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iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed

By | June 30, 2010, 7:50am PDT

Summary: BGR has published leaked documents that detail Apple’s troubleshooting procedures for customers that call with antenna/reception issues with the iPhone 4.

BGR has published leaked documents that detail Apple’s troubleshooting procedures for customers that call with antenna/reception issues with the iPhone 4.

1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.

a. The iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4’s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.

b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.

c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.

d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.

e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.

2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.

3. Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.

4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.

5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.

So there you have it. No free bumpers and Apple isn’t doing anything about reception issues that result from holding the phone in your hand. This could get ugly folks!

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Topics

Apple iPhone, Reception, BGR, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
c4791p@... 6th Jul 2010
As someone who has led engineering and tech support operations, whomever developed that script should be fired. Far better would have been to admit they are collecting informaton but have not yet been able to reliably replicate the failure. That they (I am certain) have teams of engineers working to replicate the problems noted and develop corrections and (as smart business people) will advise all of fix(es) as soon as possible and make it/them easily available at no cost.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
tgschmidt 30th Jun 2010
I have had a cell phone without a break since 1991. Started with the brick phone & have a Moto Droid now. Have had all types, brands & form factors. I have never noticed a problem with reception while holding my phone. I have tried holding my Droid dozewns of wayys & cannot effect the signal strength. This thing with the iPhone4 is an issue that should have been caught. Now its an issue the customer has to deal with. This is what can happen when schedules are more important than sufficient testing, including real world field testing.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
use_what_works_4_U 1st Jul 2010
@tgschmidt
You are correct about proper testing, however just like not every iPhone4 user reports this problem, your experiences don't reflect the be all and end all of antenna performance either.

I have had cell phones since 1993, and ever since the first one without an extendable antenna (that is, every one with since 2001 for me) all my phones experienced some notable attenuation/loss of signal dependint on hand placement. The phone suffered the least from this problem was my original iPhone. My 3G also experiences this issue.

Now, is the problem worse for the iPhone4? I don't know, I don't own one and I have only held 3 of them. I was not able to reproduce the problem on any of those 3, but I could also have happened to be in an area of very strong signal. This is a problem, but it's not an iP4 exclusive problem.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
mjr5.0 Updated - 1st Jul 2010
@macadam I went into the AT&T store and found it quite easy to duplicate the problem. Held my original iPhone next to it in several ways and could not cause a problem with it. As I held the iPhone 4 in my left hand just as I do with my original iPhone and within 5-20 seconds I watched the signal drop from 5 bars to 1. Pretty stupid to make a phone you can't hold as you would any other phone but then again all the test phones (like the one lost is a bar) had covers to hide what they were. Pretty stupid for something that is well documented for Steve Jobs to say there is nothing wrong with the phone just don't hold it that way. What a moron and about time someone takes down their PR bs. I want a new iPhone 4 but not until they admit/fix the problem.
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Right hand
MoeFugger 30th Jun 2010
Most people are right handed so they hold it in their left and operate the screen with their right hand.
It's what all these people get who stand in line just to be the first. It happens every time.
Always wait a bit to get something new. There is almost always some problem that makes the new stuff sux.
Wonder why they don't just give out those bumpers if those can help?
I also have not noticed an antenna problem from holding a phone.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
thatroom 1st Jul 2010
@MoeFugger so you're faulting lefties for holding it wrong.. in essence, towing the Apple party line. typical.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
htotten 30th Jun 2010
no probs with my 3GS...might be the "outer box" i have on it...of course I actually do leave my phone laying on the desk most of the day, since I use a Bluetooth earpiece.
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Not owning up.
Lester Young Updated - 30th Jun 2010
It is disingenuous for Apple to claim that the problem is not qualitatively worse than reception issues with other phones. Signal interference is one thing. Shorting the antenna so it doesn't work is quite another.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
use_what_works_4_U 1st Jul 2010
@Lester Young
I have spent a total of about an hour with 3 different iPhone4s (2 at the Apple store and one in my office belonging to a co-worker) trying to intentionally cause this issue. I failed miserably. Maybe the network signal was too strong, maybe my hands were too dry, I don't know. What I do know is that every phone I've had with a strictly internal antenna has displayed this behavior depending on hand placement. Here in my office I can produce more error with my iPhone 3G than I can with my co-worker's iPhone4.

I agree that Apple's stance is less than forthright, but so is the position that everyone who holds an iP4 in their left hand will, without fail, short the antenna into oblivion.

Apple needs to address this. Leo LaPorte said (in this week's MacBreak weekly or TWiT podcast - I forget which) that there is a rumored iOS4.1 due out next week which might actually address the issue. For Apple's sake, and especially for those users afflicted by this issue, I certainly hope so.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
NameRedacted 1st Jul 2010
@macadam
Sorry, but hardware design flaws cannot be fixed by means of a software update.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
richardw66 Updated - 1st Jul 2010
@NameRedacted

1. This issue has been reported elsewhere as not being fixed by a rubber bumper, in which case the hardware reasons quoted do not make sense.

2. The issue has been reported elsewhere as occurring in close proximity to a microcell in which case the argument that a reduction in antenna efficiency due to hand conductivity is the root cause is unlikely.

3. If the radio is off tune, as reported, and that tuning is software controlled, then a software update will at least improve the situation.

4. There is no conclusive proof yet that it is hardware, beyond the normal susceptibility of RF devices to the surrounding environment including the user.

So in short, there is good reason to believe that a software update may in fact be the solution.

I suggest we all wait and see if this turns out to be true, rather than making wild claims in the hope of scoring points against Apple for personal reasons or for maintaining other vested interests.

In case any of you haven't noticed, many phones have a wrong way to be held and if you hold them the wrong way you will block the microphone, or not hear the speaker. This sounds basic but I have had people with issues hearing Sony-Ericsson phones because they were holding them so the speaker was blocked even though it was on the front. No fault of the phone really either.

So I don't buy into the argument that a phone can't have a wrong way to be held - they all do in one way or another.

I do believe that there is a limit to how fussy the phone is though, if it is too difficult to get it right then there is a problem.

I do think that Apple has to resolve this issue.
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Standard Apple Behavior
M.R. Kennedy 30th Jun 2010
Admit nothing, and quietly apply a fix later in the production queue.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
richardw66 1st Jul 2010
@M.R. Kennedy

OK - quote examples
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Apple screws its customers
NameRedacted 1st Jul 2010
This document is the most damning evidence that Apple was aware of this problem and chose to sell what are obviously defective phones anyway.

Not only that, but they also instructed their CSRs to downplay the problem and under no circumstance process a warranty claim because the problem is the result of a design flaw that cannot be fixed.

Apple, meet your comeuppance.
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
richardw66 1st Jul 2010
@NameRedacted

No it's not evidence of that at all.

NameRedacted meet your comeuppance for lying, no wonder you need to redact yourself.

What are you going to do if they release the software update and the problem goes away? Replace yourself under warranty for faulty logic?
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RE: iPhone 4 reception troubleshooting docs revealed
c4791p@... 6th Jul 2010
As someone who has led engineering and tech support operations, whomever developed that script should be fired. Far better would have been to admit they are collecting informaton but have not yet been able to reliably replicate the failure. That they (I am certain) have teams of engineers working to replicate the problems noted and develop corrections and (as smart business people) will advise all of fix(es) as soon as possible and make it/them easily available at no cost.

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