Just installed 2.1 Firmware.

[viewfly]

Just finished installing 2.1. It went fast.

First thing to note: I get 5 bars now for -95dBm. Before that was maybe 2 or 3 bars.

From Apple:

Update includes:

* Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
* Significantly better battery life for most users
* Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
* Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
* Faster installation of 3rd party applications
* Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications

* Improved performance in text messaging
* Faster loading and searching of contacts
* Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
* Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
* Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
* Genius playlist creation

[viewfly]

I suspect that it is more than a rescaled bar level but more a representation of CDMA signal quality.

[Charlyee]

Originally Posted by viewfly

I suspect that it is more than a rescaled bar level but more a representation of CDMA signal quality.

viewfly, sorry you lost me there. Could you please clarify?

Thanks

[Alienware_51]

I installed 2.1 a few hours ago, it took care of most of the bugs I was experiencing. The Genius feature is ok, they made it seem like it was huge, but other than that and how they "polished" up the look the music library, it's nothing major in my opinion.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by Charlyee

viewfly, sorry you lost me there. Could you please clarify?

Thanks

Hi Charlyee,

I need more time to get some data points, but my observation tells me that something is different.
For the same bar level, the dBm meter can vary from high to low numbers, and it is not just a time lag on the bar scale. Before the 2.1 update, there was some rough correlation of bars to dBm. Now it seems non linear or something.

Reading up on some tech info on CDMA 'bars', I'm thinking that the bar display may be more than raw signal strength, RSSI. It may include the noise floor (or more) to display 'call quality'. This may explain why (before 2.1) even at 1 bar the iPhone clarity is very good.

It may be that it (bars) now displays the fact that the expected call quality will be good, and not just the RSSI or current signal tower strength; I'm getting a hint that some other CDMA mgfr do this. The WCDMA world is different than GSM.

So I'm thinking, from my so far casual observation, that they did not just numerically rescale or offset the scale to give a prettier picture, but they changed the algorithm in a more complicated way.

Just my thought to date. Since my posting, I've notice that a few others on 'other' forums have the same thought.

VF

[bobolito]

In more simple terms, what you mean is that you think the signal bar indicator now represents signal quality rather than signal strength. This means that even if you have a weak signal, as long as it is high quality it will display all the bars. On the other hand, if you have a strong signal but it is full of interference that will give you a low reading in the bars.

[viewfly]

Originally Posted by bobolito

In more simple terms, what you mean is that you think the signal bar indicator now represents signal quality rather than signal strength. This means that even if you have a weak signal, as long as it is high quality it will display all the bars. On the other hand, if you have a strong signal but it is full of interference that will give you a low reading in the bars.

Pretty much, but I have a foot in both directions. It is kind of hard to decipher from just looking at the bars vs dBm meters.

In 3G, in Boston, 5 Bars is -95 or lower. It does seem to scale with dBm. So -101 might be 3 bars or 4 bars. But inside my rf shield apartment, away from the window, it is different. For example, today I just happen to witness my p hone in 3G go from 3 bars @ -113dBm to 2G with 5bars @ -97 dBm. But, even before 2.1, 2G GSM -97 would have been 1 bar!! Did they scale GSM too? That is too wild.

It also seems, from the dBm meter, that the dBm has improved. Near the apt window I would get max -103 to -107; now it is up to -81dbm. At the office, 5 bars means -99 to -93, and I never got something that strong before.

At home, in a more rural, 850Mhz, spotty 3G area, it seems more obvious. As I posted before, -105 can be 1 to 4 bars.

So it’s more complicated, but I don’t know what it is either. I can only say, that before 2.1, 1 bar on 3G was very good, so if they want to call that 5 bars now, the value does represent the quality of the call.

At this point, I’m going to stop being a dbm/bar watcher, and just enjoy the phone!!