Poor signal strength: Docking can boost, more
Posted 30 November 2007 @ 9am in Troubleshooting
Struggling with poor iPhone cellular signal strength? The less-than-practical answer may be to simply dock the device. Several users have found that connecting their iPhones to a Dock or via a USB cable to a host system can dramatically boost signal strength.
Meanwhile, a thread on Apple’s Discussion boards rife with lamentation of poor signal strength on the O2 network in the UK has several users noting that the device appears to frequently hop between available cell towers, causing rapid fluctuation in signal.
Feedback on poor signal strength? Please let us know.
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7 Comments
Posted by libertyforall1776
30 November 2007 @ 7pm
Yea well, this is because it appears from tear-apart images, in Apple’s “brilliance”, they put the antenna transmitters at the BOTTOM of the iPhone… really dumb.
Just try turning your iPhone sideways or upside-down — you will often notice increased signal…
Posted by libertyforall1776
30 November 2007 @ 7pm
See pictures here:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/06/29/iphone_teardown_reveals_better_than_ipod_construction_photos.html
And you wondered what that black plastic section was for… hahhaa :-(
Posted by libertyforall1776
30 November 2007 @ 7pm
To make it completely clear, see:
http://antennaguy.com/Images-iPhone/iPhoneAntenna3.jpg
Posted by bassato
1 December 2007 @ 12pm
just make the best out of it… ;)
boost of signal strength isn’t restricted to the docking station or connection to the mac- put the dock cable in and enjoy a signal booster for inside car or areas with limited reception…
Posted by michaelwelch1
3 December 2007 @ 1pm
Actually, placing the antenna at the bottom of the phone shouldn’t make any difference in reception. The Moto RAZRs all have theirs on the bottom and those phones get some of the best reception around.
Posted by gkiernan
4 December 2007 @ 4am
I’ve been struggling with this issue too. Have replaced the phone entirely and also gotten a new updated sim card, but nothing helps. This is purely an Iphone issue as I’m having signal issues in places I had no problems at before (been an ATT/Cingular customer for 2 years because I had better recepption with
them than with T-Mobile).
Posted by mmastrol
7 January 2008 @ 8pm
I have had the iPhone (more than one due to part of the screen going dead and apple replacing it) and with both phones, I lose signal where I never lost it before. I work in NYC and I live in Eastern Long Island. Everyday I drive from the Queens midtown tunnel to my house. On my BlackBerry Pearl and other BB devices i would go from the Queens midtown tunnel to exit 51 on the LIE and I would drop my call maybe once. With the iPhone i drop the call several times before I hit Nassau County. For those of you who don’t live in the NY area, we are talking about a 33 mile stretch of road that the BlackBerry could survive and the iPhone drops the call many times on an 18 mile stretch on the same road. At the end of the day i had to go back to the blackberry because I need a phone at the end of the day.
My theory is that maybe the transmit signal has been reduced to save on battery life as this was suspected to be an issue prior to launch. When i have to drop a call, people can’t hear me but I can hear them, so I find myself hanging up.