It seems like every time I turn around someone is talking about cell phone reception problems. Either that, or they’re comparing one phone to another and the answer that usually comes out is that iPhone is amazing and nothing comes close (from the fans anyway).

However, there is one thing that the iPhone can’t seem to escape and that’s the shoddy reception and the dropped calls. Of course, you can always count on dropping some calls sometimes when you have a cell phone (when I was younger and first dealing with cell phones I had Voicestream, which is now T-Mobile, and I dropped calls so often I was convinced that the tower I was connecting to was on the back of a pickup truck driving down a bumpy road). But, how often should your phone be dropping calls?

Well, if you live in New York City and you have an iPhone, 30% is the norm according to an Apple Genius there. A post at Gizmodo told the story of how reader Manoj went to an Apple Store to try to figure out what was wrong with his iPhone and why it was dropping calls all the time.

It turned out that, after the Genius ran tests on the phone, his phone was dropping 22% of the calls it was making and receiving. This was after AT&T had told him that there was nothing wrong with his service; everything was ok on their end. The funny thing is, the Apple Genius told him that with his phone dropping 22% of its calls, it was still less than the average for the city. He said there was a dropped call rate of 30% on average. The Genius told the reader that his phone was fully functional and that, basically, it was AT&T’s fault that the calls continued to be dropped.

So, here’s my question. If other phones aren’t having a similar problem on the AT&T network in the city, then is it really an issue with the carrier or is it flaw with the phone. I’m leaning toward flaw with the phone personally. It also has seemed like the more advanced the technology is that the phone offers the worse the signal is. Prior to me purchasing the Palm Pre, I owned a Palm Centro and the service was always great. However, after getting the Pre, I barely got any signal in my house and Sprint had to send me an Airave.

Perhaps that’s what AT&T will have to start doing with its customers. AT&T has a new microcell thing out now; if they’re going to gouge their customers on plans and addons perhaps they should at least give them the thing that will actually help them get a signal in their home for free.

Gizmodo