Apple Inc (AAPL)

[Heywood40]

People are going after this at a frantic pace

I see on another board people reporting that 3GS models that have been upgraded to iOS 4 are also subject to signal degradation, where they weren't before the software upgrade.

The spot on the 3GS is the lower right rather than the lower left.

That points to the OS as being a contributing factor to the problem.

I was able to degrade the signal on my phone by standing the phone on edge and placing a brass tubing fitting on the antenna joint.

I can also verify that there doesn't appear to be any way that I can degrade the signal by using just hand contact. I even wet my hands at one point to increase the conductivity of my skin.

As long as I don't attempt to make a call with the phone standing on edge with a key balanced on it, my phone does not appear to be in need of any fix at this time.

There could be some sort of physical variance from unit to unit that makes some units more susceptible to signal degradation than the rest, or that triggers a software event that shifts from one antenna to another less capable antenna.

I'd look for a software tweak to correct most of the problems.

Meanwhile, it's a FUDster's delight.