iPhone 2.0 Problems: Horrible Reception?

I posted the other day about some problems I’ve experienced while using the new iPhone 2.0 software on my original iPhone. I would like to quickly revise and expand this list with one huge issue that’s bugging the *** out of me: terrible, no, deplorable, signal reception.

For the past week or so, I’ve been visiting family in Richmond, VA. I’m right in the heart of the city, a few blocks away from billboards that read “Richmond is AT&T Country,” and I have no coverage! That’s right, zero coverage - zip, nada! I’ll admit that sometimes the iPhone will change from “no service” to one or two bars, but even then, EDGE and GPRS use is very spotty and unreliable at best. Most of the time, it just won’t work at all. Furthermore, the signal completely drops and returns at whim, while the phone is stationary, and takes forever for the phone to regain a signal once a signal is lost. In fairness, I know the iPhone has worse reception than other phones (which itself is deplorable), but I know I did experience better coverage a few months ago in the same areas using an earlier version of the iPhone software (not much better, the internet was still slow and spotty, but the phone did retain some signal and it didn’t take so long to recover from a lost signal or was so quick to loose one to begin with).

The kicker, however, was when I went shopping the other night in one of the busiest parts of the city, where I had “no service.” This was standing outside, right in front of the door to an AT&T Wireless company store. This is really inexcusable! I mean, I’m paying $80 a month for service that I’m not getting. If they weren’t closed at the time, I would have walked in and demanded an answer. Is this problem specific to my iPhone, or do the store’s iPhones also exhibit the same lack of coverage? How does the iPhone signal strength compare to other manufacturer’s phones? Is there an overall lack of coverage in this particular part of the city (which I would find surprising) or in Central VA as a whole (since I have experienced the same issues elsewhere)? How about iPhone’s running earlier versions of Apple’s software verses iPhones running version 2.0? Whatever the problem is, I want answers. Is the issue with AT&T or Apple? If it resides with Apple, is it a hardware issue (poor antenna design) or a software problem, which could be corrected?

Note: Other websites and forums have reported users having extremely poor 3G signal reception with the iPhone 3G world-wide, but I haven’t read anything specific to poor reception with an original iPhone. The curious thing, however, it that just as many are reporting fantastic signals, much improved, in fact, over the original model (I would like to know how this compares to other manufacture’s phones though). Unfortunately, it all seems to somewhat be a crapshoot, and I think we deserve some type of response or fix from Apple as to what might be going on. Luckily, it seems that Apple has been testing version 2.0.1 of the iPhone software, so we can all hold out hope this update can correct things.

Finally, I’d like to pontificate further on two additional issues relating to the new iPhone 3G hardware. First, how scratchable is the new black plastic cover (specifically black)? Does it scratch like hell (like the original iPod Nano), or is it better at resisting scratches than most other plastics? Not that I would use my phone without a case, but would prefer if the iPhone wasn’t prone to scratching in the case. Second, I’ve read that Apple has removed the firewire charging pins from the iPhone 3G’s dock port, causing many out iPod accessories not to charge the iPhone 3G. I’ve been using a *** adapter n my 2005 Acura TSX for a few years now, which has worked perfectly with both my old iPod and iPhone for both charging and playing music through the car’s stereo system. I’m wondering, however, if this adapter would be able to charge an iPhone 3G, or if I were to purchase one, would I have to replace the car adapter as well? Finally, are there any adapters currently on the market that do charge the iPhone 3G for the Acura TSX? These are things I will have to research in the weeks ahead.