I don't know where else to ask, so thought I'd see what turns up here Basically I bought an iPhone the other day on eBay, and after it arrived everything seems fine. The only problem is the signal - it's not strong enough. At home, I leave it docked, and I was watching it just now. It was 3 bars, then 2, then 1, then 'Searching...', then 'No Service', then back to 3... I opened it up and had a look and it does have an genuine Apple antenna (my first thought was it's been repaired with some cheap antenna), and it all seems plugged in fine etc. My thoughts are if the antenna is faulty, then surely the signal wouldn't last at all? When im out and about, the signal doesn't seem to jump as much, but it certainly isn't as strong as other peoples. My friend with an identical 3GS on O2 like me got 4 bars earlier - I was barely on 2. So what can cause this crappy signal? Everything seems fine, it is using the latest firmware, and I've run out of ideas Thanks
Ha I have noticed it goes down considerably when I hold it, but I've tried holding it every way physically possible and they both have the same affect It's the jumping thats the biggest issue, the way its 3 bars one minute, then no service the next.
The bars are near enough meaningless! You either have a signal or you don't so there is no point trying to extrapolate what 1 bar means compared to 4. If you have no more trouble than using a standard run of the mill mobile phone when out and about I'd forget about it because you're probably trying to find a problem when there is none. My 3GS is the same when at home but out and around the town it's perfectly fine and I do live in the sticks so 'no service' to me is no surprice to be honest.
It's worth checking you've got the latest version of IOS installed as well. It may stop the bars jumping around as much.
