iPhone 4 vs iPhone 3GS Signal Strength

digitalhecht · Mar 20, 2011

Hello All,
Apologies in advance if this has been asked/solved before, but has anyone else experienced poor iPhone 4 reception vs 3G/3GS in the same location? I have been an original iPhone and iPhone 3GS owner with very little of the bad signal/dropped calls issues faced by many others in the South Bay (CA) area. But my iPhone 4 (bought two weeks ago from AT&T with new contract) is not faring so well. My own home is suddenly an AT&T dead zone! (And ironically, I am a U-Verse customer as well.) My iPhone 4 IS jailbroken (greenpois0n), as was my 3GS. (Not sure if this would be a factor as my 3GS was jailbroken with no reception issues.) But the latest hardware is not treating me so well so far. Thoughts? TIA.
Ed

donlocke65 · Mar 22, 2011

When i first got my iphone4 i had so many dropped calls i took it back and got an android,could not handle droid so went back to iphone4 it has gotten better since.You do have a 30 day return option so try it out.

Bluering · Mar 22, 2011

donlocke65 said:
When i first got my iphone4 i had so many dropped calls i took it back and got an android,could not handle droid so went back to iphone4 it has gotten better since.You do have a 30 day return option so try it out.

So what happens to all the phones that got returned during the 30 day try out? Do they get repackaged and sold as brand new to other customers?
Here in OZ, once you have opened the box, you can't return it. If it is faulty, it will be replaced otherwise you can't return it if you just don't like it. Also you would have already signed up for a 2-year plan that you cannot break without having to pay out thousand of dollars.

digitalhecht · Mar 25, 2011

I was aware of the return policy. Alas, it's too late for me now. I am seriously thinking of eating the ETF and selling the phone on eBay at this point. But I have an odd question first, can the phone be used as a (Wifi-capable) iPod and camera if I decide to keep it after cancelling my contract and AT&T de-activates the phone?

iGaz · Mar 25, 2011

digitalhecht said:
Hello All,
Apologies in advance if this has been asked/solved before, but has anyone else experienced poor iPhone 4 reception vs 3G/3GS in the same location? I have been an original iPhone and iPhone 3GS owner with very little of the bad signal/dropped calls issues faced by many others in the South Bay (CA) area. But my iPhone 4 (bought two weeks ago from AT&T with new contract) is not faring so well. My own home is suddenly an AT&T dead zone! (And ironically, I am a U-Verse customer as well.) My iPhone 4 IS jailbroken (greenpois0n), as was my 3GS. (Not sure if this would be a factor as my 3GS was jailbroken with no reception issues.) But the latest hardware is not treating me so well so far. Thoughts? TIA.
Ed

Me and my wife both have iPhones on the same network. Mine a 4G and hers is the 3GS. In terms of signal strength there isn't any noticeable difference. If were getting a poor signal 0-1 bars there are times when one phone will have the searching... and the other won't.

digitalhecht said:
I was aware of the return policy. Alas, it's too late for me now. I am seriously thinking of eating the ETF and selling the phone on eBay at this point. But I have an odd question first, can the phone be used as a (Wifi-capable) iPod and camera if I decide to keep it after cancelling my contract and AT&T de-activates the phone?

You can use it as an expensive iPod touch if you want. You could also just use any other AT&T sim...

digitalhecht · Mar 25, 2011

You can use it as an expensive iPod touch if you want. You could also just use any other AT&T sim...

Thanks, gaz. But specifically, what must I do to use it as an iPod? Once the phone is de-activated, can I get past the "activation screen" or is this something you can bipass on a greenpois0ned phone like mine? (My reasons for possibly keeping it are twofold: an audio player and a camera-only because I bought a Steadicam iPhone Smoothee for it and it works great!)
Thanks.

iGaz · Mar 25, 2011

Once you activate it with the sim via iTunes that's it. The only way your phone gets deactivated is when you restore. Even if AT&T cuts your sim off you can still use it to activate your phone.

I used to use and O2 sim that wasn't even registered to activate my 3G when I used it unlocked...