Everybody that has an iPhone has no doubt at one time or another had less than optimal coverage. That is a function of the user’s current location in relation to a functioning tower, and little you can do about it. Or is it?
It might not be completely out of your hands to improve your current connection, and with a little management in frequented areas you may find that you can get data in places that you couldn’t otherwise.
Here are 6 tips that may help you get out of a less than optimal signal strength situation.
Watch how you hold the phone
First thing, note the phone in your hand. The antenna is located in the bottom half of the iPhone itself. If you are in a weak area, repositioning your hand to the top of the unit may increase your chances of getting a signal. But don’t take my word for it – try it yourself.
Place both hands on the bottom half of the iPhone, covering it front and back. In a weak area you may see your signal drop after a few seconds. Removing your hands from this position should return the signal to the original strength, but in some cases it may take 20 seconds or so to stabilize.
Figure 1. Held from the top. Note the signal strength meter (full bars).
Figure 2. iPhone held from the bottom. Note the drop in signal strength ( five bars to 2 bars). This was in the same physical location, only change was the hand position.
Map out any fringe areas you frequent
There are Apps on the App Store (such as the free “Signals”) that will take a sample signal strength reading and map it for you, letting you define an area. On the trip there, mark a few places, and in a pinch you may know where to find a signal. Even better, such apps also allow others to upload the signal strengths for an area, giving you a heads up if you are going to be in new place. Knowing ahead of time of a problem can be half the battle.
Reset your phone
By this I mean turning the phone completely off and back on. This not only clears the phone of any processes that could be causing you issues, it also allows the phone to poll for any tower information updates. The carrier is constantly tweaking their network, so this may help with hitting a good connection.
Check your sim card
Now, this probably has little to do with the signal itself, but a loose or dirty sim card connection can make the phone disconnect from the network, mainly because it is no longer authorized to connect. For those people who do not know where their sim card is on their iPhone, look at the top of the phone, between the power switch and the headphone plug. You should find a small round hole there, perfect for a paper clip.
Gently but firmly prod this with a paperclip end and you should discover your sim card. Make sure the connections are clean, and replace. Some people have went as far as to put a piece of paper or post it notes strips behind their sim card to assure a good connection. I am not sure if such action is warranted, and I would also suggest not looking at this as a possible problem unless you lose connection with the tower completely on a regular basis.
Reset your network connections
This may help you with current tower settings and other issues, especially if you use Edge (it says “E” instead of “3G” beside the signal strength meter) in your area. Since this will wipe out any Wifi settings you may have stored in the phone, I would suggest turning off the phone first and trying it. This is a solution that AT&T suggests doing in most of their trouble shooting processes, so it definitely bears mentioning.
And if worse comes to worse…
You can lay your iPhone on a table and not holding it all may provide the best connection possible for a bad area. You can still use the touch screen or put a caller on speaker phone.
By following these tips and exercising a little planning, a frequented location should not present any surprises to the average iPhone user. If you know that you are going into a fringe area, try doing email checks and data hits on the way there.
But so many times the connection itself can be borderline in outlying areas, so the best advice I can give you at this time is this – look at how you are holding the iPhone when you have no connection. Hold it from the top, and you just might find that you may have a serviceable connection. Along with that, a little luck will not hurt.
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I find if I just sit in my car a certain way it works better too… AT&T Sucks.
switching to airport mode and back also helps