More evidence against iPhone 'bad antenna' theory

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 28 August 2008 05:06

Your IT - Mobility

When Swedish publication Göteborgs-Posten had a correctly working iPhone 3G's antenna tested, it was no surprise that it passed. So what happened when they put iPhones giving poor reception into the test chamber?

iPhone 3G reception is one of the tech mysteries of the year. Some owners are troubled by it, others say they get great results.

So far, no pattern has emerged. The problem can't be pinned down to build issues (one phone may work well with one carrier but not another), carriers (different people have varying experiences on the same networks) or something inherent in the hardware or software design (which would presumably make the problems even more widespread).

When Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten (Gothenburg Post) had an iPhone 3G's transmit and receive performance tested, it was a welcome effort to bring facts rather than subjectivity and opinion to the discussion.

The only thing was that the iPhone 3G that Göteborgs-Posten had tested was one that was working properly for its owner. As we previously observed, this didn't rule out the suggestion put forward by another Swedish publication, My Teknik, that poor antenna alignment is to blame for at least some of the problems.

Göteborgs-Posten found it surprisingly difficult to find local readers suffering from poor reception - "It seems that the iPhone problem is not a big deal in the Gothenburg area" - but eventually three came forward.

What happened when they were tested? Please turn to page two.