Is anyone else experiencing less than stellar connections to the 3G network on their shiny new Iphone 3G? If i turn off 3G i get full bars, but on 3G i struggle to reach 2 or 3 bars. On another phone in the same room I can get full reception, I have read on a few US sites that plenty of people have the same issue. Anyone here experiencing the same? Kinda funny for a phone with 3G in its name.
Iphone 3G - 3G, not so hot?
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Soldato
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Sitting in the office I get 5 bars on normal but only 1 on 3G. That's jsut because the the GPRS signal is stronger here. However, it's still loading pages and applications at an acceptable rate when i do have 3G.
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Associate
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I'm not so sure. I live in the centre of Birmingham and I don't get a 3g signal at all :-s had one a minute ago but it dropped after a few mins.
A lot of the complaints seem to be coming from the US, and from people who had other 3G phones before getting an iPhone.
O2s is the best in the country. Also, remember that the QoS of '3G' is much higher than that of 2G. One signal bar of a '3G' service is the equivalent bandwidth and call QoS of 2 - 3 of '2G'.
The signal bars for a 3G connection should be taken with a pinch of salt anyway, because you will get a different QoS depending on what you are doing (there are differing levels for video calling, file transfer, voice data and so on) - basically, if you see the 3G sign (even with 0 or 1 bar) then you will have a good voice connection and decent Internet speeds.
The power output of network antenna do not vary; the "quality" of O2s service is not to blame for a varying signal 'strength' when staying in one place. 3G radio is very high frequency (bordering microwave, I believe) and is affected by cloud cover, temperature, cars and so on.
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Yeah I posted something along these lines in another thread earlier. I've had no problems despite my iPhone's 3G signal generally only being 1 to 3 bars but the weird thing is that I also have a work phone, a K800i, and that always has a full 5 bars on 3G. I don't recall ever seeing the signal dipping below full with 3G enabled on that phone though so it's possible it is lying to me 
Associate
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Yeah I posted something along these lines in another thread earlier. I've had no problems despite my iPhone's 3G signal generally only being 1 to 3 bars but the weird thing is that I also have a work phone, a K800i, and that always has a full 5 bars on 3G. I don't recall ever seeing the signal dipping below full with 3G enabled on that phone though so it's possible it is lying to me
My problem is not being able to get a 3G signal at all, it seems to just connect to the 2G ones
I live in Inverness so was never expecting to get the best 3G signal. To be honest, I'm glad I get one at all! It's usually just one or two bars, but meh, allows me to browse from work and it's fast enough, so I have no complaints.
Also, signal bars are by no means standardized across the industry. One manufacturer's 'full signal' can be another's '2 bars', it's all very subjective. The 3G iPhones that I've had a play on in the middle of Carlisle were full bars and very fast on the internet, got my bus times so quick, it was excellent.
Just wish I could get one now
Just wish I could get one now
O2's service is nowhere near the best in the country.
I am comparing speeds of the iPhone 3G and a Nokia N95 on Vodafone and the Vodafone 3G signal is always bang on.
Best in the country??
No, their 3G service is just urine.