Strange signal quality on iPhone 4S

[orangebluedevil]

Hey AT!

I spent hours on the site yesterday, and absolutely loved the iPhone 4S review! (about a year late)

I have an iPhone 4S AT&T. Every day when I come into my work building the signal reports that it is full strength but in actuality it is -130 dB. I have entered into field test mode (*3001#12345#*) and taken screen shots of this for you.

If I take the elevator down and leave the building then my phone will function fine within about 10-20 seconds. My coworkers with AT&T iPhone 4S's have the exact same symptoms.

I used to have an iPhone 4 and I could toggle 3G OFF, and then use the Edge network perfectly fine. Also, I have an iPad 3 which uses the AT&T LTE network just fine also. So the issue appears to be isolated to 3G (or "4G") on AT&T.

I have always suspected interference of some kind but I'm not sure (1) what it could be (2) what I could do about it (3) how to find out. I would love any suggestions, and also knowledge as to what causes the phone to have -130 dB signal but actually show five bars and 4G.

Thanks all. - Ryan

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Some buildings just suck for reception. I'm sitting in one right now, which was soundproofed when the nearby airport was built.

I get two or three missed call, voicemail alerts, and text messages every time I go outside. Looking at my phone, I'm honestly shocked it's not "roaming." It usually is when I'm here.

Pretty much everybody who works here is in the same, regardless of carrier, except for one - I forget which company (Verizon maybe...?), but there's a cell phone tower on the roof. If you have one of their phones, you can get a decent signal punched through the insulation.

It's no surprise that some of the carrier signals are better than others. I'm pretty sure they run at different frequencies. Whatever's interfering with the signal is just bugging certain ones. (If it were an intentional jammer, it would get all of them, right?)