Are You Having iPhone 3G Connection Problems?
The day after I bought my iPhone 3G I went back to the local Rogers store to see how things were going, and a customer was there complaining that he couldn’t get on the 3G network. The customer service rep tried fiddling with his iPhone, but the settings all looked right. Yet there I was, less than 5 feet away, with full, fast 3G speed downloading TiPb’s homepage at that very moment. Later that night, I saw some chatter that others thought Rogers was down because they couldn’t connect either.
Things had quieted down some for a while, but now more and more reports are spreading of transient 3G connection errors. MacRumors quotes Mark Siegel of AT&T as saying there haven’t been an unusual amount of complaints about the iPhone 3G in specific:
How a device performs in individual situations depends on circumstances like where you are in the 3G coverage, how close you are to a cell site. Things like terrain and buildings all come into play. I’m not denying that people are having a less than satisfactory experience, but overall, the phone is doing great.
GigaOm, however, picks up some analyst rumors about potentially flakey 3G chipsets, while iLounge steps it up with T-Mobile and Vodafone laying blame on the same, with the Syndney Morning Herald claiming an unnamed source revealed that Apple only provided 3G test units to carriers the day before launch. Ouch. Any chip experts out there that could help identify what problem would cause reception problems for a fraction of users?
Mine, like I said, is rock-solid so far, only dropping to EDGE in areas where Rogers’ coverage is weak to begin with. How about you? Any 3G connection problems?
August 13th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
No problems in Chicago.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I really can’t tell for sure. I live on the Westside of Los Angeles, in a fully 3G-immersed zone. Still, I was warned by friends that AT&T reception wouldn’t be as good as the Verizon service I was leaving. Sitting on my sofa talking on my cell phone in my apt is no longer an option, as I have to stand near the front window to talk — and even then if I move a bit I can hear the voice breaking up. As I walk through my neighborhood surrounded almost exclusively by single-level homes, I frequently lose the 3G signal if I’m on the web — again, in an area that’s supposed to be fully 3G. In some ways I do hope it’s a hardware issue. I just don’t know how to tell for sure.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Two days ago I couldn’t get any reception in areas I always get to. Today every thing’s fine again. Don’t know if it’s the phone or Vodafone but I’m keeping an eye on it.
But I can say that downloads are about 1/3 of the speed of my USD 3G modem from the same company.
I’m an hour north of Sydney, Australia.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
No 3G problems in Richmond, VA.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
no
August 13th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
all is well here in Brooklyn NY
August 13th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
thou i thought 3g would be faster than it is
August 13th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
i get great 3G reception here in Montreal…but with that new 6gb/30$ data plan the network is sometimes slow as hell…before the launch of the iphone when data was almost unafordable the speed was great because not much people was using it! Expensif=fast Cheap=slow i guess we costumers will never be happy!!!
August 13th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I have issues with the 3G in Toronto the odd time. Sometimes it won’t connect at all and wont go to any webpage except the One Zone wireless network. It seems to happen once every 2 days. Usually for extended periods as well.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I am in Orlando FL and I used to have a problem with my 3G not staying available and going back to EDGE but now everything seems fine. My 3G is staying and I haven’t seen EDGE for a while. The keyboard is still really slow… I am missing the old 1.1.4 firmware.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Las Vegas - very spotty coverage despite the misleading AT&T map. I’m in the center of town at work and get 1 bar and intermittent 3G connection. Half my calls are dropped. I didn’t like my old carrier Verizon but I’m ready to throw in the towel on the new one here. I bought the phone for all the cool features which I still love but I can’t use them for 80% of my day!
August 13th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
yes I was having connection problems I live on Vancouver island and i get dropped calls 2 to 3 times a day. have to switch back to my Nokia n76 to complete my business calls. but i would still be able to get local wifi single??? The ***** part is I only had the iphone for 2 weeks and I dropped it once!! only one time!!! and it busted the screen would only display green now. I have to wate 2 months for a new one from rogers. so im defiantly back to Nokia. apple i love you but your products are haff assed whats with that, you should be able to drop a phone at least 10 times before it breaks .
mad matt
August 13th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
I’m having major issues in the western suburbs of Chicago where I had none with my other two 3G phones.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
iPhone 3G reception in Oklahoma City is not as good as the att treo 750, but decent overall
August 14th, 2008 at 12:56 am
I seem to have weird issues where I’ll only have 1 bar of coverage, but no issues, and where I’ll have 3-4 bars, but voice calls are patchy. Web browsing seems pretty consistent regardless of bars
August 14th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Northern UK here and no problems for me. Mail & web traffic are ok although I haven’t yet downloaded an app to tell me what my download & upload speeds actually are. Where I am now, I have only one bar highlighted (and the 3G symbol) but performance is still fine.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:51 am
In the GTA and I have not had any problems whatsoever with 3G. Pretty much always have 5 bars as well.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:24 am
8 gig iphone 3g, non jailbroken, running latest updates. no problems in cincinnati, ohio. solid 3g except within some buildings which also affected my samsung blackjack II and my moto razr v3xx in the same places (in fact the iphone still has bars where the other phones didn’t) and if i get out into areas where the towers don’t have 3g.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:00 am
No problem in Boston with 3G. Though in my apartment, I often only have 1 bar, but coverage is fine. No dropped calls..
August 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Having 3G problems in Northern New Jersey and NYC which are strong 3G areas. Good friend of mine is having 3G issues in Florida with his new iPhone. Dropped and garbled calls and slow data speeds result. Sometimes a iPhone restarts helps.
I am on my third iPhone 3G, having replaced it twice and have yet another appointment today with more 3G problems, crashing problems, quitting apps, and content disappearing from the iPod app.
They seem to have no fixes in the Apple Store all they do is hand you a new iPhone and within the day you have the same problems.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I had a few dropped calls in the Richmond VA suburbs so I tried turning off 3G. Bars went up but still dropped calls. When I requested my voicemail be turned off at ATT, they apparently turned all data service off. After a couple days of no E or 3G symbols I called AT&T and they turned it back on. But they also said I was provisioned under “an old limited data plan” from the first iPhone. After a few more minutes they said I was ok. So far it does seem to be better with no dropped calls and faster 3G speeds. Answer: Call AT&T and complain.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I live in Ottawa, ON and on my phone I alway have 2 or more bars on 3G I have yet to lose 3g Icon on my statusbar. But at least 4-5 times a day I can not Connect to the Internet for anything, be it the app store, email, website, or weather update. Does anyone else have this problem?
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:28 am
Here is a link from YouTube that shows how poor AT&T coverage where there is 3G full strength across from an Apple store. More AT&T false advertising on network speed. Verizon and Sprint networks much faster than AT&T 3G network: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaN1Nz1Dyls
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Today is my second day on the 3G iPhone and experienced more than 20 dropped calls over an afternoon in London, ON. Pulled the SIM card and put it back in my Treo.
August 23rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm
ya I am having a 3G connection but my self I thing it good but not at some times because it coverage is very low today is my 6th day i have dropped few calls and it is slow data speeds result I accept from you to give a better service in future
asciisol mojes
August 27th, 2008 at 11:08 am
live in toronto. spotty coverage for me at best. wi-fi works great, but can connect to web only 1/5 times. very irritating. why am i paying for the data package if it doesn’t work? funny thing is that the GPS always works…
August 27th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I live in Pasadena, CA and have experienced more dropped calls ever since the upgrade to firmware 2.0.2. I drop calls at the supermarket, on the freeway, on my ride home. My apartment gets NO 3G service at all even though ATT tells me that I should have excellent service there. 3G download speeds average about 200 Kbps in Pasadena, a far cry from the maximum. I think that Apple and ATT are both to blame, for sure ATT’s 3G network is crappy since they bolted 3G antennas onto existing 2G towers. There are lots of gray areas in LA where 3G coverage is spotty or non existent.
August 27th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I get good reception where I am at and my phone shows that I am connected to the 3G network but at busy times of the day I can’t connect to any internet sites. Looks to me like they don’t have enough bandwidth either on the 3G or in the backbone connection. I am very upset because I bought the Iphone do do day trading and that won’t work unless I can get into my financial web site when I need to. I have lost many thousands of dollar so far because of bad internet connectivity.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:05 am
San Fernanado Valley of Los Angeles is rough. I switched from Verizon knowing I would take a dip in reception quality. “Dip” is an understatement. 3G service is non-existent. EDGE reception in my house (top floor of a 2 story, 6 unit apartment) is barely happening. As a consumer, I am pretty pissed that an amazing device like the IPhone seems to have been rolled out before not only the new 3G network was ready, but the foundation of it’s basic technology (making calls) is not a consistent feature. I mean, this is Los Angeles. Why is the network not up to snuff? I am paying more now for significantly worse service. Period. This is the first time I have chosen hardware (the phone) over software (the network). I’m not regretting it just yet and assume it will be solved, but this whole thing smells of beta test to me.
August 29th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
i love the iphone –except for the phone–it has been causing mucho stress in my life with constant drop calls–i had verizon for years and could actually call and receive calls–i want out of my att contract–i can’t handle this anymore!!!!
August 31st, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Can’t have the reception with 3g most of the time in Queens , New York. I live on the first floor not a basement.I dont have the reception in my home. I always get no service written on my bars’ place, I have to turn off the 3g in order to get couple bars on edge band. Yesterday I had full reception with an edge sign and 3g off, however i tried to call my number from the land line in my business, I get the calling tone for 4 times , phone doesnt ring at all, it goes right to my automated greeting. I dont know whichone to blame ATT or Iphone. Another thing I ride with the subway which goes over the ground in queens , and when I want to use the internet i get 3g reception but page never loads. therefore I happened to witness that in order to get the intenet service you have be stable somewhere standing , not moving. Even if you walk, the internet slows down. I love the iphone, however I started to hate these reception problems. Having a Iphone with lack of reception doesnt worth a penny to pay for it.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:20 am
My wife and I both have the new iPhone 3G. She can get on the 3G network at home and in her parents house - I can’t. We live in the UK and are with O2 obviously. I have had the phone a week and hadn’t gotten around to asking her about 3G connectivity on her phone until last night because we have WiFi in the house and I haven’t tried to use it anywhere outside the house except in Subway in town where coincidentally she couldn’t get 3G either. Anyhoo - there you go - one iPhone with 3G working and one not working.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
September 8th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Anyone having problems downloading from the 3Gs App button, they apps will download,and are present, but will not start. Phone just flashes back to the home screen?
September 9th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Ottawa, Ontario - 8GB Black - 2.0.2 firmware
I get dropped calls from time to time which is annoying as I never had that issue before with my Treo 650 (on rogers at that) but the thing that drives me nuts is that ever since the 2.0.2 release and when I’m on a 3G connection, my connection get all garbled for about 10 seconds and then clears up again (it can happen anywhere from within the first 10 seconds to the 20 minutes into a call). I always have to tell the person that I cannot hear them (yet they can hear me fine) and pretend I’m doing something else until it clears up. Horrible.
iPhone aesthetics - 10/10 iPhone quality - 5/10
They needed to vet this one more before releasing it to the public because Apple no longer equals top quality in my books.
September 9th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
My IPHONE 3G in the morris Passaic Bergen county areas of NJ is nearly useless. i can’t use the phone in my house.
It is a disaster
September 11th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
There are three people in my office with I phones. Usually the phones work with varying degrees of success- today none of them work at all. I drove a distance of about 5 miles on my lunch break (Boston to Somerville) and I lost all my calls. The same is true with everybody else I talk to today ( which would have to be either in person or by landline). One person has the old iphone and his works perfect, and the other ATT phones that are not iphones are working fine. Bad day for the iphone 3G.
September 12th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Terrible in Toronto — drops all the time -was trying to call someone 5 feet from me -tried 5 times and each time got dropped. Happens at least 5 times per day –
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:01 am
I am in Bergen in Norway and the 3G reception is awful. One minute the phone has full 3g reception and then NO SERVICE sometimes it will never regain reception unless i power cycle the phone. My 3g Nokia N95 has full 3G reception everywhere. SORT IT OUT APPLe!
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
3G network in Oklahoma City really is much worse than central Alabama. I was very happy with iPhone 3G service whilst in the SE US for the summer… Very dissapointed in 3G in OKC market.
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I started having problems making a call while 3G was active. After a couple seconds, the call would drop. After turning off 3G, the phone was fine. I solved the problem by rebooting the phone. (Holding down the button at the top of the phone.)
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I’ve had my iphone 3G for 2 weeks now and it was great for 10 days. I haven’t been able to get a call to last more than 5 seconds in 3 days! I don’t know if it’s the Vancouver weather or what but i’m definately not as impressed with it as i was. I’m ready to find my old nokia in the box and switch back!
October 6th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I have had my iphone 3G for about 1 week in the Montreal area on Fido (Rogers) network. It seems to work fine most of the time but then out of the blue, I have no more access to data (over 3G or Edge). No mail, no web, no app store. Basically nothing that needs the internet! I have called Fido and they once resent the activation codes for data and that cleared it up but then it happened again. I have been able to get it back by resetting the iphone or just waiting till it comes back on its own. The 3G indicated is still showing but the connection is not working and it is happening a couple of times a day! Very frustrating! The guy at Fido today told me it can happen and hopefully iphone ver 2.2 will fix these issues! Lame!
October 13th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Southern UK. My phone drops both normal and 3G signal so many times it is becoming useless. Sitting on a train with my O2 Blackberry right next to it, I can see that the iPhone signal consistently drops below the BB signal, and when it loses the signal completely it takes an age for it to re-acquire. When the BB (infrequently) loses signal it re-acquires it very quickly.
I have changed the Sim card, at O2’s suggestion, and it has made no difference.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I am with Gad 100%. Fido, Toronto. full bars, 3G indicator, zero reception. I am in a building, so it would make sense, but you would think the phone would show no bars of service. I always liked Apple, but it has been a while since they’ve truly delivered on their marketing hype. 2.1 didn’t make a difference at all, unlike Steve-o’s presentation.
October 26th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
3G coverage in metro OKC is very good. I consistently get 4-5 bars and YouTube and web pages are loading in 10-12 seconds (EX:ENGADGET.com) so no complaints here
November 1st, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I have both an 8 and 16G Apple 3G Iphone with Rogers in Ottawa. Both phones don’t ring at all on the 3G network. Calls go directly to voice-mail if I’m lucky. There are more than 200 users who have this or similar issues with dropped/lost calls. I was told by tech support the problem is well known and is widespread. It’s a big headache and may only be resolved with the next edition of firmware whenever 2.2 comes out. Haven’t we heard this tune before? I’m thinking of returning both phones and asking for a refund. The only workaround is to disable 3G and go to the Edge network where both phones ring every time. So why am I paying 3G rates and getting 2G service? Apple knows about it too but there hasn’t been any public announcements that I know of from either company to describe the real extent of the problem and when it might be resolved.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I was a recent ATT customer ONLY because I wanted to have the cool Iphone. But three weeks into this stupid phone, I am already losing my cool. Lots of dropped calls and dead zones in the house, which was never a problem in the old Tmobile service. Even in the hospital, I have full 5bars but I can’t even make the call or send a text! So annoying.
November 4th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I will start by saying this post is from Toronto.
My wife picked up an iPhone 2 weeks ago on a new Rogers account, and has had constant dropped call problems since day 1. Wherever she is, downtown Toronto, the suburbs, Barrie, Markham, wherever, she constantly loses calls. This is in areas where I never lose calls on my blackberry using the EDGE network.
She wants to return the iPhone and go back to her old Bell phone as she has not cancelled that account yet. All she gets when she tells this to other iPhone users in the same areas is ‘well, I never get dropped calls, so it must be the area you are in’ very frustrating, as that is not the case. My boss got mad at me yesterday when he offered to buy me an iPhone, and I said no, I would stay with my blackberry. He is a Machead, and said there was no problems with the network, when obviously after reading this forum, and many others, that there IS a problem.
November 9th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Read this thread. It shows there are plenty of people all over the country that have these issues with Rogers 3G.
http://thisyear.ca/2008/11/01/rogers-iphone-3g-missed-and-dropped-calls/