iLounge

21

I have suffered from major connections problems with my new iPhone. I had the original one and never had these problems. I have solved it by switching back to EDGE. I get pretty much five bars everywhere on EDGE, but 3G is like one or two in the same place. I am in Denver, which is supposedly a good market for the 3G. But I don’t think so. I have been blaming AT&T;all this time, I hope that is the case and that it isn’t the chipset. I can’t tell you how many times I have either just dropped a call sitting still, or had calls come in where I could hear them, but they can’t hear me. I guess it’s time to go and raise a stink at AT&T;!

Posted by qphayes on August 12, 2008 at 11:07 AM (PDT)

22

Was having same issues where the phone was useless in 2g mode.  I went to ATT to have my sim replaced and that didn’t help either.  I noticed that calls wouldn’t connect because Edge would not disengage to allow the call to go through.  Also battery life was terrible;  Sitting overnight in sleep mode after a full charge would still show less then full battery life by morning. I had the unit switched out at the store and now all seems to be working fine with the new device.

Posted by DS on August 12, 2008 at 11:14 AM (PDT)

23

I have suffered from major connections problems with my new iPhone. I had the original one and never had these problems. I have solved it by switching back to EDGE. I get pretty much five bars everywhere on EDGE, but 3G is like one or two in the same place. I am in Denver, which is supposedly a good market for the 3G. But I don’t think so. I have been blaming AT&T;all this time, I hope that is the case and that it isn’t the chipset. I can’t tell you how many times I have either just dropped a call sitting still, or had calls come in where I could hear them, but they can’t hear me. I guess it’s time to go and raise a stink at AT&T;!

Posted by Hayes on August 12, 2008 at 11:20 AM (PDT)

24

Sorry for the double post, I didn’t see it had gone to a second page.

Posted by Hayes on August 12, 2008 at 11:23 AM (PDT)

25

Gay pride weekend in San Francisco. ALL my friends with iPhones had major calling and receiving issues. If I called someone they can hear me but I couldn’t hear them, if they call me I could hear them and they can’t hear me. Perhaps it was an ATT plan to jack everyone on text message over limit charges. Thats all we could do was text.

All the years before that well ...
I couldn’t even get a call to go threw, let alone receive one.

Posted by marcus on August 12, 2008 at 11:23 AM (PDT)

26

I live in Miami, where 3G is readily available and I usually have 5 bars.  At the Orthodontist office I had about 3, which is understandable with all the technology in the office and such…

However, I get dropped calls like no other!  Especially when I call a T-Mobile number, but it happens with other AT&T;numbers as well.  I recently formatted and restored my iPhone 3G and it seems to be working just a bit better will less dropped calls.

I have half a mind to go to the Apple store and returning the device, because if it IS a chip problem, maybe the newly deployed phones have better chips.

Not cool.

Posted by Michael on August 12, 2008 at 11:24 AM (PDT)

27

I have had constant problems with connections and my new 3G iPhone in San Diego area. Here’s what I have done:

Returned the phone for another one. Some slight improvement.
Upgraded software to 2.1 - no change.

Talked to ATT for HOURS. I was told the coverage at my house was superb; then told by another person that they had taken out towers and no plan to replace them; who knows what’s true? 3G has NEVER worked but the E network sometimes works.

My wife had problems with her phone too (Nokia 3100) and I searched the web for the BEST GSM phone. I bought an old Nokia 3595 on eBay and it has 5 bar signal and makes/receives calls easily at our house where the iPhone has nothing and doesn’t work.

That implies there’s an issue with the phone. And the ATT people don’t know what they are doing when it comes to understanding or communicating with us regarding signal strength or networks.

I had a similar conversation with ATT about the signal quality at my work. Their website says the phone signal is marginal; the online rep said the signal is full-strength. I don’t know - I just miss most of the calls and have no bars on the phone.

I reset the phone every day. Each time I reset it, a flood of emails comes in that DO NOT come otherwise.

I love Apple products and still this is a great item/toy/tool but a lousy phone.

I’m going back to Apple tech support on this. Again.

Posted by MR on August 12, 2008 at 11:25 AM (PDT)

28

I’m in Los Angeles (Hollywood/San Gabriel Valley). The phone worked pretty decent the first 2 days, then it just got worst. My signal strength would be 2-3 on 3G and sometimes no data would come in. GPS is bad too, i’d say it pin pointed me about 30% of the time. My loopt can’t locate me still. I just pressed the locate me button and it located me worst than the original iphone and not pinpointed. And yea it switches from 3G to E alot.

Posted by alveeno on August 12, 2008 at 11:39 AM (PDT)

29

I have not had any 3G problems with our two iPhones. But I have had the iPhone crash so many times requiring a restore it is not funny. I have had to restore this thing 28 times!

I returned my iPhone and the replacement still crashes regularly. Tried syncing it with different Macs, still crashes. Tried to restore it as a new phone, still crashes. When it crashes you are left on the road with NO phone that works, requiring an hour or more connected to a computer to restore it.

Apps quit many times and then NO other app will run all of them quitting. Restarts and resets no not work. Many times the iPhone 3G will have an app quit (does not matter which one) and I am left with the white logo of death, where doing helps but another restore.

Backups take forever and end up being useless when restoring as iTunes tells you they are corrupted! iTunes never knows when app updates are needed. Sometimes offers 5 and 6 versions of the same app. iTunes also does not overwrite or delete old app, it just re-creates a new file! Just visit the iTunes -> Mobile Applications folder and you will get scared when you see the contents!

iTunes and the iPhone software is a bug-fest. Maybe the 3G problems some are having is due to VERY buggy software the was not properly tested or ready for users. Was Steve Jobs the only tester?

RIM has nothing to fear.

Posted by stephen on August 12, 2008 at 11:41 AM (PDT)

30

I wonder what the odds are of running Disk Warrior on the machine, then reinstalling the iPhone OS on the phone? For those that don’t know , Disk Warrior is an app that fixes broken macs, and bugs, and keeps the machine running fast. I use it from time to time when I have adobe, display profile, corrupted files, and font issues. It is for Mac only though.

Seeing that iPhone is a computer that happens to make phone calls, I wonder about how it keeps everything filed properly and defragments itself and stays optimized. Just an idea but what if the machine used for the device is really fragmented, and lots of data is scattered and out of order, thus making a funky sync or reinstall or registration.

Seeing we have these devices that we put on lots of data, and erase lots of data over and over again. Adobe can hang and it will get worse until my machine is defragmented. I can use Disk warrior on the HD, and my externals as well, sooo just an idea, because all my iphones are working flawlessly. I do a lot of design work so I keep our machines optimized and run DW frequently to avoid problems.

Posted by marcus on August 12, 2008 at 12:05 PM (PDT)

31

My iPhone 3G gas issued here in Sacramento CA. There are many times were my wife’s 4GB iPhone get more bars then mine. Also there are times were I will have full bars and make a call and it says “call failed”. Then I try it a couple more times and finally works. I never had these problems with my old iPhone. Maybe I should have waited while they worked out the bugs!

Posted by MICHAEL on August 12, 2008 at 12:30 PM (PDT)

32

I have dropped calls issues here in Chicago.  My most frustrating issue, and the most common, is having full bars but calls not connecting when dialed.  For instance yesterday I was going to the Sox game at US Cellular and had full bars but every time I would tap my friends phone number to call him the iPhone would give me a call failed sound/screen and ask me to cancel or try again.  This happens CONSTANTLY and almost always when I have full bars or near full bars….

Posted by Seth Feinberg on August 12, 2008 at 12:31 PM (PDT)

33

I am experiencing connection problems, 3G switching to Edge and dropped calls while standing still.  While some believe it is AT&T;I believe the real problem is with the iPhone.  When my iPhone doesn’t get a strong 3G signal it doesn’t seem like it knows how to switch to the Edge network and the result is the phone heats up and looses a charge quickly.  Secondly our household has two phones on AT&T;and the Motorola handset maintained a healthy two bars when the iPhone showed no service (while 3G was turned off).  Good luck in getting any signal if 3G is turned on.  I am very disappointed with Apple and AT&T;.  The only reason I went with the iPhone was for the whole package experience and I should have just stuck with the Mac Book Pro.

Posted by Lance Jones on August 12, 2008 at 12:35 PM (PDT)

34

I’m having a heck of a time with this.  Most of the time I have to end up turning my 3G connection off so that I can keep a call going or to keep a data connection up.  This is VERY annoying.  I’m glad I’m not the only one noticing this.

Posted by Jody on August 12, 2008 at 1:03 PM (PDT)

35

I am in northern California where there isn’t any 3G coverage per AT&T;‘s 3G map. I called corporate and was told that we would be getting 3G in our area shortly. 3G has been working for about 3 weeks now but very marginally. I’m not sure if its because they are still in the testing phase, or it has indeed been rolled out completely. I have the same issues other people are having with reception issues. Mostly what happens is the phone reports the lowest 3G signal possible but doesn’t switch to EDGE, thus rendering me unable to get phone calls or make them. Very annoying.

Posted by Shea Cardinalli on August 12, 2008 at 1:16 PM (PDT)

36

Nothing BUT connectivity issues here outside Boston. Only solution was to turn off 3G completely and stick with Edge network. So the solution for 3G connectivity issues with iPhone 3G is to turn off 3G capability.

Posted by Safran on August 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM (PDT)

37

I have the older Iphone, not the 3G Iphone. BUT in order to switch my phone number from another AT&T;account to the Iphone, AT&T;required me to install a new 3G sim card in my older Iphone. Ever since, I have barely been able to connect or receive signal to the phone. Most calls drop connection as many as 17 times in one conversation. Many calls do not ring through. I get a “no service” message constantly. When I do have service, it’s sporadic and the sound quality for people on the other end of the line is nearly impossible to understand. Location does not seem to be a significant factor… This happens whether I’m in the sticks or downtown in major cities. And it happens in areas where I was easily able to use AT&T;with my Nokia phone.

Sadly, the Iphone is now my only phone which means that I’m missing business calls a lot. Based on tech support from ATT&T;, Apple and when the problem started, I believe that the problem may not be the chip or the phone itself, but the 3G SIM card.

Posted by john t unger on August 12, 2008 at 1:44 PM (PDT)

38

I do not want to minimize anyone’s issues-and I have the good fortune of seeming to have a good phone.

But there are THOUSANDS of readers here at iLounge, and literally millions of iPhones sold in the USA-so 36 comments of which probably 33 are negative reports, does not seem like a huge number to me.  I know this is of little consolation if you do have a problem, however.

Posted by Enigmafan420 on August 12, 2008 at 1:46 PM (PDT)

39

I have an ATT Tilt and have similar problems.  My thought is that the problem is with the ATT network.  I live in Milwaukee and any time I go from a 3g connection to EDGE, it drops the call.  As a result, I don’t think it’s a problem with the iphone, but with the network.  I agree, it is very frustrating!

Posted by emtbard on August 12, 2008 at 2:44 PM (PDT)

40

How hard is it to see how widespread the issue is, when att can look at every 3G iPhone phone record and see how many dropped calls it has? I’ve had enough after my upgrade from my old iPhone to notice that something is really, really wrong here.

Posted by CydeWeyz on August 12, 2008 at 3:04 PM (PDT)