iPhone Reception Issues Due To Poor Testing

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Have you been getting poor reception from your iPhone 4? We’ve had more than a few articles here covering the iPhone 4′s new reception problems, but who’s at fault for them? Spencer Webb is an antenna specialist and consultant who runs website AntennaSys. He’s not to blame for the iPhone 4′s issues, but he’s been the go-to guy for comment on why this is happening. He says – blame the FCC, Apple and AT&T for poor testing.

As Mr. Webb explains, the testing process for both the FCC and AT&T only requires the phone to be against the head, but they don’t require the phone to have a hand around it. As Webb explains, mobile phones did away with the traditional pull-up antenna some time ago, and went to an internal one. Because of SAR radiation, the antennas are located at the bottom of the phone, where you talk in to, the furthest away from your precious brain as it can be.

According to Webb, both the FCC and AT&T (which must approve everything running on it’s network) test the phone running against the human head, but they don’t test it with a hand holding it. Webb estimates that if you cause an electrical short between the antennas (see picture above), then reception on the phone will take a nose dive.

What’s a workaround? Webb says putting the phone in your pocket and using a Bluetooth headset should work. The problem is that that will draw more radiation into your body. Surely a problem – but what’s an iPhone owner to do.

Some have reported success with a case, or by putting black electrical tape over the slots that separate the GSM antenna and the Bluetooth antenna, to prevent them from shorting out.

Anybody found a good workaround for the reception? Does a case improve the issue?