I carry an iPhone and a Verizon 8130 Blackberry. There isn't any comparison on the coverage between the iPhone and the Blackberry, especially when EV-DO is compared to AT&T's 3G. Verizon has the best coverage, at least in South Florida, where I live. I also travel extensively in my job, and while this statement is anecdotal, Verizon consistently has better voice coverage, and Verizon and Sprint have better EV-DO coverage than AT&T with their 3G service. It's a shame that there isn't a CDMA version of the iPhone.
RIM is poised to release the 9500, their "iPhone killer" phone, as a Verizon device. If they execute well, which remains to be seen, they would have the advantage of superior coverage with Verizon and top-rate WiMax with EV-DO.
Apple is just as much at fault of course, because they made the decision to give AT&T an exclusive deal.
Well doesn't it make sense to partner with at&t as they are supporting the same 3g standard as the rest of the world? Seems to make it easier to make one iphone 3g for the world instead of one for the world and one for the US
Yup, it's looking like Apple has been getting crap for 3G when all signs point to the network. AT&T was and still is ill prepared to provide a viable 3G service. The same thing happened when they introduced DSL, the service and support was shoddy. They eventually got it right but it took a few years.
Wait... they actually got it right at some point? When did that happen?
I've guided numerous clients away from SBC Yahoo! DSL. What a mess it is!
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilM
Our business has several iPhone 3G users. Our experience is that call quality is universally excellent, whether between iPhones or between a landline phone and an iPhone. And we're not even in an area with any AT&T 3G service, although it's supposedly coming in September.
I'll echo that. Since I got my first iPhone when it came out, people have commented on how remarkably clear conversations have been. I've had no trouble either. When I've got a bad signal I have the usual issues, but call quality has never been a problem outside that. East Bay Area.
Very true ATT is ranked at the bottom of call quality.
I find those "rankings" to be about as accurate as political polls amongst "likely voters." They aren't amongst likely voters - they are amongst 1) people who voted last time 2) have the same phone number 3) are dumb enough to pick up the phone from an 800 caller and 4) don't hang up when they find out it's a survey. After you get through all 4 of those conditions you're sample is completely laughable. The world, and the US, would be much better if stopped wasting our time with idiotic polls that mean nothing but are presented as if they are actually "news". Anyway - back on topic.
I'd give those "rankings", at the very least, a +/- of 8% and that's not really all that accurate, at least IMO.
Well if this is correct and the problem falls on the backs of the carrier. Would this explain why the signal on the phone keeps jumping around from no service to full bars and anywhere in between when in 3G any staying in the same place? Did this test take into account the quality of the signal when holding the phone? I'm now on my third phone with all of the latest updates and the signal meter jumps all over the place depending on how I'm holding it. The only way I can achieve full strength is to be in the line of sight to the tower.
This is so frustrating!!!!!
Yeah, I know. I can still remember how people told me I was crazy when I had an amazingly screwed up upgrade experience to Leopard. Turned out to be a bad batch of upgrade discs.
But let me ask you this: I get that the signal jumps all over the place. What about your actual experience on a call or surfing the web? Are you dropping calls and having slow downloads, or are you just focusing on the signal strength as the phone meters it?
Sorry you all bought into AT&T. At least the iPhone looks cool.
We didn't buy into AT&T, we got stuck with it. It was AT&T's way or the highway. It appears as though you're blaming the victims here, a tendency that has for some reason been growing in American culture in recent years.
Outside of the Bluetest lab, Wieselgren reported that at one location where a Sony Ericsson phone displayed full bars, one iPhone 3G showed low 3G reception while the other indicated it was on EDGE. When attempting to download a web page however, Wieselgren wrote that "the Sony Ericsson with all the 3G bars makes it in 46 seconds. For my iPhone with Edge it takes 32."
"I do not draw any conclusion from this, there is so many factors influencing the outcome," Wieselgren reported. "We can at least be certain of one thing. The three iphones we tested had nothing wrong with their antennas."
I surprised nobody has asked this: Sony Ericsson, are you fudging your bar readouts to look better than you really are???
Much of the original hulabaloo was because 3G bars reported on different phones were higher with other brands. Could it be the lack of a standard for bar displays allows some manufacturers/cariers to play fast and loose with the readouts? Meaning they are even more meaningless than they were before?
Yet again the Apple hating portion of the media put the blame on Apple for the faults of the network provider.
I bet they'll be extremely quiet about the fact that the hardware is perfectly adequate in terms of 3G support.
Anyone written an iPhone app that measures your phone signal and type (3.5G, 3G, EDGE, GPRS, 2G), gets your GPS location, does a speed test, and then sends it to a website to view AT&T signal quality on a far more granular basis?
Yeah, I know. I can still remember how people told me I was crazy when I had an amazingly screwed up upgrade experience to Leopard. Turned out to be a bad batch of upgrade discs.
But let me ask you this: I get that the signal jumps all over the place. What about your actual experience on a call or surfing the web? Are you dropping calls and having slow downloads, or are you just focusing on the signal strength as the phone meters it?
When surfing the speeds change a bit here and there but I consider that to be network traffic. However on a cell call using 3G it tends to fade in and out at some point during the call and about 3 out of 10 calls drop. Also I must admit I do find myself focusing to much on the signal meter.
I get that the signal jumps all over the place. What about your actual experience on a call or surfing the web? Are you dropping calls and having slow downloads, or are you just focusing on the signal strength as the phone meters it?
I'm really experiencing dropped calls and sporadic internet connectivity. The dropped calls are frequent and happen both with 5 bars of signal (which, as the article and several of you point out, may not mean much) or 2 bars. On the data side, yesterday, here at my desk at work, I had no 3G signal for an hour--and it wasn't just the indicator; I could not get on the internet at all. Then suddenly, in the very same spot, I had 5 bars and could access the web at high speed (testmyiphone.com showed it at 897 kbps).
My point is that AT&T 3G availability really is jumping around like a flea on a hot brick, regardless of what the iPhone's signal indicator is showing.
Well if this is correct and the problem falls on the backs of the carrier. Would this explain why the signal on the phone keeps jumping around from no service to full bars and anywhere in between when in 3G any staying in the same place? Did this test take into account the quality of the signal when holding the phone? I'm now on my third phone with all of the latest updates and the signal meter jumps all over the place depending on how I'm holding it. The only way I can achieve full strength is to be in the line of sight to the tower.
This is so frustrating!!!!!
All kinds of things can dynamically change signal strength if you are near the limits of a particular tower/set of towers. Reflections off vehicles, opening and closing doors with metallicised sunscreen coatings. Cyclic harmonic constructive and destructive interference between towers which are just a bit too far part, and all those effects can change completely by moving the phone just a few feet. If the towers are deployed to ensure complete strong coverage the "noise" from the weaker towers isn't enough to cause significant problems.
The tests tell us that under laboratory conditions, the Phone works to spec. It does not tell us whether the iPhone works out in the real world.
The iPhone may very well be working perfectly in the real world. It may very well be a lemon. This test doesn't address the real world situations people are complaining about.
A phone's physical design encourages people to hold it in their hands a certain way, and hold it a certain distance from their head. With a badly designed phone, these simple actions might block the signal. That would be a major problem that would NOT show up under the type of standard testing conditions described.
I'm not saying their is a problem with the iPhone 3G. I'm just saying laboratory tests don't always tell us about real world performance.
We didn't buy into AT&T, we got stuck with it. It was AT&T's way or the highway. It appears as though you're blaming the victims here, a tendency that has for some reason been growing in American culture in recent years.
I actually switched over to AT&T after I moved to Fort Worth because I was getting so annoyed with how crippled my Verizon phone was. It was great when I got my Sony Ericcson Z525a and I could sync it via bluetooth - that alone was worth it.
Of course I've never (knock on wood) had any of the dropped call or poor reception issues that seem to plague others. Even when I was in NYC, DC, Ohio, Florida and New Mexico I didn't have any problems.
Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones! (that would be a first for me!)
Edit: Please don't start up that syncing via BT crap again - I actually find it EASIER to just plug in my phone than open iSync and go through the few step process it took to sync it.
Yet again the Apple hating portion of the media put the blame on Apple for the faults of the network provider.
I bet they'll be extremely quiet about the fact that the hardware is perfectly adequate in terms of 3G support.
Anyone written an iPhone app that measures your phone signal and type (3.5G, 3G, EDGE, GPRS, 2G), gets your GPS location, does a speed test, and then sends it to a website to view AT&T signal quality on a far more granular basis?
I'm working on a speed test website which should launch later today which allows the user to select their state / city. So hopefully people use it and I can put together some interesting data. I think it would be cool to have it in an app to automatically get your location, but not sure you can measure signal strength with an app. If I ever get accepted into the app store program I will probably create it in app form if possible.
I'm working on a speed test website which should launch later today which allows the user to select their state / city. So hopefully people use it and I can put together some interesting data. I think it would be cool to have it in an app to automatically get your location, but not sure you can measure signal strength with an app. If I ever get accepted into the app store program I will probably create it in app form if possible.
1) Are you going to use the UA to determine the browser and platform?
2) Are you going to use the IP address to determine the location and carrier?
Comments
RIM is poised to release the 9500, their "iPhone killer" phone, as a Verizon device. If they execute well, which remains to be seen, they would have the advantage of superior coverage with Verizon and top-rate WiMax with EV-DO.
Just my thoughts.
Apple is just as much at fault of course, because they made the decision to give AT&T an exclusive deal.
Well doesn't it make sense to partner with at&t as they are supporting the same 3g standard as the rest of the world? Seems to make it easier to make one iphone 3g for the world instead of one for the world and one for the US
Yup, it's looking like Apple has been getting crap for 3G when all signs point to the network. AT&T was and still is ill prepared to provide a viable 3G service. The same thing happened when they introduced DSL, the service and support was shoddy. They eventually got it right but it took a few years.
Wait... they actually got it right at some point? When did that happen?
I've guided numerous clients away from SBC Yahoo! DSL. What a mess it is!
Our business has several iPhone 3G users. Our experience is that call quality is universally excellent, whether between iPhones or between a landline phone and an iPhone. And we're not even in an area with any AT&T 3G service, although it's supposedly coming in September.
I'll echo that. Since I got my first iPhone when it came out, people have commented on how remarkably clear conversations have been. I've had no trouble either. When I've got a bad signal I have the usual issues, but call quality has never been a problem outside that. East Bay Area.
Very true ATT is ranked at the bottom of call quality.
I find those "rankings" to be about as accurate as political polls amongst "likely voters." They aren't amongst likely voters - they are amongst 1) people who voted last time 2) have the same phone number 3) are dumb enough to pick up the phone from an 800 caller and 4) don't hang up when they find out it's a survey. After you get through all 4 of those conditions you're sample is completely laughable. The world, and the US, would be much better if stopped wasting our time with idiotic polls that mean nothing but are presented as if they are actually "news". Anyway - back on topic.
I'd give those "rankings", at the very least, a +/- of 8% and that's not really all that accurate, at least IMO.
Wait... they actually got it right at some point? When did that happen?
I've guided numerous clients away from SBC Yahoo! DSL. What a mess it is!
Idk - I've had SBC/Yahoo DSL (read: AT&T) for a while and I've, honestly, never had a single problem...
Well if this is correct and the problem falls on the backs of the carrier. Would this explain why the signal on the phone keeps jumping around from no service to full bars and anywhere in between when in 3G any staying in the same place? Did this test take into account the quality of the signal when holding the phone? I'm now on my third phone with all of the latest updates and the signal meter jumps all over the place depending on how I'm holding it. The only way I can achieve full strength is to be in the line of sight to the tower.
This is so frustrating!!!!!
Yeah, I know. I can still remember how people told me I was crazy when I had an amazingly screwed up upgrade experience to Leopard. Turned out to be a bad batch of upgrade discs.
But let me ask you this: I get that the signal jumps all over the place. What about your actual experience on a call or surfing the web? Are you dropping calls and having slow downloads, or are you just focusing on the signal strength as the phone meters it?
Sorry you all bought into AT&T. At least the iPhone looks cool.
We didn't buy into AT&T, we got stuck with it. It was AT&T's way or the highway. It appears as though you're blaming the victims here, a tendency that has for some reason been growing in American culture in recent years.
Outside of the Bluetest lab, Wieselgren reported that at one location where a Sony Ericsson phone displayed full bars, one iPhone 3G showed low 3G reception while the other indicated it was on EDGE. When attempting to download a web page however, Wieselgren wrote that "the Sony Ericsson with all the 3G bars makes it in 46 seconds. For my iPhone with Edge it takes 32."
"I do not draw any conclusion from this, there is so many factors influencing the outcome," Wieselgren reported. "We can at least be certain of one thing. The three iphones we tested had nothing wrong with their antennas."
I surprised nobody has asked this: Sony Ericsson, are you fudging your bar readouts to look better than you really are???
Much of the original hulabaloo was because 3G bars reported on different phones were higher with other brands. Could it be the lack of a standard for bar displays allows some manufacturers/cariers to play fast and loose with the readouts? Meaning they are even more meaningless than they were before?
I bet they'll be extremely quiet about the fact that the hardware is perfectly adequate in terms of 3G support.
Anyone written an iPhone app that measures your phone signal and type (3.5G, 3G, EDGE, GPRS, 2G), gets your GPS location, does a speed test, and then sends it to a website to view AT&T signal quality on a far more granular basis?
I'm now on my third phone with all of the latest updates and the signal meter jumps all over the place depending on how I'm holding it.
If merely moving your hand changes the reception, it could indicate a very weak signal to begin with, which would be the carriers fault.
Yeah, I know. I can still remember how people told me I was crazy when I had an amazingly screwed up upgrade experience to Leopard. Turned out to be a bad batch of upgrade discs.
But let me ask you this: I get that the signal jumps all over the place. What about your actual experience on a call or surfing the web? Are you dropping calls and having slow downloads, or are you just focusing on the signal strength as the phone meters it?
When surfing the speeds change a bit here and there but I consider that to be network traffic. However on a cell call using 3G it tends to fade in and out at some point during the call and about 3 out of 10 calls drop. Also I must admit I do find myself focusing to much on the signal meter.
Interesting. They got two so called "bad phones" and the worked better than results than the 'better' competitors.
Perhaps it is not the iPhone that is the problem. Its the void between the users' ears.
Just ran another test. Now up to 1743kbs on 3G. Love my iPhone and my carrier.
And the NEW Backberry 3G phones are having the same issues ? Bad ATT!
Skip
I get that the signal jumps all over the place. What about your actual experience on a call or surfing the web? Are you dropping calls and having slow downloads, or are you just focusing on the signal strength as the phone meters it?
I'm really experiencing dropped calls and sporadic internet connectivity. The dropped calls are frequent and happen both with 5 bars of signal (which, as the article and several of you point out, may not mean much) or 2 bars. On the data side, yesterday, here at my desk at work, I had no 3G signal for an hour--and it wasn't just the indicator; I could not get on the internet at all. Then suddenly, in the very same spot, I had 5 bars and could access the web at high speed (testmyiphone.com showed it at 897 kbps).
My point is that AT&T 3G availability really is jumping around like a flea on a hot brick, regardless of what the iPhone's signal indicator is showing.
Well if this is correct and the problem falls on the backs of the carrier. Would this explain why the signal on the phone keeps jumping around from no service to full bars and anywhere in between when in 3G any staying in the same place? Did this test take into account the quality of the signal when holding the phone? I'm now on my third phone with all of the latest updates and the signal meter jumps all over the place depending on how I'm holding it. The only way I can achieve full strength is to be in the line of sight to the tower.
This is so frustrating!!!!!
All kinds of things can dynamically change signal strength if you are near the limits of a particular tower/set of towers. Reflections off vehicles, opening and closing doors with metallicised sunscreen coatings. Cyclic harmonic constructive and destructive interference between towers which are just a bit too far part, and all those effects can change completely by moving the phone just a few feet. If the towers are deployed to ensure complete strong coverage the "noise" from the weaker towers isn't enough to cause significant problems.
The iPhone may very well be working perfectly in the real world. It may very well be a lemon. This test doesn't address the real world situations people are complaining about.
A phone's physical design encourages people to hold it in their hands a certain way, and hold it a certain distance from their head. With a badly designed phone, these simple actions might block the signal. That would be a major problem that would NOT show up under the type of standard testing conditions described.
I'm not saying their is a problem with the iPhone 3G. I'm just saying laboratory tests don't always tell us about real world performance.
We didn't buy into AT&T, we got stuck with it. It was AT&T's way or the highway. It appears as though you're blaming the victims here, a tendency that has for some reason been growing in American culture in recent years.
I actually switched over to AT&T after I moved to Fort Worth because I was getting so annoyed with how crippled my Verizon phone was. It was great when I got my Sony Ericcson Z525a and I could sync it via bluetooth - that alone was worth it.
Of course I've never (knock on wood) had any of the dropped call or poor reception issues that seem to plague others. Even when I was in NYC, DC, Ohio, Florida and New Mexico I didn't have any problems.
Maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones! (that would be a first for me!)
Edit: Please don't start up that syncing via BT crap again - I actually find it EASIER to just plug in my phone than open iSync and go through the few step process it took to sync it.
Yet again the Apple hating portion of the media put the blame on Apple for the faults of the network provider.
I bet they'll be extremely quiet about the fact that the hardware is perfectly adequate in terms of 3G support.
Anyone written an iPhone app that measures your phone signal and type (3.5G, 3G, EDGE, GPRS, 2G), gets your GPS location, does a speed test, and then sends it to a website to view AT&T signal quality on a far more granular basis?
I'm working on a speed test website which should launch later today which allows the user to select their state / city. So hopefully people use it and I can put together some interesting data. I think it would be cool to have it in an app to automatically get your location, but not sure you can measure signal strength with an app. If I ever get accepted into the app store program I will probably create it in app form if possible.
I'm working on a speed test website which should launch later today which allows the user to select their state / city. So hopefully people use it and I can put together some interesting data. I think it would be cool to have it in an app to automatically get your location, but not sure you can measure signal strength with an app. If I ever get accepted into the app store program I will probably create it in app form if possible.
1) Are you going to use the UA to determine the browser and platform?
2) Are you going to use the IP address to determine the location and carrier?