iphone 3gs signal issues - don't buy one!

I waited a long time before deciding to buy an iphone, it was the perfect choice for what I needed to do and meant I could carry one device rather than a number, it fitted by purpose for work and pleasure. I avoided jumping on the bandwagon as an early adopter and thought the 3GS would be no problem.

How wrong I was! From the moment I switched it I had signal issues, there was of course the customary run around from Vodafone and Apple, denial of issues, then a sort of acknowledgement from Vodafone of issues but still no acceptance of a fault from Apple. Anyway after a week of frustration, phone calls, emails, a trip to the apple store to see a genius and swap the phone I've had enough and returned it.

The issue.

My work is 0.5 of a mile from a mast, pretty much clear line of sight, my home is 0.9 of a mile away from the same mast.

On a normal nokia phone I get a good signal, have no issues making calls, getting texts etc.

Move over to the iPhone 3GS using the same sim and I basically can't make a call or send a text.

Sat on my desk the iPhone 3GS shows 2, sometimes 3 bars, if I am unlucky it will roam to 3G where it just has a signal. Picking the phone up results in the loss of at least 2 bars of signal within 30 seconds or so. You can see the problem can't you, lose 2 to 3 bars of signal and guess what you have no signal the call is dropped and the phone starts searching for a signal.

It appears having the phone in your hand covers the aerial and reduces the signal, hardly a clever design for a hand held device.

I also tested the same sim in a friend's iPhone 3G, sat in the same place on the desk it shows 4-5 bars much like my nokia.

Surprisingly it also exhibits the pick up issue, when in hand it loses up to 2 bars of signal depending on how you hold it. Its not of course so noticeable as you have 4 or 5 to start with so can still make and receive calls.

There is also an issue with the way both phones roam from 3G to 2G, it takes the phone an age to realise its lost its 3G signal and then swap to 2G, in my experience it normally says searching in between, so you can expect to drop a call if it happens. This can easily be reproduced by switching off your suresignal box and seeing how long after that it is before it drops the 3G signal and reverts to 2G on your local mast.

So it would appear:-

The iPhone 3GS can only be used in very high signal areas (5 bars +).
The iPhone 3G can only be used in medium signal areas (3-4 bars +).
Signal loss detection is poor and switching between 2G and 3G is poor.

Switch off 3G on a 3GS unless you are using it and are stood by a mast. The 3GS appears to strongly favour a 3G signal even when it only has one bar, if you then pick up the device you will lose your signal and it will roam to 2G. Better to have it on 2G all the time - but then why have a 3G phone!

Vodafone will offer you a suresignal box to 'boost' your signal, except it doesn't boost your signal it creates you your own mast in your house routed over your internet connection. What doesn't occur to Vodafone is that if you have a signal issue at home you likely have one down the local pub, the gym, and everywhere else you go locally. So in reality it solves nothing, probably why no one else has adopted them. It also means you somehow need to keep 1mb/s of your bandwidth free per phone, how do you accomplish that? If someone starts a large download you can forget using your phones!

After much pressing I've finally managed to be allowed to return the item to Vodafone and cancel the contract without paying a £500 early termination fee. My suggestion is you mention the distance selling act (if you bought it remotely) and the consumer protection laws (such as being fit for purpose which it clearly isn't).

Apple seem to be in denial and trying to cover the issues with the iPhone and in particular the 3GS up. My phone was swapped instantly at the Genius bar but the new one was no different. I rang the next day to see if anything could be done but other than offer a suresignal there was no alternative and although the staff member could not admit to an issue you could tell that there was and I wasn't the first to have such problems.

I'm hoping its just either a particular batch of faulty phones or a software issue that can be resolved but I fear its a physical design issue/flaw with the iPhones aerial and on the S series some form of extra interference from the faster processor. Time will tell.

For the moment and until the issue can be demonstrated to be resolved I'm returning back to my Nokia.

Sadly having done some searching on the net since it seems other modern devices like the iPhone can also suffer from similar signal loss when picked up so choose your device carefully and do some research before signing up.