Techie Swedes prove iPhone 3G reception is "normal"

Classical game of stealing, oops, "sharing" news someone else wrote without reading them. NO, the IPHONE 3G RECEPTION IS NOT BETTER, ONLY THE IPHONE ANTENNA IS OK. So, next time you steal, oops, here I go again, "share" someone else's news story, read it, it'll make you look less...well, you get the idea, right?

If that test is accurate, which I think it is, the problem is either with individual units having been assembled poorly or some software problem, right?

I have a third theory. It is basically the same lay-mans theory I have about battery performance. It is not any worse than other smartphones but since we use the smart features much more we notice problems that other users do not.

The iPhone might have problems in low-reception areas because of 3G-data connecting while a call is in progress. Data + call = more bandwith and requires a better connection.. sounds kind-of logical.

I can not think of a single time when my old SonyEricsson P1 managed to check for email while I was making a call for example.

(As for battery-life I have had my iPhone run for over 6days straight... when I did not use any of the "fun" features. Usually I get maybe 2 days)

What Techie Swedes did isn't the best way to test iPhone reception. The best way to test real-world performance is by using phones side-by-side in the field. Testing only the hardware in a laboratory isn't very credible.

If one Nokia user tells his friends about his bad experience, how far will that story travel? It's one phone among many in the Nokia line, and it's still less significant among the vast sea of cell phones.

The iPhone is just one phone, however, and every story bad and good gets passed on and on since people have high expectations for the device.

http://www.learnucd.com/kevlar/the-web-is-dead-long-live-the-iphone

My voice quality is much better and in places where I used to have no ability to take a phone call, I can now receive and place voice calls. As for data, the speed is as good in all places as it was with just EDGE, but in some cases, it's WAY faster. I'm happy with the iPhone 3G. I just wish it was easier to take a self-portrait with it.

When the Iphone data service is not working (most of the time unless using wifi) then I am forced to use voice communication. This is the only thing that works OK for me. I did have the thing reboot mid-conversation once or twice, which is very unprofessional especially when it takes 2-3 minutes for the phone to fully reboot before I can call the person back.

I think one of the problems with these tests is that the phone service is so sporadic. The same location could have 1 bar one moment and then 5 bars the next. I can never get consistent results when running my own test. May be they tested the Iphone at one of it's up points.

This test shows that the hardware itself (antenna, radio chip, etc) work on par with other phones. This is good. However, what it doesn't show is how the phone handles switching between towers, switching between frequencies, and all of the other "magic" that happens to keep voice calls and data working as the phone moves around from tower to tower.

My thought has always been that the phone suffers from a poor radio firmware implementation, and that is where the problem lies. When mine drops calls, I usually have a decent signal (if you go by the bars) but I'm on the move. So it wasn't a signal issue as much as a hand off issue. It tried to pass the call off to another tower, but lost it somewhere.

The latest firmware didn't fix this for me. All it did was give the phone a higher preference for Edge, so if it is in a fringe 3G area, it will tend to just swap over to Edge. Before, it would try to hold the 3G signal, and once it started losing it, switch to Edge in call. This resulted in dropped calls in my experience.

This is most likely going to end up being a problem that will slowly be ironed out as the radio firmware matures. At least, I hope that's what will happen...

I found your comment "I personally haven't found the iPhone 3G's reception to be any better or worse than my original iPhone. How about you?" very interesting. Since MY original iPhone did not have 3G, only EDGE, I can only compare 3G to EDGE and in San Antonio, and my travels (go to another state every week) to date have the 3G winning HANDS DOWN. I was having an issue with dropped calls and the iPhone restarting all by itself. Apple replaced the iPhone and it has worked perfectly since.

I think the problem really is AT&T's 3G network. I have a Motorola Q9h and that phone also has the same reception as my iPhone. No better no worse.

What about Hand-Off tests? It seems that they only tested 1900Mhz. There should also be testing done on the phone's ability to maintain reception/calls while switching frequencies (850/1900/2100).