Devasted - Data Signal Issue

[finn5975]

I am thoroughly devastated. I have had nothing but love for this phone and feel that it improved on every aspect of my 4S. But, my biggest fear came to fruition this morning. My first time back at work since receiving it Friday, as I am sitting at my desk, I watched it drop from 3G to Verizon's equivalent of edge (circle at the top instead of 3G or LTE). I just don't get it because I was under the impression that Apple had strong antennas in the iphone. My 4S had this same issue and I was truly hoping I just had a bad device. What gets me is that when I had the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, notorious for having a weak radio, even it pulled solid 3G the entire time I would be at work. My co-workers Galaxy S3 never drops from 3G either.

Uggh!!!!!!!! I love every other thing about this phone but I don't think I can live with another year of less-than-3G while at work.....the place that basically I spend most of my waking hours. This sucks so bad. And please trust me, I am not trolling. If others are having a better experiece than I am then that is great news. Just my personal experience with this phone and my previous one.

 

[sting7k]

There are too many factors that will effect your signal. Here at my job my iPhone 4 is the one that can hold 3G while my Galaxy Nexus is always on EDGE.

You could ask your co-worker to turn on their hotspot. Or lobby your company to add wifi. Or hopefully Verizon will bring LTE to your area soon.

 

[finn5975]

We have LTE here, but it doesn't penetrate the walls of the building. That seems to be universal to all other phones around me. Just sucks sitting here knowing if I had a different phone I would get 3G at my desk. I don't want a different phone. But, I don't want poor data reception either.

 

[Redshirt]

It's your building. I'm a two story building. Downstairs in the center I've got no signal. Upstairs in the center, I've got 4 bars. Not really too much you can do about it other than maybe getting a cell repeater and having it near a window. But you're talking $$$.

 

[ups925]

On the first floor at my work, my sprint blackberry would get full bars with data when att iphones got no signal, verizon only worked in certain areas but no data. Im on the second floor and no one has issues with verizon so i switched to verizon for the increased (overall) speeds. My dad automatically buys the phone with the strongest reception to be able to use it out in the country. You have to pick which battle you want to win. Im still surprised the people on the first floor insist on iphones when its common knowledge they do not work on the first floor. My sprints crappy internet would chugg past their 4g and hspa+ phones.

One thing you Can do is play with your phone to see which spots it works in, if the orientation of the phone helps, if you dont block the antennas with your hands, etc when i had att my phone would only work in one spot of my bedroom. Tmobile and sprint were flawless which is why i held onto sprint despite their horrible data speeds.

 

[salukibrandon]

I'm kind of in the same situation here only that so far I seem to keep a 3G signal. The walls in this place must be like the Pentagon walls. I can live with the 3G inside work, though. But I do feel your pain.

 

[iphonefizzle]

i am getting lte in my building in dallas at work i am interior 3rd floor never have had an issue but i am on att the only gripe i have is that when i outside i get 4g and sometimes lte not sure why i changes when i am sitting in one spot.

 

[finn5975]

Thank you all for replying. I appreciate it! For me what it bothersome isn't so much the fact that I cannot get 3G in the building, with the building structure and such being the cause. It's the fact that a phone in the office right next to me, running on the same network, does. Or, the fact that previous phones I have owned did as well. So it must be the radios used in the iphone I guess. But, I refuse to go back to android just to get 3G at my desk so I will learn to live with it. Was just hoping this wouldnt be the case.

 

[LCW]

do you have any coworkers with at&t and have either a 4S or 5 ?

 

[anon(4698833)]

At my office i rarely got a strong 3G/4G signal, and regularly had problems staying connected if i tethered from within my office...my LTE is alive and strong in there, and when i switched over to 4G just to check and see, it was a better signal than the 4S and the 4. At the same time, a few of my fellow officers that have the GSIII do not get LTE within the building and have the same 4G issues i had with my 4S.

No company can build a phone that covers the entire spectrum of user, it's just impossible since there are so many varied areas...i understand frustration though, if i couldn't enjoy one of the main new features of this iPhone (LTE), I would certainly not be happy. Perhaps this is a good time to try one of the other phones out there since they seem to get better reception in your area...or just keep trying the iPhone, you may be experiencing an overwhelmed network in your area right now.

 

[Rocket_Girl]

My 4s on at&t was more than rarely on Edge - indoors, outdoors, everywhere. Seemed to be as much a load problem (high-demand times) as a signal or facility problem. I've been in NUMEROUS conference hotels/ convention centers where at&t customers had NO signal whatsoever, yet Verizon customers were just fine.

My hope for you is that this is a fluke in your building, and that you will fare better than others outside the building -- even when signals are weak to nonexistent for other carriers. Fingers crossed!

You could also ask to exchange it for a different one. It could be that you got a bum phone. Having read about the different vendors who manufacture the parts for this phone, they can look identical yet have parts from completely different vendors, in different combinations of this and that. That could help explain the random antenna problem or variations in screen hue. It also means that an exchange could really make a difference. The 14-day return window is there for a reason - good luck!

---------- Post Merged at 12:43 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:42 PM ----------

At my office i rarely got a strong 3G/4G signal, and regularly had problems staying connected if i tethered from within my office...my LTE is alive and strong in there, and when i switched over to 4G just to check and see, it was a better signal than the 4S and the 4. At the same time, a few of my fellow officers that have the GSIII do not get LTE within the building and have the same 4G issues i had with my 4S.

No company can build a phone that covers the entire spectrum of user, it's just impossible since there are so many varied areas...i understand frustration though, if i couldn't enjoy one of the main new features of this iPhone (LTE), I would certainly not be happy. Perhaps this is a good time to try one of the other phones out there since they seem to get better reception in your area...or just keep trying the iPhone, you may be experiencing an overwhelmed network in your area right now.

This: LOVE this. Made my day: "Speed has never killed anyone; suddenly becoming stationary...that's what gets you." - Jeremy Clarkson

 

[sj-performance]

...im assuming you dont have Wi-Fi at work?

 

[random987123]

I Feel your pain. My verizon 3G never had a signal at work. We have wifi but once 11am hits everyone is on it so it really slows down. I was so excited for LTE and literally in the parking lot I get 15mbps on LTE, I walk in the building at my desk and absolutely no LTE or 3G