I guess there is no way to reinstall an older version of an iPhone OS beside of jailbreaking it, right?
at least on an iphone, nope, no way, as you need to downgrade the baseband first
Oh well, thanks…
When iOS4 came put, there were some ways suggested that you could revert to 3.1.3 without jailbreaking on an iPhone 3G to avoid the slowdown. I stayed on 3.1.3 on my 3G, so I don’t know if it works, but here is a way I saw suggested:
http://www.iphonehacks.com/2010/07/how-to-downgrade-iphone-3g-from-ios-4-to-iphone-os-3-1-3.html
Thanks, i’ll have a look at this one.
The latest, or the release before, significantly dereased the signal quality of my 3GS so that i can’t get a connection from a certain place, i was able to connect before, anymore. According to measurements from the provider and their software dep this is said to be an issue of the latest iOS.
download the version you want. Then in your iTunes, view your iPhone settings and shift click restore and choose the downloaded file.
This wipes your stuff though. Make sure it’s backed up on iTunes before you start.
Actually, according to Apple, the signal quality hasn’t changed but they changed the formula to calculate the bars that show you how much signal you have. This was due to the big thing people had with the antenna of the iPhone 4 that made the bars go all the way down under certain circumstances.
However, that wouldn’t explain that you can’t connect at all anymore from a place that you were able to connect to from before. But maybe that’s an issue with the weather or something like that 
From what I read you are halfway right. Apparently Apple’s old formula calculated the bars too strongly showing you you had more signal than you actually had, not vice versa.
But I concur, wether the signal was calculated too high or too low should make NO difference when you are trying to call from a place that HAS ALWAYS HAD reception at a specific place…
Having said that, my own experiences with my iPhone is that it only calculates the signal strength every few seconds or so, not constantly. I would be busy dialing a number with 2 bars when suddenly, when I press the dial button I get the Call Failed message and the “No service” notification in the top corner.
So what I do is I sit right there and just leave my phone laying next to me and in a minute or two I have 2 bars again. I then hit redial and the call goes through.
What is interesting, though, is that in a couple of spots in my house I have fantastic reception and at other times it tells me I have no reception at that specific point. If i try to dial when I have no service it won’t even try but if I make the call and the service then drops, it drops down to no visible bars but the call stays connected and works perfectly until I end the conversation. Then it reverts back to No Service for another 3 minutes or so… before my stationary phone’s “No signal” becomes 2 bars again for the duration of time it remains in that spot where it just ahd no reception for like 2 minutes or so…
I am an Apple fanboy and I am prout of my obsession with Apple products but even I have no choice but to admit that the iPhone’s reception is rather sucky at best…
Actually, that was what I was referring to. As the old formula would show “more than you really had”, it appears as if you had worse a connection now.
But I think I see where the misunderstanding came from: The thing is that the “grip of death” now looks less severe because the bars show less right from the start. Before, you could have 5 bars (while actually, you only deserved maybe 2 or 3) and then, it went all the way down to 1 or 0. Now, you’d have only a few bars right in the beginning … and if you really have 5 bars, it would probably go down only one or two.
@moonman
Thanks
@jashan&Mr. Dude
The edge connection worked perfectly well for three weeks, with changing weather conditions as well, with always something between 2 and 5 bars, depending on the daytime. And two weeks later, after the latest version has been installed, it stopped working with not net to maximum 1 bar for a fews secs where the iPhone in 99% can’t enable a proper connection at all.
As i wrote i already talked twice with the provider about this but they say that a) their signal for the station hasn’t changed and that b) they told me that this is a known issue in the latest iOS, so…
I also read that Apple didn’t change the signal and only altered the calculation of the formular but maybe this happens in a layer which is used by higher functions so that they can’t enable a connection due to this, maybe it isn’t true at all, i don’t know, i only know that i have to drive closer to the station beeing able to enable a connection now, which sucks as i use the iPhone for tethering.
Anyway from my practical experiences it worked before the update and stopped working after updating. A coincidence? Maybe but as the provider blames Apple…
One of the disadvantages if your climbing but also trying to do some work…
I currently have a 3G. The iPhone 4 will only be released over here in a matter of weeks but I plan to get one on day one…
Problem is, my 3G has really bad reception where I stay so now I am wondering, when you say you updated your OS, do you mean from 3 to 4 or do you mean from 4.x to 4.y? I definitely don’t want to upgrade my phone and be left without one completely!
p.s. if you wanna be working while climbing THAT I think you need an iPad, not an iPhone… Sheesh! I can just see it now… trying to text your girlfriend:
Clinging for bare life, quickly releasing the one hand and tapping the button on the iPhone, quickly grab the mountain again, go : “Shoot, I meant to say ‘Good luck tonight!’ not ‘Good f*ck tonight?’”, then doing it all over again to type in the ‘Sorry about the tyyypo’ message… 
At least you won’t have to aim so accurately with an iPad
I’m not sure which version the last working one was exactly as i don’t make every update but it was the latest one when they introduced tethering support here in germany.
The working while climbing is more meant for the area and over the whole day. ;O) But it’s kind of special browsing a forum from a peak.