IPhone: Detecting signal strength

Is there a way to detect signal strength and network switchovers (Edge vs. 3G) in software?

luvdacanes wrote:
I know there are several threads on this topic and with out a doubt there is poorer signal strength with iPhone 3gS
Really? Can you show me some facts?
My signal strength is outstanding, better than the 3G version. Therefore, I conclude, using your logic, that all iPhones are perfect.

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HT5012 My iPhone carrier signal strength is not good

My iPhone carrier signal strength is not good

I have a "case" open with Apple for poor carrier signal strength after upgrading my iP5 to iOS7.
Please make sure you open a case with Apple.

IPhone 4s Signal Strength decreases after updating to iOS 6.1.2

Hi,
Yesterday, I have updated my iPhone 4s to iOS 6.1.2 and the signal strength decreased from 5 bars to 2 bars. All of my phones at home with the same GSM provider shows 5 bars (full) and my iPhone 4s swings between 2 and 3 bar. Prior iOS 6.1.2 this was never the case. I would really appreciate if the developers at Apple can fix the problem as soon as possible. The low signal increase the battery consumption too.
Waiting for your feedback.
Kind regards,
Cengiz Kuskaya

hi
have the same problem on my iPhone4 & iPhone4s both have iOS6.1.2 .
very low signal after upgrade from iOS5.1.1 to 6.1.2 .

HT4993 iphone 5c signal strength

I have sprint service I compared 4s vs 5c signal strength and their is quite a big difference. From inside my house the 4s is -92 and the 5c is -114 using the field test number *3001#12345#* .
This is a huge difference! What is the problem?

But I would consider this a big difference in signal strength. So much so that an old flip phone and two different 4s work great but this 5c does not from inside the house.

Iphone 5gs signal strength - turn of LTE

Another post suggested turning off cellular LTE on the iphone 5gs to fix the low signal strenth issue - WORKS. immediate change from 2 - 3 bars to 4. He said he thinks this is a carrier problem - not the iphone. I use ATT he used another - I think Verison. Thanks

LTE and HSPA+ ("4G") are separate networks. So the strength on either one can be weaker or stronger than the other, depending on location of the towers. On my 5S near my home LTE is stronger than 4G. Where I work 4G is stronger than LTE. But even when 4G is stronger LTE is still faster.
Verizon is different. Verizon doesn't have an equivalent of HSPA+; the alternative to LTE is EVDO, which is a CDMA protocol and is quite a bit slower than HSPA+ on AT&T. Verizon's LTE was once very fast, but due to their success their network buildout has not kept up with the increasing load, so LTE on Verizon is quite a bit slower than LTE on AT&T or T-Mobile in many areas.

IPhone 5 signal strength issues?

I have had this phone for almost a year now without any problems. Recently, my phone has maintained an almost constant status of 1 reception bar - 3 at the most. This started happening a few weeks ago when a storm hit and caused a power outage. Nothing loads fast anymore - for example, when scrolling through pictures in my gallery my screen freezes for about thirty seconds. Apps take a few minutes to load their home pages, and even longer to update to current events. Sometimes I don't recieve messages from other people until 10-30 minutes later (but that only happens every few days or so.) I don't think I downloaded anything new/updated at the time. I've deleted all apps that I never use. I've tried resetting the phone by pressing its power button/home button at the same time, but nothing changed. Anyone have any ideas on how I could fix this?

Hi nezzitou,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I know you are not experiencing a “No Service” or “Searching” message as described in the following article, but I would still suggest these troubleshooting steps if you are having service issues.
iPhone: Troubleshooting No Service
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4429
I know you stated that you first noticed this after a storm as well. It could be that a tower your carrier uses to provide cellular service to your area may be down as well. If you go through the troubleshooting and the issue continues, you may want to contact your carrier as described at the very bottom of the article.
If you're still experiencing No Service issues, contact your carrier to check for any network or account issues that could cause these symptoms.
I hope this helps,
-Joe

Iphone 4 signal fix

Steps
-- Read Anandtech article on iPhone 4 signal strength and identify location of antenna stops.
-- Take standard insulation tape and cut strips slightly thicker than metal strip and long enough to cover antenna gap.
-- Apply tape do the two locations using graphics from Anandtech article.

Sorry about that. Did not search properly before posting.

Iphone in Great Britian discovers Apple tech problem - Signal Strength -

November 25, 2007
Signal trouble: British iPhone mystery
Is O2’s network to blame, or Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone?
That’s the question posed by more than a few British iPhone owners who purchased the device in the past two weeks and have been struggling ever since to get decent telephone reception on it.
The problem surfaced two days after the phone went on sale in the U.K. when “Matlock” in Derbyshire started a discussion thread on Apple’s support board entitled “UK 02 (poor signal strength/reception problems)”:
My iphone can barely pick up even the slightest signal, although on occasion can pick up 3 ars, only for it to drop out again. I have two other 02 phones, a Sony Erricson and a Nokia n95 with no reception problems at all. Is anyone experiencing same problem with their iphone, I would like to hear from you. (link)
Two weeks later, Matlock’s query has received more than 100 replies (and 3,723 pageviews), most of them registering similar complaints. Some users found that reinstalling the software made a difference. When others returned their phones for new ones, the problem went away (although some reported that the new phones were no better).
Definitive U.K. sales figures are not available, but O2 reported that it sold “tens of thousands” of iPhones the first weekend it was available.
Several posters on the Apple discussion board volunteered that unlike the complainants, they were getting great reception on their iPhones. And many owners with signal problems expressed pleasure with how well the device performed its other functions.
But unlike American iPhone owners, who tend to blame any reception headaches on AT&T’s (T) cellular network, the assumption in the U.K. seems to be that the signal problem is Apple’s. The impression is reinforced by O2, which has been referring callers directly to the manufacturer.
One clue is that many British iPhone owners can, like Matlock, compare the signal strength on their iPhone with other cellphones using the same network (one user even posted photos showing the phones side by side). Another is that the indicator on the iPhone tends to jump to five bars as soon as it is placed in the charging dock, which suggests that the problem is battery related. As user Richard Catledge points out:
It says in the manual that phone signal is adjusted to the minimum power when not in use, just enough to detect the incoming pings, then it will power up to get the best quality call. It is digital, so as long as the signal power is strong enough to reconstruct at the other end, more power is pointless. I suspect this is what you are seeing, or a slightly flakey implementation.
Meanwhile, the consensus on the discussion board is that unhappy owners should let Apple know. Writes one user who posts as ::…SAM…::,
The only way to get anything done about it is if people that have poor signal problems is to take your phone back and get it replaced. The more phones they get back, the sooner they will do something to fix the problem. Emails and complaints are fine, they can be put in a folder, high handset return numbers cant be so easy to hide under the rug.
Thanks to InformationWeek’s Alexander Wolfe for the link. See his report here.
Filed

Interesting post. My previous phone was an 02 XDA Exec, a smart phone based upon a common handset (forget which one), but the smart phone before that was the same. They all had one thing in common - poor reception.
tbh, I think its an inherent problem with smart phones. However, with my iPhone I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary really. Its better than the XDA, at least the iPhone doesn't drop out completely!
But compare it to a normal handset and the normal handset will normally have a much better reception strength.

IPhone 5s call signal strength is 3 bars and my calls are breaking up?

I switched from an iPhone 4s to an iPhone 5s and now my iPhone signal strength is 3 bars and my calls are breaking up? what gives?
I live on top of a hill in a major metropolitan city and my carrier has always been Verizon and my call signal strength has always been 5 bars and occassionally on a cloudy rainy day I had 4 bars. Since upgrading to the 5s my call signal strength at my home has never gone past 3 bars even when Wi-Fi is connected. When W-Fi is turned off and LTE service kicks in, the call signal strength flutters between 2-3 bars and if I am on a call, the person on the other end is telling me I am breaking up. This has never happened with my iPhone 4, my iPhone 4s. Is anyone else noticing signal problems?

I am also having the same exact issue. I had an iPhone 4S with Sprint servince and always had at least 4 bars of service (4 dots after iOS7 upgrade) and I am now fluctuating between 1 and 2 dots on my new iPhone 5S. I am also having people I am on the phone with tell me that I sound like I'm in a tunnel and or that I am breaking up. I am also hearing the breakup of voice service even when speaking to someone on a landline. I took my first iPhone 5S back to the store and traded it in for a new one and am having the same exact problem with this new 5S phone. I was told by the salesman at the store that the problem was due to the 5S is using different towers than the 4S and that the new towers for the 5S were still being implemented. Do I know this to be true or necesarily believe this? No. Do I hope it's true or that Apple will come up with a fix for this problem in the very, very near future? Yes. Apple, what is going on with my service? It's obvious that it's happening to users from all of the major American networks.

IPHONE 5: can't receive calls & random error messages, such as "could not activate cellular data network" and "no connection - network unavailable, please connect to wifi or cellular network." This occurs even when signal strength or wifi is operational.

IPHONE 5: can't receive calls and random error messages, such as "could not activate cellular data network" and "no connection - network unavailable, please connect to wifi or cellular network." This occurs even when signal strength or wifi is operational, and it does not matter whether wifi is on or off. ATT went through the standard protocol - resetting network, resetting sim card, etc. No changes. Other phones working fine in same region with same carrier. Apple's solution is to restore software, but haven't gone there yet. Anyone successfully addressed this/these issues?

I should point out that it worked when the iPhone was set back to factory settings, but when restored with the backup, data/internet no longer works again, and I get the "Could not activate cellular data network" error message yet again.

I am about to go get my 4th iphone 4s since November! Up in the left coener where it shows your signal strength, it goes into searching mode and stays there. Kills my battery. This one has lasted the longest-I got it December 23. Any ideas out there?

I am about to go get my 4th iphone 4s since November! Up in the left corner where it shows your signal strength, it goes into searching mode and stays there. Kills my battery. While in searching, no calls can be made/recieved, no internet, etc. This one has lasted the longest-I got it December 23. Any ideas out there?

Both. The first two, I did use my itunes. The guy at the apple store said that could be the problem. The last time they gave me a new phone and SIM card, and the tech said it wouldnt be the itunes. Just to be safe, I never connected this phone to the itunes until last night-after it started searching- to save everything since I'm sure they will be replacing the phone today. But hey, thanks for the suggestions. I'm about at my wits end with Apple!! Especially since i added a third line to my account just so I could get an iphone back.

Iphone signal strength

Hi folks,
Got a new 3GS. Now, I know that the iphone has poorer signal strength that most other "normal" phones on the market.
By "calling" 3001#12345# from the phone, one can see the signal strength. I put my friend's iphone 3G beside my 3GS and the level were different. It appeared that he had about a signal 5 higher than mine (e.g. I was at -71 and he was at -66). Sometimes, I had a higher strength than his but mostly, his was better.
Again, is this just me being fussy and comaring to different models of phone hence an unfair test? What you think?
Reason I'm concerned is that sometimes, when I have my phone in my pocket, it has no service when other phones (non-iphone phones) seem fine...
Thanks
Jonny

Regarding 3G service...
±5 dB on the numbers is pretty meaningless, especially at the levels you mentioned. My 3G has varied at least that much (±5) sitting in one spot. If they were 10-15 different, I'd be concerned. From my experience, anything from -50 to -85 is good enough for any app to work well. I get usable service up to about -115.

HELP!! This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone. You may experience noise interference and a decrease in cellular signal strength

Ive seen loads of people with this issue and no luck.
Basically as of yesterday, The message
This accessory is not optimized for this iPhone. You may experience noise interference and a decrease in cellular signal strength"
appeared and wont go away. I have nit used my headphones for a month so i cant think of anything that has triggered it.
Solutions I have tried..
Making sure my phone isnt on mute.
Letting the power dye and re charging.
plugging in head phones etc.
Still no luck.
Model is iPhone 3GS 16GB.

My mum's phone had that message too. I googled it. Sometimes the connection becomes dirty due to dust, dirt, water or a combination of all three. It is recommended to clean out the connection using a clean, dry brush, like a paint brush.
It worked for her
I hope that this helps

IPhone 4 wifi signal strength meter not displaying

Please forgive me if there is already a post on this but I've been searching around and haven't found anything exactly like my problem. I'm connected to wifi with my iPhone 4. I know this because in the settings it says I am, as well as I have wifi speeds and the YouTube on my iPhone isn't compressed. However, the wifi signal strength isn't showing up and I just have the 3G icon. If I put the phone into airplane mode and then turn on the wifi it then shows up, but goes away when I turn the airplane mode off. It appears to be a software issue, anyone else having this problem?

Yes, I am having this problem as well.
I have tried the airplane mode 'fix' you tried as well and have the same issue.
I have also noticed that by going into Settings > General > Network and turning off 'Cellular Data' my wifi turns on, I'm at work and I can access the itunes account on our music server (which is usually only available via wifi - to que up tracks in itunes dj etc) however i cannot browse via Safari as it tells me i'm not connected to the internet.
If I turn 3G on and off as well the bars will appear, however it's the same symptoms, and after a minute or so the wifi drops again.
In my wifi settings it shows the wifi as ticked and in use.
I can browse the internet via Safari fine without wifi.
I'm not sure what's going on to be honest, my 3G on iOS4 worked fine yesterday at work....today I'm on my new iphone 4 and have encountered this problem.

2 iPhones, right next to each other, different EDGE signal strengths

i noticed today that my wife was getting 4 bars on her iPhone at our house and me, standing right next to her, was getting 2 bars.
as a result, i could not check or send email, but she could.
is there something wrong with my phone? (i bought it 2 days ago).. why would mine be getting such a worse signal when it's literally touching the other phone getting better signal?

My guess is that there is nothing wrong with your iphone. I have noticed a considerable difference in signal strength by moving the phone a couple of inches. So that doesn't really surprise me. It is also possible that one phone is actually blocking the signal for the second phone.
I wouldn't be too concerned about this.

IPhone: Detecting signal strength

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