement sounds like you're complaining about reception issues on a phone you don't even own.

I'm not complaining at all.

I'm attempting to gain some wisdom from such users as maddux to aid in my determination to best choice possible for my situation.

Thank you maddux I've appreciated your input.

 

[maddux2005]

I'm not complaining at all.

I'm attempting to gain some wisdom from such users as maddux to aid in my determination to best choice possible for my situation.

Thank you maddux I've appreciated your input.

glad to help out in anyway I can