It is interesting today reading the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, July 13, 2010, Section B1. “Consumer Reports Slams New iPhone” I have admit I am becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Apple, but this does define that there is a lot behind the curtain in the area of “wireless” that defines a perfect or great connection. In an open letter to customers July 02, Apple said after an investigation into the reception issue, it had discovered a software problem that inflated readings of signal strength and promised to deliver a software fix. “Consumer Reports took away some of the heat away from AT&Ts network, which has been criticized for dropped calls and not being able to adequately handle the load of data guzzling I-Phones. Antenna experts said Apple’s design made the device more susceptible to problems. Generally phone designers enclose the metal part of the antenna to keep it away from the human hand which conducts electricity. Touching a metal antenna effectively changes the length and shape characteristics that are fundamental to how it behaves. Several questions come to mind; does the five bar signal strength indicator on the device actually reflect the RSSI of say five bars at -85dBm? It assumes that Apple has used a microstrip antenna surrounding the entire 4G IPhone. While in a lab condition this may be great, but how much does the human body (which is 90% water attenuate this signal). Perhaps the antenna should be on the top of the phone and use some newer and innovative technology. Finally the article does not define if this is inside or outside a building environment. Add to this ATT and that their network (macro), had to shrink the cell site size to accommodate the data usage for the link budget and you have a real problem. All the more reason to fast order build out the indoor environment to relieve stress from the macro cellular build out. So in closing it is about many factors. Design of the antenna, use model indoors (pervasive connectivity), and the current macro environment due to data usage. All the more reason to perhaps, use the dual mode setting indoors when you can on WiFi.
