Should prove interesting !

-105 is essentially close to no signal...

I just did a test.

218 meters exactly line of sight to the closest Three antenna outdoors.

The transmitter is 19.8meters high, I'm outdoors on the third floor.

Depending on how I hold the phone, I can get as bad as -95 !!!!

Something is not right there.

Checked up and there are 60-70 Three antennas within 700 meters of my house, all visible line of sight too. Obviously they aren't all pointing at me, but 1 meter from the window I get -99 and -105 if I hold the phone.


I'm going to test a week 32 against my week 27 side-by-side to see if those rumours about an antenna change in week 31 are true.


Something is not right there either.

Check out where the picocells are in the mall! you are probably right near one

This is how I understand things:

Because Three doesn't allow the 3G to 2G handover (as a courtesy*). Its coverage doesn't rely on handing over and it would easily have the best 2100MHz coverage of any of our networks - that reason for dropouts isn't there.

Optus and Vodafone's coverage relies on handovers to 900/1800MHz GSM and increasingly 900MHz 3G for continuous coverage (900MHz 3G isn't supported on the iPhone). This wasn't working well on the iPhone in 2.0 and 2.0.1. In fact I never observed a successful mid-call handover on Optus with 2.0. According to what I have read, this seems to be working better in 2.0.2

Telstra can seamlessly hand over between 900/1800MHz GSM, 850MHz NextG and also seamlessly roam onto Three's 2100MHz - all supported on the iPhone. So I would think that even with the poor signal problem, and ever the inter-rat handover problem, the dual band switching shouId be fine. I would think that Telstra users would be least affected.

The poor signal strength problem isn't affected by carrier. However it wasn't the only problem, and the different designs of the networks bring out the same symptoms for different reasons.




*Think about seamlessly handing over to 2G and the cost of Roaming.

Since the 2.0.2 update I've had 2/3 bars at home (more than I ever had before). however, whilst making calls yesterday, on two occasions I started the call on Optus 3g, and when I finished I'd switched to Optus GSM. in both cases the person on the other end complained they could not hear me for 10 seconds or so, which was obviously the switch time, which I would guess everyonen would agree is complete crap.

I'm only on prepaid (I unlocked my Telstra phone to try Optus out). Sadly I think I'll be returning to Telstra when my prepay expires in a few days. I've only used about 120 mb in a month and for a lot of that time I was away and using the phone more than I would usually, so Telstra's 150mb plan for $10 isn't to bad at all.

wow, your sucky reception story sounds pretty similar to mine.

i must say i havn't noticed much, if any difference with 2.0.2 so far.

i can't get my iphone to go 2g-->3g by itself, even if i drive to the base of the tower, it won't switch. if i toggle airplane on/off, then i get solid 5 bars. weird.

apparently the blackberry bold has been released with similar problems. allegedly it uses the same infineon chipset for 3G... ill try and dig up a link for this. (at the moment it's totally hearsay from the macrumors forums.)

I did the below video, and I know for a fact its not the networks fault, there is no way and i have tested this so many times I thought I would do a video. I will record over the next few weeks some more issues I have noticed, the 3g bars seem to jump from 1 bar to full and then drop back to 1 again, this suggests its a hardware fault not software, remember software only tells the hardware what to do and im sure apple has done the best they can in this regard, It seems that apple dont do tweaks to something that should work, I tweak my car for better fuel echonomy but it doesent mean that the engine stops and starts when it feels like it.

I don't think that software could possibly effect reception unless the receiver is not doing as it should.

Here is the link
YouTube - Iphone 3g vs nokia e65 reception

pretty much mirrors what i see with a nokia 6110 and moto v3x, all on the same network!

I dont know if its already been mentioned but if youre having trouble with optus, you might need to check that the right network is selected (settings>carrier> network selection) so with optus mine was automatically going to YES OPTUS not YES OPTUS (3G) (apparently when they're first set up they lock to whatever is strongest) ....While it didnt totally fix my problem (YES OPTUS 3G isnt on the list when I'm at home even though i live on the cbd fringe in canberra - 800m between two towers) i did get more 3G bars when i was in the cbd

I received my Optus unlock yesterday afternoon and inserted my Telstra Next G Sim in today. My reception/speed problems seems to have been fixed

My apologies to Gomer Pyle!, but..... Surprise!, Surprise!, Suprise!

Sorry Vandoza!

Why apologise to me?

Its known that Telstra have wider coverage, what other result would you expect.
It's also known that Telstra users generally report fewer problems (although 38% of people still report having problems!) people are hardly going to move to a stronger network and report that things have gotten worse

Apple has admitted that 2.0.2 was released to "improve 3G communications," that's the best admission from Apple that there ARE reception problems that we will probably ever get.
With this being a global issue, that Apple themselves admitting they are trying to trying to fix it, you are still going to sit there and try to sell the "it's just the network" line still?

You seem constantly determined to turn this into a Telstra vs. Optus vs. Vodafone issue.

I'll remind you that it's about the iPhone reception problems are being reported worldwide.

If your contributions are nothing more than the above "Telstra's better... Suprise!" then I'll invite you to find something better to do with your time.

I'll remind you that you are in a Mac forum, and as far as I can see, all of your posts have been iPhone centric. Don't come in here mouthing off at people, for having an opinion.

I never bother to look at my bars, on any phone I have had, and never noticed an issue with call drop outs. Data on a phone, I expect to be a little slower than the hype>

IMO Buy another phone, leave us all in peace, Whirlpool is missing ya!

I'm with telstra also. Yes the recection is ok for me too.

What the others aren't saying though (unless they aren't experiencing it) is the inability of the iPhone to pick up 3G if lost.

vandozza you mentioned you hadn't seen your phone switch between 2G to 3G. Neither have I.
That's a phone issue not a carrier one.

Expecting that to be fixed.