It is clear to me that there is an issue with the iPhone 3G's radio (firmware, hardware or SIM card). There seems to be an issue when the 3G signal is weak, the iPhone takes forever to switch to 2G. During that time you get dropped calls, failed calls, and generally poor call quality. You can see that when the unit switches from 3G to 2G, you first get No Signal, then it goes to 2G. This takes over 30 seconds.
I am not alone with this problem. There at many posts describing the issue on the Apple discussion forums. iPhone Atlas has posted a list of items to try.
I cleaned my SIM card and performed a restore via iTunes which effectively resets the network settings. There are apparently two different builds of the 2.0 firmware (settings/about). The 5A345 build was shipped with many units, while 5A347 version is the latest. iTunes does not detect this as an update since the version numbers are the same, however if you perform a restore, iTunes will download the latest build (5A347). Make sure you perform a backup (right click on the iPhone entry in the left pane in iTunes) before you perform a restore. Then, once the restore is completed you can use the backup to re install you your settings. I did have to sync twice to get my playlists back on my device.
In the end I think I see a little improvement but not much. If I turn off 3G, the signal strength is much better. I am supposedly in a strong 3G area, but as I mentioned in another post, AT&T is looking at adding a cell site close by.
3G signal.
2G signal from same location, unfortunately I have to turn off 3G to make this happen.
The bottom line is that I don't want and should not have to turn off 3G, that is why I am paying more for the 3G data plan. The phone should switch to 2G more effectively when you have a weak 3G signal. It does not and I get dropped calls and bad call quality.
Given the many reports on signal strength and my 14 day return clock ticking down (I have until Wednesday), I decided to take some action. I scheduled a visit at the Genius bar today. From my further reading there may be a problem with the SIM card and AT&T can update your account OTA (I think they perform a register) which may help. I called AT&T yesterday, they performed the update but it did not change my reception issue. So I plan to go to the AT&T store this morning a get a replacement SIM card to see if that helps. AT&T customer service also promised me a call back in a couple of days to see how things are going. I will update this post on my findings.
On a side note I started this post using the Typepad application. Here are several issues I found:
- No cut and paste for URL (that is an iPhone issue, hopefully fixed in 2.1)
- No ability to publish as a draft on the server, I had to go to the web site to mark the entry as a draft then I edited with ECTO on my PC
- Category with special characters like the & are split up into several categories (I need to file a support ticket on this)
Just wondering if the replacement sim card helped improve the situation or if you found another solution?
Posted by: ryan | August 06, 2008 at 12:10 PM
My SIM card was the latest generation so it did not need to be changed. AT&T sent an over the air update AT&T to the phone and I updated to the current Apple 2.0.1 update via iTunes. Now, the switching between 2G and 3G is much improved as well as the signal strength.
see my post:http://www.mydigitallife.us/2008/07/iphone-3g-sig-2.html
Posted by: Stephen Skarlatos | August 06, 2008 at 12:27 PM