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I really hope to shed some light on this and really make this problem go away. There has been repeated calls to ATT and also Apple. In the end, ATT even had an engineer do a site survey I believe and found that the network coverage was “as expected”. Over a three month period, my wife has missed over 40 calls from me. I check her phone to discover, as I thought, nothing. So she leaves voice mails to prove her innocence. By the way, with ATT and Apple, you gotta tell them people leave voice mails, otherwise, they will think a multitude of other problems. Multitude is my point here, I think it is two issues that ATT doesn’t want to admit. I intend to see if that is the case. This is geared toward people that know little or nothing about how the cell phone works on a principal level. Let me know if there is a correction needed, or I got something out of order.

My problem is like so many of you. I have dropped calls, missed calls, phantom voice mail and SMS. I get signal that goes away, no service and switches to Edge, GPRS, 3G without seemingly any reason. Move the phone? No, it sits there while I use my headset. I know better than that, it sits still and in a spot that has the best signal and quality. I judge the signal from the field test mode and quality by asking the other party.

I run a local WISP that has 900mhz and 2.4ghz gear in the field. I can tell you that although our gear is weaker, cheaper and pieces of crap, our network can deliver better 2.4ghz and 900mhz than even ATT with just about the same distance. I have a 2.4ghz link with a DDWRT WRT54GL that has better signal with a tower that is a mile away (150mw radio going a mile with the tower being the max you can go) than ATT with a 850mhz link. This will be explained later. So, I can tell you that a $50 router being able to get a better link than an iPhone is crazy. I can also tell you that the same 2.4ghz network is available from the ATT tower location with my iPhone. This is just to let you know I am not a total newcomer to this industry.

I had a 1st gen phone for enough time to get the 3G about two months before 3.0 and the 3GS. I have some time spent on all the OS and being solely on the Edge network. The first phone was pretty good, but it was difficult to get a good signal even though a tower is within sight of two miles. The tower is not only within sight, I have seen the tower due to having right of way to a tower near it.

So what is the problem? Some say it’s the iPhone’s radio, but other phones have the problem. Some say it’s the switch of 3g/edge/etc. Others say it’s signal problem.

You could be outside where I live, see the ATT tower and have to just watch a field test in order to find the best signal. I am not talking bars, forget bars if your signal is weak. Trust me, there is a big difference in 5 to 4. I do not even want to talk about the logic behind no bars or just one. If you compared your iPhone to the wireless networks we all use 900mhz, 2.4 and 5ghz, you would not be able to use your laptop with four bars. The five bars on my iPhone(s)=-86 signal (I am not going to use any RF terms here). Forget about you not breaking up to the people on the other end. You might hear them fine, but they cannot hear you well at all. The bars on your wireless laptop is not the same as your phone in the sense that most laptops work great at 3 bars. It’s data, not voice, so you don’t hear the problems that happen. Not only that, but you are still pretty close to that Router of yours.

In order to use your nice wireless network (Linksys, Dlink, SMC, etc), you better have a -83 or better. The new N networks can work at -96, so that is a major improvement. Most Dells and other big names have a way to find this number but it is not a huge deal with PC’s.

With this number system, the closer you get to -0, the better the signal (in most cases). My $50 linksys gets a -87 on 2.4ghz at a mile away, versus ATT with 850mhz only 2 miles away at -95. Maybe my logic and knowledge is wrong, but I think this is not a network working “as intended”. I know the cell towers are pointed at the largest base of customers and I think my area qualifies. Low signal pervades our area until you get to a certain high income area, then it’s GREAT.

So, do you have low signal? I’ll show you how, then we will go on to another topic that might be hand in hand with this. At least you’ll know which issue it really is.

If you go find how to enable field test, notice that you have a -XX number in the upper left now. In my territory, there is 850mhz 3g and edge coverage. You can find this out by some math on the frequencies. I think apple/at&t just did not want us knowing too easily. If you get 850mhz, you are lucky. 1900mhz does not go far, but can transfer data faster in some cases. 850mhz can go through a lot of different obstacles that 1900mhz, or 1.9ghz just cannot radiate though. Verizon got the 700mhz allotment, so they will no doubt have the best very soon. Also, keep in mind that channel 3 on your TV, at least analog, was in the below 50mhz area. That means it can go through just about anything it wants, within reason and with a penalty in distance.

I talked earlier about signal, bars and how little thought went into the bar system, at least in my humble opinion. This is intended to let you know how I can make less dropped calls and people can hear me just fine. If it does not improve, let me know. So, remember how 5 bars equaled a signal of -86? Well, people tell me that I break up a lot at -89 and they break up too. When I find a spot that is -84 (still five bars), the problems go away with never a dropped call. Also, the speech is stunning and very, very clear.

Now, you might be thinking… What happens when I have 1 bar? Good question and it’s bad. I do not have any hard data to give you as it is very difficult to get. I cannot tell for sure, but it seems the “formula” changes, or there is a bug or delay since I heard it updates every 5 seconds. 3 bars equals a -89, 2 is -95, 1 is in -100, little tiny bar is -105 or worse. At -100 and below, you will probably get a lot of 3g/edge/gprs(might be wrong) switching since each has requirements to that all important number.

I usually get -90 to -105 in my area no matter where I go. Outside in sight of tower two miles away, I get -89 and calls break up. My problems are no doubt a signal issue which would cause me to go back and forth all the time. In this case, it’s not enough towers and the tower I do go for is not focused enough inside of my little area.

So I turn off 3G and most problems go away. The other that is still around pertains to “straight to voicemail”. If I turned off PUSH, that problem goes away. I did not use notifications on my 1st gen, so I cannot report on that. Right now, as I have been told, turn off 3G. When all of the EDGE is gone, I suppose my phone will work. Now, why am I paying for faster data? Also, why is there not a simple switch so I can get 3G with a single tap? (From the top bar)

I hope this helps you all. How much of this did Apple or ATT tell me? None. How many field tests did they do? None. I had five bars, that’s the best network in the nation.

Next, I plan to document some of this and put it on a website. Shame has a way of making people do the right thing. A local Wisp is not supposed to be able to do battle against ATT.