Apple confirms iPhone Firmware 2.0.2 Update Includes Changes to Fix some iPhone 3G Reception Issues
Apple confirms iPhone Firmware 2.0.2 Update Includes Changes to Fix some iPhone 3G Reception Issues
There have been a lot of speculations over the 3G reception issues that some iPhone 3G users are facing since its launch. Some analysts have reported that the problem is with the Infineon chip that Apple has used in iPhone 3G, while there are others who believe that the issue...
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My reception is still just as lousy with the 2.0.2 as was 2.0.1, even in areas I would expect it to be good such as in the middle of town.
Gathering from the quotes from the carriers and Apple, it almost appears that they are not going to do anything further about the issue. And NOTHING WILL GET DONE until Apple and the phone carriers stop pointing fingers at each other and actually work together to find a solution.
Luckily I still have 14 days left to return my 3G to the Apple store, and cancel AT&T service and go BACK to Sprint. At least Sprint & their phones had nearly all bars all the time, and rarely a dropped call. (No, I am not affiliated with Sprint. Just a happy customer that was lured away by the enticing iPhone 3G.)
Very disappointing. I am new to having an iPhone and really fell in love with it (other than the service).
Thanks iPhonehacks for keeping us posted.
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Hey Reviewer,
Thanks for your comments and feedback.
We are sorry to hear that you are still facing problems with your iPhone 3G.
iPhone firmware 2.0.2 seems to have fixed some bugs but not all of them.
We are Apple Fanboys at the end of the day and are quite sure that Apple Engineers are working hard to fix these problems with AT&T.
cheers!
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I would like to take this opportunity to invite everyone to settle down on the 3g connectivity issue. I just bought a 3g, have 2 friends with a 3g and several with original iphones. I have found that the 3g service is about the same as any other ATT phone, leading me to believe that reception in 99% of cases is tower dependant and not phone dependant. Here is my quick checklist you should run through before getting all wound up:
1. Do you live in a major city? Datacom infrastructure is built out in metro areas first, highway first.
2. Are you being realistic? Do you want to run a 32 node game server off a cell phone or what? your phone is not going to rival copper wire. get used to that fact.
3. Are you operating a "jailbroken" phone in a market that apple has not introduced 3g phones into yet? You are probably using software tweaked for another locality. They are probably working out the bugs.
4. Are you lying about edge? I have found that the edge network is only about 20% slower than 3g (by anecdotal estimate). Is edge really that horrific? Seriously!! I watch you tube videos and stream pandora radio just fine on edge.
5. Did you jailbreak your phone? As good as the techies that wrote the jailbreak software are, I am sure the techies at Apple are better, and have left off certain features to maintain stability and minimize conflictsor is it just to be "micro$oft" nazis? Did you also hotrod your toaster to make fried ice cream?
6. Are you in dire need of an alcoholic beverage, a warm shower, and a female companion? Seriously now, if you are so revved up about cell phone internet signal that you have to light up every message board from here to hong kong, you probably have other issues.
7. If all else fails, hack your iphone so you can hook up cat5 ethernet to it and drag a wire around.
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I'm a new customer to At&t, I was on Verizon for 2 years.
I live in an area with 3G coverage.
As far as the data connectivity I haven't had any issues.
The biggest problem I have is the voice service. I drop calls all the time get garbled calls and literally can't dial due to call failed. I heard At&t service wasn't that great but damn this is horrible.
I will say outside the calls seem to be fine but in a building it's unacceptable. Verizon didn't have any voice issues in the same buildings. When you work indoors spending most of your time indoors I would think it's acceptable to expect voice service.
I do get some 3G indoors on my iphone but only next to a window.
If I need to make a call I have to literally walk across the building to the window.
Anyone else have this issue? Is this related to the edge/3g switching issues? Is At&t really this bad?
Today I received a replacement Iphone from Apple I hope to God it works better.
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Thanks for the suggestions. One thing I would like to clarify, at least in my case, is that I am not so revved up about my internet reception. I could care less if I can open a webpage anywhere at all times. What I am revved up about, is having to call back someone 4 times during a 20 minute conversation and constantly apologize for the dropped calls, if the call even goes through at all.
No, my phone is not jailbroken, it is bone stock.
It does not matter if I have it manually set to Edge or allow to use 3G.
I do live in a large city and believe my expectations are reasonable, and have not been exaggerating my difficulties with the service. Although the iPhone can do lots of awesome things, its first and foremost job is to be a cellphone. -
Drewman -
Thanks for reinforcing my point!
Please let us know if the replacement phone helped at all. If so, I might try one exchange before I throw in the towel. -
Why not just manually turn 3G on and off. Since I started doing that my reception in spotty areas is so much better, have no dropped calls and it is not that much slower than 3G. If you want or need the extra speed then just turn 3G back on.
Not only that but your battery life will be so much better!
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Hello everybody
Please at lease tell where U from cos there is rly no point of those comments.
I'm from NYC, never had any problems with the signal sometimes when I'm in a car iphone is swiching for Edge from 3G.
Other thing that I've experienced is very low speed on max signal sometimes doesn't matter what area I just can't view anything from youtube or check my email's (email server gmail). Other then those minor things I recomends iphone ... but remember it's still JUST A PHONE, if U can see more things that will help U get it if not dont bother. -
This update did not fix the problem of apps from store not working after a crash and reset and ipod not recognizing and content on phone. I upgraded and it still happens. Pain in the ass. I have to restore as a new phone and sync back everything. Expect better from apple!!
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I have no problems what so ever with, voice, edge, or 3G, running on 2.0.1. With AT&T living in Reno, nv. I just changed over from sprint I was always romeing, and had no service in my brick house. Now with iPhone I have full bars 95% of the time indoors, and 99% of the time outside all "3G" with in the city. iPhone is jailbroke. My only problems are with safari crashing "about 12 times a day" and failed calls every so often, but no droped ones. my wife has same, only not jailbroken, no reception problems, and same problems with safari and failed calls.
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I have noticed a drastic improvement with new firmware 2.02. I bought my iphone 3g the day it came out with software 2.0. Update 2.01 didn't fix anything in reguards to connectivity. With 2.02 I am now seeing my phone have much stronger 3g signals. The no service and no bars thing is almost completely cured. I live in Cleveland and travel about 125 miles daily all through the surrounding cities taking pictures of homes for my job (real estate). So I can say that I have tried it in a large area. Before firmware 2.02 I was so upset that I turned 3G off because it was so unreliable. That did help but thats not what I paid for. So for all you that are saying that this firmware didnt do anything you are wrong. I hope the next one will affect your phone in the same way it did mine. Is there anyway I can get Jeremy Cerasoli to post instructions for #7. (just kidding)
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I had a att tilt before switching to iphone 3g In my home where i had 3 bars and good call quality Now i have no signal unless i switch back to edge and i have full bars. I always had a good connection in my home but now cant recieve calls. tahank god for wireless or i wouldnt have my work emails either!
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Whats up with everyone moaning about there iphones, I was one of the ones up at 4:30am on July 11th to buy my iphone and I already prepared for the worst so when activation problems start happening and glitches popped up. I was not mad I figured it would take time to iron out the issues.
EVERYONE seems to think apple and at&t are doing nothing to resolve the matter?This is FAR from the case, A 2nd level AT&T support rep called ME directly to ask if I updated to 2.0.2 and to report on if my 3g services were any better. T-mobile, Sprint or Verizon NEVER called me back to "follow up"
People "There working on it" let them work on it and fix it" AT&T and Apple would not be billion dollar companies if they didnt support there customers.
The quote regarding tower spacing IS the problem, I am a RF technician and you can easily calculate a 1900mhz 3g signal will not travel as far as a 850 mhz 2g signal they are going to have to make a few tweaks for now to help the 3g handsets be a little more sensitive.
I have been in over 12 3g major market cites on vacation and 3g works, granted there are "issues" ,but its working better then most are reporting.
an iphone user in Wisconsin -
2.0.2 made my phone more stable in that it defaults to EDGE much quicker, which is a double-edged sword. I'm in a big 3G area (Chicago) and I should get 3G everywhere. Not the case. :(
However, I get many less dropped calls on EDGE. EDGE calls, though, sound worse and have HORRIBLE data rates. 3G calls, when they work, are clear as a bell, but I still haven't noticed good data performance on a 3G network.
The whole experience with the 3G/EDGE network is horrible and I know it could be mostly Apple's fault there, but it's the worst part about the phone.
I love the phone anyway, but we need a good resolution. I hope if it's a hardware problem that we will get a recall and a free upgrade. It's only fair.
So, to summarize, I should be getting solid 3G where I'm at. I'm not. But, at least for now I have stable EDGE calls. Not the best solution right now, but better than flimsy 3G service that drops calls.
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This sucks! I am ready to throw my iphone out the window..It was better before the 2.0.2 update.
E-mail takes forever to send
Reception sucks goes in and out
Calls drop
It's software not hardware. when I got the phone out of the box it was fine. But it could be hardware. If it is am looking forward to that total re:call on iphone 3G6 weeks, 6 weeks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V17duGlHEYY -
Wow, I am still waiting to install this, I think I may have set a record for the longest back up. Currently its be going 7 hours, its on the last bar at the moment. I have around 50 apps installed and nothing of majour size. I only have around 4gb of music and about 600mb pictures. So what the hell does it back up that takes so LONG!!! its Driving me mad!!!!!!
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I'm in the UK and I have to say that Edge has always been incredibly slow for me (both original iPhone and 3G). With the update, I get even less 3G coverage now which sucks! Before the update I was able to watch YouTube anywhere in my house even with only 1 bar of signal. Now, I only get GPRS as EDGE doesn't appear to get picked up here. Also, driving round the M25 and up the M40 and back today (350 miles), I was hardly ever able to get the traffic report websites to work - Safari kept telling me that the server had stopped responding. I kept watching the phone jump between 3G with full bars, then suddenly EDGE/GPRS and back even while I was moving at 5 miles an hour in traffic. I'm glad its fixed some issues in the US, but for me its reduced the usefulness and reliability. I'm restoring to 2.0.1 tomorrow morning!
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Dear "iphoneuser" (posted on August 21).
You said that "2.0.2 made my phone more stable in that it defaults to EDGE much quicker, which is a double-edged sword. I'm in a big 3G area (Chicago) and I should get 3G everywhere. Not the case"
But the Apple spoke person said otherway, that with the new 2.0.2 update it should hold the 3G signal even if it is weak. as mentioned below.
"There is nothing Apple can do in software to fill in spotty coverage in AT&T's 3G network, but software updates can adjust how the phone hardware works to allow it find and maintain a link with a less than optimal 3G signal. Independent tests have suggested that at least some versions of the iPhone 3G are too quick to drop a marginal 3G signal that other UMTS phones can use without problems."
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HERE IS THE "REAL" DEAL. I AM A EMPLOYEE OF THE GREAT "AT&T" AND I HAVE FOUND THE INFO YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. BASICALLY THE MAIN REASON FOR SPOTTY COVERAGE ON THE "3G" IPHONE ARE THE TOWERS. APPLE WILL BE RELEASING UPDATES TO HELP SPEED UP THE PROCESS, BUT FOR NOW WE WILL HAVE TO WAIT FOR MOST TOWERS TO BE FULLY CONVERTED. THAT IS THE MAIN REASON SOME REPORTS FROM MAJOR CITIES SHOW "3G AS "ELITE COVERAGE AREAS AND SOME (EVEN IN MAJOR CITIES ARE SHOWING LOW 3G SIGNAL STRENGTH)THE BEST ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS "ENJOY YOUR IPHONE WITH THE FEATURES AND APPS THAT IT POSSSES AND PLEASE BE PATIENT AND WAIT AS NEW IMPROVEMENTS WILL BE MADE AND OUR CURRENTLY UNDERWAY. PATIENTS IS THE NAME OF THE GAME, SIMILAR TO WHEN THE NEW XBOX 360 OR PS3 CAME ONTO THE MARKET. THE FIRST FEW MONTHS PRODUCED UNIT AFTER UNIT WITH ERRORS AND FAULTY EQUIPMENT. THE BUGS ARE BEING WORKED OUT AND AT&T ALONG WITH THE HELP OF APPLE ARE MOVING AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO FIX THESE ISSUES. ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK.
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As I mentioned previously I received new hardware. I didn't mention my location before... it's Bloomington, IL.
I have spent the last few days with my new iphone in Chicago. The phone performed well. Much better than my previous one. I don't know if this is due to the new hardware or the newest update or the fact that I was in a different location.
I will be in my local area this week and post an update after more testing. This should give a decent idea if it's hardware or location.
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Here, in Sweden, my iPhone (2G) was OK with 1.x series firmware although it did have a nasty tendency to drop calls. Upgrading to 2.0.1 made it drop calls about five times as often and made dialing out difficult at times (call failed). I just upgraded to 2.0.2 and will see how it performs over the next few days.
As for data, I use Microsoft Push technology so data rate is not an issue. I handle all my e-mail traffic with many messages every day on five to seven megabytes per month - that Activesync stuff is truly bandwidth efficient! Google maps works fine with little delay.
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I actually have a 1st generation phone and since the update I cannot connect with Edge and Push doesn't seem to work at all for Microsoft Exchange.
