my next phone should be...
Out of context: Reply #10
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- Miguex0
iPhone reception problem
Launch the Phone application, bring up the keypad, type in *3001#12345#* and press the Call button. This brings up the Field Test main menu. Note that you should see the signal strength bars in the upper left corner of the screen replaced with a number indicating the strength of the signal in decibels.
The signal strength is indicated as a negative number (I’m referring to the absolute value here, not the numeric value), and the lower the number, the better. For example, a -75 is better than a -99. Typically, if you are getting a good signal, you should be seeing something between -60 and -80. You can use this feature to determine where the best reception is at work and at home. If you’re having problems with dropped calls, favor those locations.
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If you are in an area with weak reception try holding the iPhone near the top, making sure that your palm does not cover the bottom of the device. The antennas for the iPhone are located in the bottom of the device. If you wrap your hand around the lower part of the phone, you can degrade the signal slightly. Using the Field Test feature I found that I would see an improvement of about 4 db’s when I held the iPhone near the top. It’s not a big improvement, but when your signal strength is weak to begin with, it could be the difference between completing a call and dropping it. Better yet, leave the phone on a table and use hardwire headset. (not Bluetooth).
.........Unless you are in an area with good reception, you’ll probably get better performance with 3G turned off. As I write this paragraph, my iPhone is sitting on my desk with 3G turned off, and I’m getting a db signal of -79. When I turn on 3G it changes to -103 (remember that a higher negative db number indicates poorer reception). I normally keep 3G off all the time to improve cell performance and conserve battery.