Travel Technology - iPhone - AT&T Signal Coverage

I love my iPhone (3GS) very much BUT the ability to use it to make calls or even check e-mail was often non existent when I was in New York City and Washington and Minneapolis this past week or two. Even at MSP Sunday morning I could not make a call. Has anyone heard any comments from ATT? I keep hoping these are just glitches / brief outages while they upgradek their network. I didn't try sending a text message which I should have because these can be critical and hopefully they would have gotten through.

Hopefully AT&T is aware of this and taking major corrective action.

I believe their network in major cities have been getting overwhelmed recently by too many iPhones. They're working on an upgrade "over the next several months".

http://www.gearlog.com/2009/06/att_iphone_coverage_getting_be.php

Also discussed on a Buzz Out Loud podcast (Cnet) last week here (http://www.cnet.com/8301-11455_1-10273037-10.html).

I use a blackberry bold on the very same AT&T network and haven't had any such problems in any of the metro areas where I've used it, including:


San Jose / Silicon Valley
San Francisco
Los Angeles
San Diego
Portland
Seattle
Las Vegas
Houston
Dallas
Oklahoma City
Des Moines
Minneapolis
Chicago
New Orleans
Atlanta
Charlotte
D.C.
New York
Boston


Maybe it's not all the network....

i had my ATT for 4 years up until February of this year(tytn2 and curve). Sometime in December the network took a turn for the worse in NYC. I would have many dropped calls and calls going straight to voicemail. After 2 months of that, i ended up switching to Verizon as i couldn't even be on a conference call without getting disconnected. i tried a new phone, sim card, battery.... none of which resolved the issues. it was upsetting because i really liked ATT(and my Tytn2). but something definitely changed. and it seemed to happen at the same time as the iphone 3g came out.

I use a blackberry bold on the very same AT&T network and haven't had any such problems in any of the metro areas where I've used it, including:


San Jose / Silicon Valley
San Francisco
Los Angeles
San Diego
Portland
Seattle
Las Vegas
Houston
Dallas
Oklahoma City
Des Moines
Minneapolis
Chicago
New Orleans
Atlanta
Charlotte
D.C.
New York
Boston


Maybe it's not all the network....
How did you visit all those places in the last week or two? The problems started happening recently. Any data points before then are irrelevant.

How did you visit all those places in the last week or two? The problems started happening recently. Any data points before then are irrelevant.

Wait. So you're saying that the network broke itself a couple weeks ago is more likely than a crap phone coming out a couple weeks ago? :rolleyes:

I've been in at least a few of those, including MSP for the last few days (both the airport and the metro).

Here's another data point: I have an iPhone 3G (not 3GS). It worked fine when on the ground, but whenever I was high above the ground, such as in a tall building, I would have problems such as dropped calls, unintelligible voice path, data service that would cut in and out, and signal that would intermittently go from 5 bars to 1 or 0 bars for a minute or so, then reset. I associated this with the problems relating to multi-path from nearby tall buildings and/or the phone "seeing" a signal at the same frequency from several cells over.

When the 3.0 software came out, I updated my iPhone 3G, and all of these problems went away. I infer from this that there was a major update to the radio firmware in the 3.0 software release, and in my case, it made all of my problems go away. I suppose it's possible that these changes had a negative affect on other users based on conditions specific to their location and/or local system.

Wait. So you're saying that the network broke itself a couple weeks ago is more likely than a crap phone coming out a couple weeks ago? :rolleyes:

I've been in at least a few of those, including MSP for the last few days (both the airport and the metro).

The network was overwhelmed with AT&T added 1 million+ subscribers in a weekend. I believe people who upgraded the software to OS3 were probably also testing the new features. The iPhone takes many times more bandwidth than other phones and the bandwidth probably spiked recently.

I would hardly call MSP a major city, it's not even in the top 40 and has 1/4 the population density of NYC. It's not the overall network that was overwhelmed but cell towers in especially densely populated areas.

The iPhone takes many times more bandwidth than other phones and the bandwidth probably spiked recently.

Two points here:

1) it is already well known how much less efficient the iphone is than handsets like the blackberry for similar tasks because of it lacks sophisticated push and compression techniques. I'm not sure why you're telling me this.

I would hardly call MSP a major city, it's not even in the top 40 and has 1/4 the population density of NYC. It's not the overall network that was overwhelmed but cell towers in especially densely populated areas.

2) I'll let you get away insulting Minnesotans about their fair city, but I cited the reference because that was where the OP cited as their worst case. I also spend a fair amount of time around SF not having the problems iPhone users classify as paralytic in that metro.

check your signal stregth, I find the "bars" don't really tell the whole story.

type in *3001#12345#* CALL, and see what shows up in the upper left hand corner, it should be -90, or LESS, meanin -80 is better. Anything over -100, like -101+ is WORSE and I find a whole bunch will go wrong, phone won't ring, won't hold signal, etc.

Two points here:
1) it is already well known how much less efficient the iphone is than handsets like the blackberry for similar tasks because of it lacks sophisticated push and compression techniques. I'm not sure why you're telling me this.

Not to mention that the iPhone does other thing other than email, that take a lot of bandwidth.


2) I'll let you get away insulting Minnesotans about their fair city, but I cited the reference because that was where the OP cited as their worst case. I also spend a fair amount of time around SF not having the problems iPhone users classify as paralytic in that metro.

I wasn't insulting Minneapolis, just stating a fact. Why would you take it as an insult?

I actually haven't had any problems in the last two weeks either in NYC. Using iPhone, iPhone 3g, iPhone 3gs, BB Pearl and a Bold on our account.

Here's another data point: I have an iPhone 3G (not 3GS). It worked fine when on the ground, but whenever I was high above the ground, such as in a tall building, I would have problems such as dropped calls, unintelligible voice path, data service that would cut in and out, and signal that would intermittently go from 5 bars to 1 or 0 bars for a minute or so, then reset. I associated this with the problems relating to multi-path from nearby tall buildings and/or the phone "seeing" a signal at the same frequency from several cells over.

When the 3.0 software came out, I updated my iPhone 3G, and all of these problems went away. I infer from this that there was a major update to the radio firmware in the 3.0 software release, and in my case, it made all of my problems go away. I suppose it's possible that these changes had a negative affect on other users based on conditions specific to their location and/or local system.

I wonder if my situation can shed any light on things. I'm on the 14th floor in NYC. I never had a problem with my original iPhone. My friends with the newer 3G have had problems lately with the same stuff you mention. No signal, then full signal, then no signal again. Off hand, I don't know if it was before or after the 3.0 upgrade.

On Friday I got a new GS and I was having the same problems as they were. Just for the heck of it, I turned off 3G. The phone seemed to reset and now I never have any problems. I do have to remember to turn on 3G if I go out.

On Friday I got a new GS and I was having the same problems as they were. Just for the heck of it, I turned off 3G. The phone seemed to reset and now I never have any problems. I do have to remember to turn on 3G if I go out.

AT&T's 3G network is overloaded with all the iPhones and other 3G hardware they've sold. The network just can't take it. AT&T is beginning to roll out 3G service on the 850 MHz spectrum they own, but this will take at least a few years to be finished.

In the meantime, as a 3G cell site gets over crowded it kicks people off, forcing their phones down to GSM/EDGE. This is what you're experiencing.

In the meantime, as a 3G cell site gets over crowded it kicks people off, forcing their phones down to GSM/EDGE. This is what you're experiencing.

I know that might explain data problems, but would that affect voice calls as well?

Yes. I'm pretty sure UMTS is data and voice. In the 2G world, GSM is voice and EDGE is data...though these terms get blurred a lot.

correct. AT&T routes voice over GSM and UMTS. Hence why, if you drop from 3G while talking, sometimes you lose the call. The handoff sometimes doesn't work quite right.

850 should help this dramatically. They rolled it out here in S.Cal and the reliability increased.

BUT the ability to use it to make calls or even check e-mail was often non existent when I was in New York City
I live in NYC and anyone with an iPhone who visits me in my apartment discovers they have no service. That's why I have a Razr phone with T-Mobile and an iPod touch - no problem with the T-Mobile signal but AT&T, zilch!

I live in NYC and anyone with an iPhone who visits me in my apartment discovers they have no service. That's why I have a Razr phone with T-Mobile and an iPod touch - no problem with the T-Mobile signal but AT&T, zilch!

Tell them to turn off 3G when they're in your apartment. I go from no service to four bars in a second.

Tell them to turn off 3G when they're in your apartment. I go from no service to four bars in a second.

Why doesn't the phone do it itself? I thought it was supposed to.

-David

Why doesn't the phone do it itself? I thought it was supposed to.

Dunno. I just know it works.

You're lucky you can do this. ATT disabled the switch on Blackberry Bolds to force the phone to 2g and they did it at the firmware level. Even reflashing the phone with a different provider's implementation of the OS will not restore it.

I think on the 3g as an example, if it is on 3G, then it will try to stay there and indeed, it probably CAN get the signal better than the 2G signal in many areas since the 2g build out pretty much has stopped. So, it won't make the jump to 2G unless it really cannot find a signal. But, we know that the 2g signal works better indoors, up high and in difficult areas. So, one can switch over to enable it - and save some battery as well.

You're lucky you can do this. ATT disabled the switch on Blackberry Bolds to force the phone to 2g and they did it at the firmware level. Even reflashing the phone with a different provider's implementation of the OS will not restore it.

I don't think any provider's implementation had this option. It was a newly released feature in 4.6.0.282. Once i loaded that software rev I had the option. More info here:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f83/official-9000-os-4-6-0-282-released-251060/

AT&T is always behind on certifying their software releases - so I wouldn't expect the AT&T branded release for a while.