Someone really tried to measure signal quality in bar? Maybe he meant beer ;>

All. The. Freakin. Over. It's the standard american consumer measurement of signal. "This phone is better than that phone, this one gets five bars in that spot, and the other only gets four"

Exactly!

"My internet isn't working. But I'm getting full signal strength!" (WiFi)

Actually, the German standard unit we use here is called "Strichle", which means "little bar", of course. ;-)

I don’t think bar is reserved for atmospheric pressure.

(And I prefer mm Hg anyhow.)

my phone has four bars - a country and western bar, a lesbian bar, a yuppie bar, and a blue-collar bar.

ok, i'll get my coat.

whenever two or more bars on a phone get together, you have a bar association.

As a semi-serious aside, it would be -awesome- if my phone -would- display dBm and error rates. My DSL router does. My satellite boxes do. My ethernet switches have plenty of error count options. Why the heck can't my phone do anything other than give me a nearly useless sloping graph.

Useful to know! I'll check out my mom's blackberry later. I wonder if there's some way to talk my Treo into giving me such information; I mean, the whole -point- of a phone with an open development interface is that such things -should- be possible! :)