iPhone 3G Connectivity Affecting 2% of Customers? Software Fix Soon?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

One MacRumors reader claims to have received a response from Steve Jobs after emailing in a complaint about the current iPhone 3G connectivity issues (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/12/some-customers-with-iphone-3g-connection-issues/) that have been widely reported.

According to the email response which is addressed from Steve Jobs, the 3G connectivity issue affects 2% of iPhones shipped and is fixable through a software update. The email response was as follows:
We are working on some bugs which affect around 2% of the iPhones shipped, and hope to have a software update soon.

SteveSteve Jobs (or someone acting on his behalf) has been known to provide brief responses to select emails addressed to him. These responses have also occasionally revealed (http://www.macrumors.com/2007/10/08/ipod-touch-calendar-to-get-add-edit-functionality/) information that had not previously been known.

The existance of a software update to address the issue had been previously reported (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/14/iphone-3g-connection-issues-related-to-software-or-hardware/) by BusinessWeek sources. If the 2% figure is accurate, the issue could be affecting over 60,000 users based on analyst sales estimates (http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/08/11/analyst-believes-3-million-iphones-sold-in-first-month/) for the iPhone 3G.

Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/18/iphone-3g-connectivity-affecting-2-of-customers-software-fix-soon/)

[Full of Win]

Believe it when I sere it

[nickspohn]

I'm one of them, and i'm patiently waiting for the fix.

It's almost like there is too much 3G in my city. I go somewhere where 3G isn't as spread out and my signal is a full 5 bars, yet in my house i have never seen 5 bars of 3G.


And my city was one of the first to have 3G, next to chicago.

[Wes1731]

I wonder if this 2% of affected iPhone users is similar to the 1% of affected Mobile Me users (which seemed to be a lot more than 1%). :rolleyes:

[Woz Beard]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

Ha!

I've been through 7 phones for other defective reasons, yet all 7 had the same 3G issue? I'm unlucky, but I can't be THAT unlucky.

2%? Think again, Stevie.

[infernohellion]

Oh great. So me and 4 of my friends are in that 2%!

Seems like Melbourne has got all those affected people.

[a1016neo]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

Ha!

I've been through 7 phones for other defective reasons, yet all 7 had the same 3G issue? I'm unlucky, but I can't be THAT unlucky.

2%? Think again, Stevie.

Well it could be AT&T...

----------------------------------------

2% sounds right.... This would not include any problems on AT&T side....

[MarkW]

Well it could be AT&T...

----------------------------------------

2% sounds right.... This would not include any problems on AT&T side....

It is certainly not AT&T.
A lot of people seem to forget the world doesn't end at the borders of the US and people worldwide are experiencing this issue.

I'm in the UK and while I'm not having any problems, I have a couple friends who are.

[ginner]

I'm mystified by suggestions of a design or hardware fault effecting calls and connectivity using 3G. No sign of any problems and very good voice call reliability here in the UK. Having owned a 3G mobile (3 network) previously, the iPhone is infinitely better in terms of signal availabilty and user experience!

[Juo100]

Im in the UK and someone at work has this exact issue, mine (luckily) doesn’t seem affected however I think the 2% figure is a blatant lie, shame on you Steve'o

[vandozza]

if it's a hardware problem, then how is software going to fix the issue?

if it was faulty software in the beginning, you would expect all iphones to be equally affected?

i can't fathom how a software "tweak" is going to fix things properly. isn't bad hardware just that. i worry that this fix might be more of a "baid-aid" for the supposed 2% that are having problems. (and I agree that this figure is too low. from what i see it's more like 40% at a guess!)

my iphone went back. i don't want a half-fix.

[phannon666]

I'm mystified by suggestions of a design or hardware fault effecting calls and connectivity using 3G. No sign of any problems and very good voice call reliability here in the UK. Having owned a 3G mobile (3 network) previously, the iPhone is infinitely better in terms of signal availabilty and user experience!

+1 No problems here either, 3G has been noticeably better than my old 3G phone on Orange. However I would definitely question 2%, I'd say it's between 5 and 10.

[G4DP]

Are things really that bad at the moment that a possible rumour of a possible response from possibly Steve Job's is the best story?

Very sad indeed.

[vandozza]

I'm mystified by suggestions of a design or hardware fault effecting calls and connectivity using 3G. No sign of any problems and very good voice call reliability here in the UK. Having owned a 3G mobile (3 network) previously, the iPhone is infinitely better in terms of signal availabilty and user experience!

obviously you aren't one of the "2%" then... what's there to be mystified about? :confused:

[nagromme]

2% is a lot! Good thing they have EDGE to fall back on. Some people may not even realize they've reverted to EDGE.

[Saladinos]

I don't get any dropped calls (O2), but I do get annoying 302 network errors pretty much all the time on 3G. I have to switch back to EDGE to get any pages loading.

I doubt it's poor signal, as I'm right in central london (2 mins walk from Tottenham Court Road), and I'm line-of-sight with the BT tower.

[Juo100]

I don't get any dropped calls (O2), but I do get annoying 302 network errors pretty much all the time on 3G. I have to switch back to EDGE to get any pages loading.

I doubt it's poor signal, as I'm right in central london (2 mins walk from Tottenham Court Road), and I'm line-of-sight with the BT tower.

I get this all the time as well in Central London, to fix it I stick the phone in airport mode then come out.

[Loge]

if it's a hardware problem, then how is software going to fix the issue?

Well it might be an NVidia-style software fix. :p

However, I hope they can at least tweak the thresholds so it doesn't wait until the 3G signal is completely gone before dropping to Edge, so that a call has a chance of not dropping where the 3G coverage is patchy.

[Full of Win]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

Ha!

I've been through 7 phones for other defective reasons, yet all 7 had the same 3G issue? I'm unlucky, but I can't be THAT unlucky.

2%? Think again, Stevie.

.01^7 wow, you are so so lucky

[rageboi]

I get this all the time as well in Central London, to fix it I stick the phone in airport mode then come out.

Ditto... I have the exact same problems in Central London. o2 blame apple, apple blame o2. FUN!

I am not sure who to blame, I have had the phone replaced and the same thing happens. I am leaning towards blaming o2 because it happens in the same areas all the time. i.e. the same cell site.

:-(

[vandozza]

I am leaning towards blaming o2 because it happens in the same areas all the time.

why blame O2 when this seems to be happening all around the world? :confused:

[el3ktro]

I'm definitely affected. According to the T-Mobile website Cologne, Germany has almost 100% UMTS coverage, still in all places where I tested the iPhone only has a 1-2 bars UMTS connectivity, while my old Nokia always has full connectivity at the same places. I had hoped for a hardware replacement though ...

[exabytes18]

Steve Jobs sent me an email also. He said that you guys are too gullible. :p

[n8236]

If it is truly "2%," Steve wouldn't even bother with this. It's obviously much higher than that. I would guess 2-5% of those who buy iPhones probably just complain/bitch/live in the boonies anyways. So the real % is obviously much higher since Steve himself had to address this. :apple:

[javaGuru]

I have not had any problems with the reception on my iPhone 3G. But, I have noticed the 3G connection on my AT&T Tilt constantly coming and going. One minute it will be on 3G and then next it's on Edge. This started happening shortly after the launch of the new iPhone. I wonder if all of the new AT&T users are putting a strain on their 3G network.

Also, if this is indeed a software fix. Then why wouldn't it be affecting more than 2%? We all have the same software. I can understand if a small percentage of the phones were made with defective parts.

[wronski]

This is the 4th or 5th instance of someone emailing Steve Jobs and talking about it on MacRumors in a week. Is this hip now?

[MrFrankly]

Well it might be an NVidia-style software fix. :p

Exactly what I was thinking. Of course I have a MBP with the allegedly affected NVidia chips and an iPhone 3G...great :S

[avn]

2%, my butt.

Most aren't complaining because this is the first data plan they have gotten, and just think it is supposed to be crappy. I for one started out as one of them, but now that I am reading this, it fully explains why I am almost never on the 3G network for very long even though I am in the middle of a major metro area (Atlanta).

My butt, indeed.:apple::eek:

[markpalmer]

For what I have been reading the problem seems to effect users in areas where the density of phones on the mobile phone cell is very high. So most likely if you in a major city centre the problem shows up.

It would be intersting for users with the problem to indicate where they are geographically.

[MimChe]

This weekend, just before my 30th day, I returned my 3G and reverted back to my original iphone. The connectivity issues are gone...call strength on EDGE is fine, and the email function actually works... I am regularly receiving emails again ! I'm also realizing how well built and solid the original was. Anyway, as much as I wanted the 3G that was advertised, what I got was a piece of garbage so I got rid of it. Yes, the gps oriented apps are slower on the 2g but...at least the way they work is consistent. If in the coming months I read that they fixed the hardware issues I'll rebuy it but for now it was just too much trouble. After numerous great Apple experiences, this was a disaster - not only with the device, but also the denial on the part of Apple that anything was wrong, despite numerous calls and a 45 minute visit with a "genius" (haha).

[ArtOfWarfare]

Assuming it's real... why would "Steve" have to be Steve Jobs? I mean, Apple was founded by two people named Steve. Whose to say Steve Jobs doesn't keep a close circle of friends all named Steve?

[angelneo]

I'm not inclined to believe this piece of rumor, there's no sources quoted, no evidence presented, no attempt at verification even with un-official sources. Anyone can say they got an email.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem, just saying this article is pretty sloppy.

bah

[137489]

I wonder if this 2% of affected iPhone users is similar to the 1% of affected Mobile Me users (which seemed to be a lot more than 1%). :rolleyes:


It depends on the numbers:

1. if the sold 1million 1phones, then 2% is 20,000 people. they are saying 60,000 = which means 3million iphone sold. The higher number of units sold the more units effected. So even at just 2%, that is a high number.

Considering .mac has been around for ages and with the number of iphones that were sold, plus the new .mac adopters...

3million iphones, 2million old .mac users (just a number, as I have no true idea), 1 million new mobileme adopters (again just a number, as I have no idea) = 6million moble me. 1 % = 60,000. 60,000 can make a lot of noise.

Of course, I am sure there are more than 6million considering all the iphones and old .macs, and new mobile me subscribers.

My point is that even if % looks low, if there are a lot of units that low % could still add up to a lot of effected units.

[Shasterball]

Seems odd that a software issue would help something that affects only 2% of phones (and isn't system-wide).

[pubb]

I'm calling this one BS. For a couple of reasons:

1) No included email headers (these can be faked, but it is something)
2) There's no way Steve responds with a number. He would say, "a few customers are affected" or "a very small percentage of phones are affected". There is no way he is going to state publicly that 2% of all iPhones are defective.
3) It is WAY too similar to recent rumor site posts.

Pubb

[Schizoid]

Hi,

We're not working on any bugs, because this and all previous iPhones and iPods are perfect.
There may be a software update soon, but it just makes good things even better.

Steve

[WoFat]

When it happens to you you're 100% affected.

[Diode]

I'm calling this one BS. For a couple of reasons:

1) No included email headers (these can be faked, but it is something)
2) There's no way Steve responds with a number. He would say, "a few customers are affected" or "a very small percentage of phones are affected". There is no way he is going to state publicly that 2% of all iPhones are defective.
3) It is WAY too similar to recent rumor site posts.

Pubb

The email headers are in another thread in the iphone rumors forum.

I'll see what I can dig up if I remember what thread it was in.

[jayducharme]

However, I hope they can at least tweak the thresholds so it doesn't wait until the 3G signal is completely gone before dropping to Edge

And that's probably the software fix that "Steve" is talking about. I wouldn't be surprised if the problem is a combination of 3G service providers plus the iPhone's 3G chipset. Maybe there was a valid reason Steve originally wanted to stick with EDGE, besides battery life.

[daemondust]

i can't fathom how a software "tweak" is going to fix things properly.

Actually, it sounds like it could easily be a bug in the radio firmware. Something in the tower handoff and selection code.

That's particularly evident in the reports like "i was driving down x and my call dropped 10 times" and even the "i was standing in one spot and my call kept dropping". You could easily be standing in a place your phone doesn't know which of two towers to pick and if there are bugs in the selection and handoff logic you could be dropped. This is particularly a problem in large cities where the buildings bounce the signal all over the place and is a multi-path nightmare.

The instance where 3g signals need to basically disappear before the phone will fall back to EDGE shows there's at least one tuning issue/bug in the tower selection logic.

I'm not saying it's entirely firmware, but a lot of it can probably be cleared up that way.

[born4sky]

and I am the lucky one (((

[vandozza]

http://chuqui.typepad.com/chuqui_30/2008/08/two-little-tidb.html

this is an interesting read, re the iphone chipset drivers. about half way down.

[papiti]

I'm calling this one BS. For a couple of reasons:

1) No included email headers (these can be faked, but it is something)
2) There's no way Steve responds with a number. He would say, "a few customers are affected" or "a very small percentage of phones are affected". There is no way he is going to state publicly that 2% of all iPhones are defective.
3) It is WAY too similar to recent rumor site posts.

Pubb

:)Totally agree. Don't think Stevie would actually reveal numbers. Ju:eek::apple:st not smart, and from what i've heard, he is pretty smart.

[t0mat0]

Anyone else thinking it's more like 2% of all shipped at any one time rather than just 2%?

[reckless2k2]

i agree and disagree with n8236.

i agree that they wouldn't be "fixing" anything unless it was a much greater margin than 2%.

i disagree with the number of 5% though.

there was a much larger adoption of the 3G as compared to the 2G. follow me on this one. even with the 2G, i had numerous people around me that barely even understood the full functionality of the iphone much less knew how to work it. now pop the 3G into the hands of more than 3 times the amount of the first version. i'm betting that most people with problems don't even realize they are having them. they are of the masses that are not using it to the full functionality. they might just be consolidating a phone and ipod into one device especially considering it's cheaper.

so i'm thinking the number is much larger than we could stand to believe especially for apple to exert efforts to correct it. at the very least, i would think it's affecting 50% of everything that has been shipped.

think about it, you are going to have a LOT more average people that aren't going to be running to forums to complain about there iphone.

trust me.......the number of "defective" iphones is VERY high. the question is whether they will halt production to correct the issue. maybe someone should be investigating that.

[AnalyzeThis]

It depends on the numbers:

1. if the sold 1million 1phones, then 2% is 20,000 people. they are saying 60,000 = which means 3million iphone sold. The higher number of units sold the more units effected. So even at just 2%, that is a high number.

Considering .mac has been around for ages and with the number of iphones that were sold, plus the new .mac adopters...

3million iphones, 2million old .mac users (just a number, as I have no true idea), 1 million new mobileme adopters (again just a number, as I have no idea) = 6million moble me. 1 % = 60,000. 60,000 can make a lot of noise.

Of course, I am sure there are more than 6million considering all the iphones and old .macs, and new mobile me subscribers.

My point is that even if % looks low, if there are a lot of units that low % could still add up to a lot of effected units.

2% mentioned do not relate to a specific iPhones sold. Any iPhone is vulnerable if it happened to wonder in the twilight zone.

So you cannot rest on assumption "I am not affected". If issue is not addressed you will certainly will at some point.

[docal97]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5B108 Safari/525.20)

Ha!

I've been through 7 phones for other defective reasons, yet all 7 had the same 3G issue? I'm unlucky, but I can't be THAT unlucky.

2%? Think again, Stevie.


7 phones? What could have possibly happened? I have never heard of thing in my life!

[TXCraig]

Its funney that the only way to get Apple to admit there is a problem is to out the issues in the mass media. If you call support- they will tell you they have NEVER heard of the problem.

I know 8 different people that have the new iPhones and we ALL have the 3G / call drop problems.

[ralphdaily]

It's 2% or something but not everybody. I got my 3G last week and it's been a noticeable improvement over my original iPhone. I get 3G in places where I couldn't get edge. Paired fine with my car and no echo. It's real for the people that have the problem but I didn't.

Ralph
Birmingham, AL

[bdkennedy1]

I'm near DFW Airport and I rarely see anything above 1 bar.

[ScottFitz]

Consider me one of the 2%. I've switched back to Edge for the time being. Too many dropped calls. I honestly don't need 3g unless I'm surfing or downloading. Extra talk time is a plus with Edge, but its a definite flaw this "bug".

[Greg M]

Do any of you believe what comes out of Steve Job's mouth? Apple does produce great products but they are far from truthful.

Here's just a couple recent "truths" from Apple that affected me.

No problems with the MBP. Yeh right, Apple replaced mine with a brand new one and it had several problems. Sold it and switched to a Macbook.

Iphone half the price. Well all of you know about that lie.

3g problems affect 2%. Baloney, I'm on my 3rd iphone and the only reason that number isn't higher is because the Apple store is about 45 minutes away. If I was closer I'd have them replace it weekly until I either got one that worked as well as my 2g did or until they admitted that there is a problem and they will have a fix shortly.

If it's only 2% then I should just keep getting a new one until I get one of the 98% that work properly.

[jsw]

Seems odd that a software issue would help something that affects only 2% of phones (and isn't system-wide).
He meant 2% of all iPhones at a given time.

Not the same 2%. Just that, at any given time, 2% of iPhones are being affected. Which, of course, is about the percentage that are being used for calls at any particular moment. ;)

[Rocketman]

if it's a hardware problem, then how is software going to fix the issue?


Restated, if it is a hardware issue, a software fix is the only hope for deployed phones. It will be interesting to see if this sort of "glitch" rises to the level of causing substantial warranty returns.

It will also be interesting to see if "later-2008" iPhone 3G's become in high demand assuming a fix is initiated.

Rocketman

[franzmueller]

Finally one good thing not having 3G in my area :D

Saludos

[Rotary8]

would be funny if this software fixes those 2% yet adversely affect the other 98% who's iphones were fine.

[TonyHoyle]

Ditto... I have the exact same problems in Central London. o2 blame apple, apple blame o2. FUN!

I am not sure who to blame, I have had the phone replaced and the same thing happens. I am leaning towards blaming o2 because it happens in the same areas all the time. i.e. the same cell site.

:-(

Around here It's definately O2 - you can have 5 bars 3G reception and still get connection errors and no servers available... however driving a quarter of a mile in any direction will give a fast smooth connection - whilst doing absolutely nothing to the phone.

When this happens it doesn't matter whether you're on 3G or GPRS - the internet connectivity is dead.

It's really frustrating sometimes when you're in a 'black spot' eg. I needed to check something in a shop on Saturday and guess what.. no internet. I struggled with the phone for about 10 minutes and gave up.

[benvon]

Count me amongst the 2%.

I get better connectivity when I force 3G off in downtown Chicago.

Sheesh...

[essinger]

I think the explanation that best fits the observations is that the iphone is holding onto 3G when the signal is too weak in situations where the phone should really be looking for another network. I suspect that Apple did this originally to head-off complaints from people upgraded to new iphones but are still getting edge network speeds.

[thecartoonguy]

Sorry I need to blow off steam. I am so sick of this iPhone crap. Did Apple stop making other products? What's with all the iPhone posts. I know, I know there is a lot going on. However, the amount of discussion for a product, which clearly should not have not released yet is getting way to much coverage; just like Mobile me. Whew sorry for the vent. I feel better.

[Rot'nApple]

if it's a hardware problem, then how is software going to fix the issue?

if it was faulty software in the beginning, you would expect all iphones to be equally affected?

i can't fathom how a software "tweak" is going to fix things properly. isn't bad hardware just that. i worry that this fix might be more of a "baid-aid" for the supposed 2% that are having problems. (and I agree that this figure is too low. from what i see it's more like 40% at a guess!)

my iphone went back. i don't want a half-fix.

Just musing...

If it is a software "fix", will this fix be in a general iPhone os release or urged by Apple that the software fix be downloaded only by those with 3G issues...

On the other hand, if you download the 3G software fix and didn't have 3G issues, will your 3G be tweaked even more than before, regarding reception? I'm not technically expert to know the answer to my thoughts which may all be rubbish. Any one have an idea about this software 3G fix.

More importantly, any thoughts regarding the input into the iPhone 3G? What with the "cracks" issue, especially visible in some white iPhone models and the 3G issues that some reports say come from the 3g chipset provided to Apple, while other reports talk about a hardware issue of a short antenna, versus the iPhone OS 2.0 itself, does one get the feeling this was a rushed model to get a 3G phone out there in order to put a product in more markets when it appears the product was not ready for release by Apple's standards, as stated by the "devil's in the details" that were mentioned at the beginning of this thought. Steve has come clean, finally, with his MobileMe mea culpa, maybe it's time for Steve to do the same for the iPhone? Clearly, this appears to be a downgrade in user experience all around (hardware, software) from the Original iPhone! Maybe it is time for Apple to stand down, just like the military does when incident after incident happens to take a look at its operating procedures and Apple should do the same and ask itself where it is heading with quality products being released. My .02¢

[sonicwind]

Actually I met with Steve when I was astral traveling this weekend and he told me something entirely different. What he said was "The radio has been programmed to be as power efficient as possible, and AT&T is also in many cases intentionally limiting the bandwidth on iPhones as well. We're not sure if we're going to do anything at all about it, because we're still selling iPhones faster than we can make them."

You can print that.

[BeyondtheTech]

Maybe he meant that 2% of the iPhones have no issues whatsoever. ;)

I'll admit that my EDGE is much more trusty than 3G, but I'm used to blaming AT&T before the device. This will be an interesting turn of events.

If the iPhone 3G is manufactured from a number of manufacturers (the original iPhone 2G had multiple LCD makers, etc), and 2% is 60,000, that's a pretty low number of components made for a rollout in the millions. Someone's not using all the buttons on the Calculator app.

[The Viking]

The 2% is bullcrap. I'll bet 2% are reporting the problem for the rest of us; I've just been living with flaky 3G service without calling Apple.

Anecdotally, out of a sample among 10 iPhones among my friends, 60% have a problem where we often have to turn off 3G because 3G cannot make or receive calls. The other 40% actually don't use their phones that much.

[Cheffy Dave]

I believe Him, I believe the response, I think the simple fact he responds at all is amazing. HE and the Apple products, are the reason I switched in 2008, one of the best moves I ever made. So nice to have a PC that just works! ;)

[volvoben]

I was among those very happy with 3G performance until I traveled out of New England last weekend. Somewhere around NYC 3G would show up strong, but nothing connected. It's intermittent, but in DC at least half the time I showed 4-5 bars and 3G and couldn't connect to anything, no email, no safari, just lots of waiting. Rebooting did nothing, but turning off 3G fixed the problem nearly every time (other time was at a Nationals game, I assume there was just too much traffic for any data to work well). I get better data service with 1 bar in rural new england than I did 2 blocks from the white house.

Anyway, it made me wonder if it's something about 850 or 1900mhz, perhaps one works and the other's wonky, or perhaps the network doesn't recognize the 3G connection some places?

No idea what the issue was, but boy was it annoying while trying to show large photos to a group, 3G would have been great but only edge worked. Heck, i'd even be happy if the thing switched to edge automatically if it sensed a junk 3G connection or it's the wrong wavelength or whatever.

Back in Boston now, and 3G is back to working beautifully. Weird.

[Fujiko7]

It would be good if this also fixed the GPS and other location problems that have been widely reported. These also seem to affect some phones and not others.

[kingtj]

They probably REALLY mean, 2% of iPhone users have the issue at any given time?

This is just like the 1% of MobileME users who were "still having email issues" a few weeks ago or so.....

Apple has a LONG history of understating the problem when they make a mistake. The important thing is, by admitting the fault exists at all, it means they're officially working on a fix for it.


If it is truly "2%," Steve wouldn't even bother with this. It's obviously much higher than that. I would guess 2-5% of those who buy iPhones probably just complain/bitch/live in the boonies anyways. So the real % is obviously much higher since Steve himself had to address this. :apple:

[The Tall One]

I wonder why 2% of iphones shipped would have a bug? Some software component was included in only a certain percent of shipments? I thought all iPhones shipped with the same build?

[seedster2]

I generally don't believe anything Steve says. He's the king of spin. I can't blame him, he's the face of the company.

When he made the seemingly abrupt 3G announcement and scurried off the stage without providing and further details I knew something was up

The iphone in its current state with poor battery and limited 3G reception and buggy software could have been released the first go round...

I was fortunately only plagued with software and battery issues, but I know many others who have 3G reception issues. What makes matters worse is they had 3G phones prior to the iphone. So this 3G saturation argument pointing the finger at AT&T is difficult to believe.

[plumbingandtech]

I wonder why 2% of iphones shipped would have a bug? Some software component was included in only a certain percent of shipments? I thought all iPhones shipped with the same build?

It has to do with the same phones and same software at different distances from 3g towers resulting in different and varied 3g singal strength would be my understanding. My 3g iphone does fine in a major city while someone else's in the florida panhandle may be wonkey due to less 3g coverage and less strength in that part of the country as of today. If the florida iphone were to come to los angeles on vacation. I bet the phone would not drop calls.

Then again, even in big cities if you have too many 3g (all types of 3g ) in the same area of town, that signal (bandwidth) will reduce, and the iphone will drop more since the software does not seem to be tuned for weak or low bandwidth signals.

[megfilmworks]

I'm mystified by suggestions of a design or hardware fault effecting calls and connectivity using 3G. No sign of any problems and very good voice call reliability here in the UK. Having owned a 3G mobile (3 network) previously, the iPhone is infinitely better in terms of signal availabilty and user experience!
No problems here in SoCal with my 3 new iPhones.
3G works great, no dropped calls, seamless transition to edge and wifi and great sound quality!
Guess I am just lucky.

[plumbingandtech]

No problems here in SoCal with my 3 new iPhones.
3G works great, no dropped calls, seamless transition to edge and wifi and great sound quality!
Guess I am just lucky.

Me neither. Also in L.A., IMO this has to do with the lack of 3g coverage in smaller parts (and too many 3g users in a sub area of a metro area) of the country resulting in weaker 3g signals and the software in the iphone does not seem to hand low signals well and drops them.

[pounce]

Count me amongst the 2%.

I get better connectivity when I force 3G off in downtown Chicago.

Sheesh...

ditto

i've never had so many dropped calls. all the internet stuff and other apps on the iphone are a hoot, but it's turning out to be the least reliable phone i've had. and that doesn't work for me at all. i don't have a land line, i only have the cell phone. it HAS to work.

edge seems to do ok. the issue seems to be about the 3g. looking at at+t's coverage charts would lead one to believe that you would have no trouble in chicago, but i've noticed a lot of folks here are having trouble in chicago.

at this point, this is my least satisfactory apple experience. i'm practically a "fanboy" with a ton of other apple products, including the original iphone which wasn't problematic for me like this one is. this either has to get fixed or i will be switching to a different phone that actually works for me.

[darngooddesign]

It is certainly not AT&T.
A lot of people seem to forget the world doesn't end at the borders of the US...

Yeah...Americans always seem to overlook those massive bodies of water called oceans. How would we ever survive without Europeans reminding us about them.

[stockcerts]

Companies always downplay news like this. I think it's way more than 2%. I haven't had a problem with dropped calls, but the 3G service is very spotty, even in big cities like San Francisco. I would think that everyone is effected at some level. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the special release will improve things!

[sajawebb]

Oh great. So me and 4 of my friends are in that 2%!

Seems like Melbourne has got all those affected people.

Seems like you and your friends are in the 100% club!

[Veri]

Seems like you and your friends are in the 100% club!

I expect it's related to quality/congestion of local towers, so if you have the problem with one phone, you're going to have it with a replacement phone, and so are any of your local friends.

[slapppy]

Sounds great that a software will fix it soon. Although I've had no problems with mine. Same low signals in the same places as before with AT&T. Except with 3g the low signal is still way faster than Edge at full tilt.

Anyway, maybe the guy who got a reply should ask Steve about Notes/To Do sync on the iPhone. When is he putting that back? It was listed right before 10.5 came out, right on the Apple tech spec list for 10.5.

[darngooddesign]

Still loving my Launch Day edgePhone. Battery life is excellent and no dropped calls or questionable build quality.

[hotshotharry]

I think Steve meant to say that 2% of iPhones work at any given time. In other words the the one iPhone 3G towns haha

My 3G Is the shizz as well !

[branjosef]

I emailed Steve too and he sent this response. Man what a jerk!


Hello,

Stop sending me emails you moron. I am not Steve Jobs



Sincerely,

Steve Jascowitz
SJasco@hotmail.com

[branjosef]

Still loving my Launch Day edgePhone. Battery life is excellent and no dropped calls or questionable build quality.


No problems with my iphone either.. I have no questionable calls or dropped build quality :rolleyes:

[mpuck972]

I know five people with the iPhone, and all six of us have issues. Thats a heck of a lot more than 2%.

'It Just Works'

[mobilehavoc]

Anybody with half a brain realizes that if a percentage of units shipped (could be 2% or 50%) is supposedly effected and it's not all of them, it's definitely a hardware issue.

They are all running the same OS build and FW. If they weren't for some reason during manufacturing, when people upgraded to 2.0.1 they certainly are now.

To me, this is the biggest tell if the email is real and no one is realizing that. It would actually have been better if the issue effected ALL iPhone 3Gs since you could assume it's just software. If it's a small percentage, you KNOW it's hardware no matter how they try to spin it.

[iAlan]

I do not have any problems with signal here in Tokyo Japan. I have a handful of friend who also have iPhones (in Tokyo) who also do not have a problem.

We don't have 'a backup phone network' to fall back on anyway - just 3G or nothing, maybe someone can verify

Nonetheless, no 3G isues for the few iPhone users I know.

Anyone in Japan having signal problems?

Keyboard lag, especially when typing romanji, well that just seems to be troubling all of us!

[ntrigue]

My brother and I are both affected. He's in Westwood LA and I am in Menlo Park. My experience is as follows:

Place call. Put iPhone to ear. No ringing. Look at screen. Bars flash from 5 to 0 to 5. Call Failed screen. Am I the 2%?

Argh!
Also happens in call. The commonality is the bars flashing full to none to full.

[kjs862]

I'm also having a lot of problems with my iphone., sure seems like a lot more than 2%.

[airfang]

I think this 2% includes me as well..

I live in Houston area, but I seldom get any 3G signals so I ended up disabling 3G all time, hope next firmware update would fix this.

[plunar]

all i know is that the "3G" iphone is 3G in name only. i work and live in manhattan, and even in the bloody park i can't get 3g reception. i'll get it for a few minutes, then it hangs even with full bars, and i'm on edge. often times i don't even get edge - instead i get an blue square icon with a white circle inside. what the hell is that??? gprs?!

i wonder how the hell this phone can function in a market like japan where there is ONLY 3g???

[plunar]

i'm very suspicious that the problem is not the phone alone, nor the network alone. i believe it's a combination. it seems like the phone gets confused operating on different networks simultaneously. in japan this is not an issue because there is only umts 2100 on softbank. there is no fall back option.

i would LOVE to try a hack that disables 2.5g. there is not one damn reason to be using the old network in manhattan. my friend has got a razr2 and she's ALWAYS on 3g - SOLID. and her webpages load waaaaaay faster than on my iphone (granted it's quite useless on her phone with the ****** motorola gui and web browser, but still...)

I do not have any problems with signal here in Tokyo Japan. I have a handful of friend who also have iPhones (in Tokyo) who also do not have a problem.

To be honest, I don't think we have 'Edge' (or anything else) to fall back on anyway - just the 3G or nothing, maybe someone can verify

Nonetheless, no 3G isues for the few iPhone users I know.

Anyone in Japan having signal problems?

Keyboard lag, especially when typing romanji, well that just seems to be troubling all of us!

[notjustjay]

I am curious how one could quantify the 2%, and how that could have happened in the first place. Did these phones not all come off the same assembly line? Was there a batch of defective components? Did the first few 2% of manufactured iPhones roll off the line before anyone noticed a problem?

[8CoreWhore]

Since when does a customer complaint about his OWN problem get answered with the % of total customers with that problem? For that customer, it is a 100% problem. WHOEVER is offering the %, is doing so for Public Relations purposes.:mad:

[travishill]

I am curious how one could quantify the 2%, and how that could have happened in the first place. Did these phones not all come off the same assembly line? Was there a batch of defective components? Did the first few 2% of manufactured iPhones roll off the line before anyone noticed a problem?

There's no across the board hardware issue. It is the same network stack problem in every phone.

However, they're implying that the coverage/signal strength is strong enough either on Edge or 3G that only 2% of iPhone users are *impacted* at any given time.

That way they can "legitimately" say 2% when it is, in fact, an issue in every phone's software right now.

[8CoreWhore]

How could Apple know the % of affected handsets?? Is Infineon telling them? Is that how many came off the line with antennas that are too short? Is that the scope of THE WORLD WIDE 3G network coverage affected? ie, much, much, higher % for at&t alone. Is that the % of phones with the wrong software???:rolleyes:

[gibbz]

You can group me in the affected users. I know it has been frustrating, but let's give Apple the benefit of releasing 2.1 before we unleash hell's fury.

A MR user has indicated that the 2.1 beta has been successful in these areas. See here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=545951).

[aristotle]

It is certainly not AT&T.
A lot of people seem to forget the world doesn't end at the borders of the US and people worldwide are experiencing this issue.

I'm in the UK and while I'm not having any problems, I have a couple friends who are.
It certainly is partly the blame of AT&T and other providers around the world. Not everyone whether they be on AT&T or other providers are affected because it seems to vary by region and/or time of day.

I don't think anyone is denying that there is a bug in the hand off from 3G to 2G that affects some people in certain regions but the bandwidth and poor reception issues are most likely due to poor 3G tower placement and overselling the network.

[137489]

Sorry I need to blow off steam. I am so sick of this iPhone crap. Did Apple stop making other products? What's with all the iPhone posts. I know, I know there is a lot going on. However, the amount of discussion for a product, which clearly should not have not released yet is getting way to much coverage; just like Mobile me. Whew sorry for the vent. I feel better.


I agree with you. the iphone is getting too much reports lately. There are alot of other products that rival the iphone nicely, once you get everything hooked up (Palm Centro, Sprint's new SamSung -which is starting to come out on other networks, etc).

I know the iphone is new and still in its infancey (as compared to say mac's). I know the iphone brought many new apple customers, change the way we look at smart phones, but come on. mac was their core business and where they stand to keep and make customers.

all the iphone news hurts Apple and their stock. I know people who laugh at apple just because of the iphone and mobile me issues. They don't want to hear how great the mac line ups are.

I was talking to a guy in Wal-mart who was looking at a new computer, because his current Vista computer was giving him problems. :confused: Although, I should not be confused as MS marketing Vista Sp1 as Mohave in their commercials - so now people are looking to buy new machines (thinking they are getting a new OS) rather than just downloading sp1 (but that is another rant for another day). Anyway, I told the guy:

1. If you do not want issues, and want ease of use - I would go with mac.
2. But, if you really want to stay with Windows. Stay away from Dell, Compaq was bought out by HP, so compaq is the "economy" and not so well supported machines. Same with these other models you are looking at, "e-machines became gateway, and gateway is now Acer". Funny Walmart still has all these sub-brands on thiers shelves and tells people they are actually different computer companies.

Anyway he said "yeah, I am looking at computer because of my vista issues, I only need to have a few photos, maybe a couple of songs, and a few games for when the 5 year old grand kids come over. Maybe do a little something with home videos of kids growing up." I really do not care about keybord, mouse or monitor- I could just use what I have. They have that flat plug (think they call it USB) rather than the round one:p - Ok, you have to understand something - the guy was probably pushing 60, from the country, and really did not use computers much.. :rolleyes: I told him to drive the hr and get himself a mini. He then asked "Apple, does it run the same as that iphone thing. I mean I do not want the same problems as I am having with Vista. I was told by someone else I should get Mohave". when I explained what Windows was trying to do with the Mohave, he just shook his head and said "thanks for the info." Then he started asking, "what do I need for ram (actually what is ram, is it the same as they list here as memory), what do you think of hard drive" I told him head to Durham, go to streets of southpoint and talk to an apple rep. they will go over everything with you, show you how to use it, and get you the exact machine for your needs in all about an hour. With the hour drive there, and hour in the store, and an hour's drive back - you will have the perfect machine for your needs; not just an off-the-shelf walmart special that will give you more problems or questions. I also told him buying a new non-apple computer, you would also have the following other issues:

1. HP, Acer, E-machines, toshiba, and Gateway will not give you your OS disks - you must make your own and are allowed only to do it once, so if it screws up; you will have to pay for new disks.

2. Dell will give you a restore disk, but it may or maynot work.

I saw him a little later on leaving without a computer.

I am happy to spread the word about Apple's other products - but when people start saying no because of the iphone issues; then that starts an hours discusion on how the iphone is not a mac, and not a real computer. it is just a glorified smart phone and a mac computer does not have the same problems.

[jonhaxor]

I don't think anyone is denying that there is a bug in the hand off from 3G to 2G that affects some people in certain regions but the bandwidth and poor reception issues are most likely due to poor 3G tower placement and overselling the network.

.. or deciding when to hand off between 3G and 2G. For example in my apartment I notice certain times of the day when the 3G signal will drop from 5 bars to half a bar, and then to "No Reception" .. if I manually turn off 3G then I get a full 4-5 bars. As for data reception .. sometimes I'll get long delays connecting (and sometimes timeouts) - if I try 2 or 3 more times, then eventually it gets through .. but being around the NYC area - I have to laugh every time I see the commercials with the GPS dot in Brooklyn claiming how fast it all is .. in the same spot on 3G I can see it take 2 - maybe 3 minutes to narrow down where I can, if it does at all - (the entire commercial would be over at that point)

The problem with 3G/UMTS has more to do with traffic and congestion. If the numbers of cell towers are limited the slots are typically fixed as opposed to 3G/CDMA which tends to degrade call quality and offer more slots under congestion situations. But regardless (as anyone who's ever tried to use a cell phone after a disaster can tell you) - if there's too many people on the network (oversubscribed) - then you're going to see these sorts of problems. The software problem to me seems to be more related to better prediction algorithms and understanding when to switch from 3G to 2G .. in other words - do you hang on with 3G and hope that more people drop off? and how long do you wait to see if the traffic is going to die down before you switch to something less congested?

[stormj]

Anybody with half a brain realizes that if a percentage of units shipped (could be 2% or 50%) is supposedly effected and it's not all of them, it's definitely a hardware issue.

They are all running the same OS build and FW. If they weren't for some reason during manufacturing, when people upgraded to 2.0.1 they certainly are now.

To me, this is the biggest tell if the email is real and no one is realizing that. It would actually have been better if the issue effected ALL iPhone 3Gs since you could assume it's just software. If it's a small percentage, you KNOW it's hardware no matter how they try to spin it.

I think you're probably right on this. However, a software fix to a hardware problem isn't impossible. I don't know much about the low-level iPhone hardware interfaces, but it's possible that whatever this hardware is doing wrong can be compensated for through a fix on the controller.

If it doesn't, I want a new one. Bottom line.

[ntrigue]

i would LOVE to try a hack that disables 2.5g.

BossPrefs in Cydia allows you to switch off EDGE

[thedave3000]

It is definitely affecting my phone. While it is not dropping calls, the 3G signal strength seems very weak in a lot of areas, and almost 100% of the time I get an annoying echo-feed back effect when making or receiving calls on the 3G network. I am patiently waiting for all the little bugs to get ironed out.

[vinniefm]

100% of the iPhone users that I know are impacted by this issue (I'm in Chicago). As others have implied in this post, I seem to know a significant portion of this mythical 2%. Balls up already Steve and just admit that you guys screwed up. We'll all be much more forgiving of the truth than we will be of this secrecy.

[stockcerts]

I agree with you. the iphone is getting too much reports lately. There are alot of other products that rival the iphone nicely, once you get everything hooked up (Palm Centro, Sprint's new SamSung -which is starting to come out on other networks, etc).

I know the iphone is new and still in its infancey (as compared to say mac's). I know the iphone brought many new apple customers, change the way we look at smart phones, but come on. mac was their core business and where they stand to keep and make customers.

all the iphone news hurts Apple and their stock. I know people who laugh at apple just because of the iphone and mobile me issues. They don't want to hear how great the mac line ups are.

I was talking to a guy in Wal-mart who was looking at a new computer, because his current Vista computer was giving him problems. :confused: Although, I should not be confused as MS marketing Vista Sp1 as Mohave in their commercials - so now people are looking to buy new machines (thinking they are getting a new OS) rather than just downloading sp1 (but that is another rant for another day). Anyway, I told the guy:

1. If you do not want issues, and want ease of use - I would go with mac.
2. But, if you really want to stay with Windows. Stay away from Dell, Compaq was bought out by HP, so compaq is the "economy" and not so well supported machines. Same with these other models you are looking at, "e-machines became gateway, and gateway is now Acer". Funny Walmart still has all these sub-brands on thiers shelves and tells people they are actually different computer companies.

Anyway he said "yeah, I am looking at computer because of my vista issues, I only need to have a few photos, maybe a couple of songs, and a few games for when the 5 year old grand kids come over. Maybe do a little something with home videos of kids growing up." I really do not care about keybord, mouse or monitor- I could just use what I have. They have that flat plug (think they call it USB) rather than the round one:p - Ok, you have to understand something - the guy was probably pushing 60, from the country, and really did not use computers much.. :rolleyes: I told him to drive the hr and get himself a mini. He then asked "Apple, does it run the same as that iphone thing. I mean I do not want the same problems as I am having with Vista. I was told by someone else I should get Mohave". when I explained what Windows was trying to do with the Mohave, he just shook his head and said "thanks for the info." Then he started asking, "what do I need for ram (actually what is ram, is it the same as they list here as memory), what do you think of hard drive" I told him head to Durham, go to streets of southpoint and talk to an apple rep. they will go over everything with you, show you how to use it, and get you the exact machine for your needs in all about an hour. With the hour drive there, and hour in the store, and an hour's drive back - you will have the perfect machine for your needs; not just an off-the-shelf walmart special that will give you more problems or questions. I also told him buying a new non-apple computer, you would also have the following other issues:

1. HP, Acer, E-machines, toshiba, and Gateway will not give you your OS disks - you must make your own and are allowed only to do it once, so if it screws up; you will have to pay for new disks.

2. Dell will give you a restore disk, but it may or maynot work.

I saw him a little later on leaving without a computer.

I am happy to spread the word about Apple's other products - but when people start saying no because of the iphone issues; then that starts an hours discusion on how the iphone is not a mac, and not a real computer. it is just a glorified smart phone and a mac computer does not have the same problems.

Why are we talking about Macs on an IPhone forum? Many of us are interested in Macs...I am as I have an IMac, but I don't expect to have a Mac discussion in an IPhone forum.

[M. Malone]

It's like a lottery with Apple.

Now everyone with a 3G iPhone is hoping they're among the lucky 2% who's problems Apple will supposedly address :rolleyes:

[killr_b]

This is obvious BS. I have At&t, but no iPhone. I have 3 At&t phones and they all started having problems at the same time. And ever since May it's been nothing but dropped calls and failed attempts to connect. These problems amplified after the iPhone launch.

[djrobsd]

Mine is working great after they replaced my phone, no software update needed, so I suspect it might be hardware and not just software. :)

[alejovh1]

count me in the 2%, just today dropped 5 calls and 4 calls failed!; this is my second iphone.
hope for an update soon:(

[/dev/toaster]

Its strange because my 3G iPhone worked fine, until I took a trip out of state. When I returned, the phone has been acting very strange. Each call out takes 2 or 3 tries, lots of dropped calls and periods of "No service" when I had full signal a few seconds prior. (Standing on the street, not in a car or anything)

I did realize though that 3G in Vegas _REALLY_ sucks. My EVDO card ran laps around it. I couldn't use my iPhone inside any of the hotels I went into.

I hope they release a fix soon.

[maknik]

Perhaps the 2% doesn't mean that a random 2% of iPhones are defective, but that most iPhones when in busy urban areas have problems, which comprises 2% of all iPhones. Thus anyone with problems would be likely to continue to have problems with replacement phones, and would be likely to know many others who have the same problems -- while not disproving the "2%" claim.

[jashic]

Perhaps the 2% doesn't mean that a random 2% of iPhones are defective, but that most iPhones when in busy urban areas have problems, which comprises 2% of all iPhones. Thus anyone with problems would be likely to continue to have problems with replacement phones, and would be likely to know many others who have the same problems -- while not disproving the "2%" claim.

The email was interpreted wrong. He mean 92%, not 2%.

Either that, it is 2% of phones since only 2% of phones are in use at any given time. Another way of saying 100% of all phones in use are affected by the problem but only when you use the phone. If you leave it on your desk and turn it off, you don't experience the problem.

[Trajectory]

So where is the real email and how can you be sure it's from Steve Jobs? I think MacRumours has been Punkd.

[a1016neo]

So where is the real email and how can you be sure it's from Steve Jobs? I think MacRumours has been Punkd.

Punkd???? I think Arn knows what he is doing.... :cool:

[aesselstein]

ha, 2%. problem is annoying. my new Nokia e71 is performing much better on AT&T then the multiple iPhone3Gs that I bought, exchanged etc. I still have the 3G and may just wait till the end of my 3rd 30 day return window just to see this "fix" for myself.

Worst reception ever. (Chicago area)

[dgcaste]

If this is a 2% failure rate and MobileMe was at 1%, that makes it twice the Fail.

[mrtune]

I see so many people posting with problems from the Chicago area and I am in full agreement. I'm from the Chicago area and my reception is terrible. Along with that, battey life isn't even half of what my first gen iPhone offered, and that's with 3g turned off for most of the day.

Couple that with the bugginess of 2.0x software and it has me considering other phones. I'd love to switch back to my old iPhone, but it would be a catch 22. The volume on that phone was terrible compaired to the new iPhone.

My gf just got a blackberry pearl. Flawless reception, fantastic messaging features, ringer customization, speakerphone volume, the list goes on and on. Sure it doesn't have the app store and a fantastic screen, but my list of needs are for a working phone with good txt and email, not a pretty looking paperweight that plays games good.

Everyday goes by, I come closer to getting a blackberry to get things done and selling my iPhone and older iPod in exchange for a iPod touch so I can keep using the cool, usefull apps I bought.

[Hands0n]

Several friends scattered across the country all experience the same 3G issues on the UK's O2 network. Twelve of us in the same office floor with iPhone 3Gs bought at different times, from different locations - all of us, bar none, have had to switch off 3G as it does not work at work, home or play.

Now this is nearer 100% in my experience - just a tad off from Steve's 2%.

Perhaps the UK got all the broken ones?

People! The truth is easy enough for the mobile network operators to tell Apple all about. They know which IMEI are 3G handsets. All they need do is report how many iPhone 3G are on 2G and how long for (i.e. temporarily, permanently etc...). This is all well within the capability of the mobile operators. I think that Apple (and O2) know exactly how widespread this issue is. But they certainly will not be letting on.

[n8236]

Twice the speed, Half the price, Half the connectivity. :rolleyes:

I WANT MY DAMN 3G!:apple:

[Stately]

Well it could be AT&T...

----------------------------------------

2% sounds right.... This would not include any problems on AT&T side....

You better beleive it is . . :cool::apple:

[JPark]

I always lose my signal when I'm sitting on the can.

"I'm sorry sir, but this iPhone has been flagged." :p

[bzen]

2% is silly. How would the Powers That Be know "2%." Its just a piece of numerical rhetoric that suggests, "This is just a wee little problem. YOU are probably not affected. Go on, go back outside and play with your iphones like good little boys and girls." Those short messages from "Steve" seem to me to be a quick pat on the head, a band-aid on the owie, and sometimes a lollipop to try to make it all better.

I do find the rhetoric interesting, considering the MobileMe debacle utilized the 1% figure.

Personally, I rarely see 3G on my phone. I live in both Berkeley, CA and the Central Valley of California--both areas, according to the ATT map, have 3G coverage. 3G is, for me, completely elusive in Berkeley. In Bakersfield, however, I do see it come and go, but it never sticks around very much.

I love the phone--much improved over my old Razr V3. Still, I find it sad that Apple seems to have become more focused on advertising and hype, than the quality of its final products.

[TonicAngel]

[QUOTE=bzen;6064282]
Personally, I rarely see 3G on my phone. I live in both Berkeley, CA and the Central Valley of California--both areas, according to the ATT map, have 3G coverage. 3G is, for me, completely elusive in Berkeley. In Bakersfield, however, I do see it come and go, but it never sticks around very much.
QUOTE]

That's depressing. :( I'm in Bakersfield too and wanted to upgrade to the 3g iphone. I used to get 3G coverage all the time with the original 3G blackjack. I switched to edge iphone (Edge is so damn slow here its ridiculous) I wonder why the iphone isn't getting the same coverage? Now I'm thinking the upgrade to 3G isn't worth it. :mad:

[Hands0n]

Now I'm thinking the upgrade to 3G isn't worth it. :mad:

The way things are at the moment you would be correct, it isn't worth it. But if Apple can indeed fix the issue with their iPhone 3G such that it actually is capable of locating, attaching to and maintaining a 3G signal then the wait will have been worthwhile.

I remain to be convinced.

[Hands0n]

iPhone software 2.0.2 is now on iTunes for download!

Fingers crossed that Steve's suggestion that they can fix 3G is in this download!!!! :eek:

[ra noodle]

i am also in the chicago area, i was really going to try and save for this iphone....except this product is turning out to be it seems as crappy as the Leopard OSX; one of you mentioned the focus should be on Mac's and yet look at all those who have had problems with Leopard or iLife08 or iWork08-I wanted to change to Leopard until I began to see so many with so many problems and now its this iPhone 3G......frankly say what you want, dump on me but I totally believe Jobs and his bunch don't give a DAMN about these problems...if he had given a damn about Leopard then wouldn't he have released it when and only when it had close to zero problems?? And having done that wouldn't he then have released iPhone only when it too had few problems and had let others at the same time offer iPhone 3G with others besides the crap AT&T? Across the board Apple products as a whole have lost quality and tech stability.

[137489]

Why are we talking about Macs on an IPhone forum? Many of us are interested in Macs...I am as I have an IMac, but I don't expect to have a Mac discussion in an IPhone forum.


Because I was pointing out the fact that people are starting to think of Apple as a whole as a failure due to the iphone and MM crud. WHen people think of apple, they think of iphone. Now they are equivelanting

iphone issues + mm issues = company issues = mac issues.

Which is clearly not the case, but people are starting to percieve that.

[vanderbob]

I have no problem using 3G in MD and in fact observed a significant improvement in 3G in the last few days. I suppose it is AT@T (and other networks outside the US) that are scrambling to deal with a massive influx of new users of their 3G networks.

[twoodcc]

well i hope that this is true and that they have a fix out soon

[bzen]

[QUOTE=bzen;6064282]
That's depressing. :( I'm in Bakersfield too and wanted to upgrade to the 3g iphone. I used to get 3G coverage all the time with the original 3G blackjack. I switched to edge iphone (Edge is so damn slow here its ridiculous) I wonder why the iphone isn't getting the same coverage? Now I'm thinking the upgrade to 3G isn't worth it. :mad:

I live near Stockdale and 99 I have never had 3G anywhere near the house. Now, I have been able to pick it up in the NW and the farther SW, but like I said, it comes and goes. Makes me wonder if there is a pattern to the coming and going...I hadn't really thought about it.

I will totally agree that Edge is just the snagfest here in bfield. I had horrible connection issues (static and dropped calls) with the Razr, but I really have much better reception and call longevity with the iPhone. I sure don't regret the purchase, but if you really want the 3G, I'd wait a bit. I'll keep a tab on your post and let you know if any of these updates help around here...

[Hands0n]

@stockcerts - Rather than "dump on" you I think it would be much more appropriate to say two things in direct response

1. The latest iPhone 3G software update 2.0.2 resolves 3G signal issues. Where I was unable to get 3G at all I am now accessing it with a low, but effective, signal strength. Apple have very evidently done something in this release to improve the 3G radio sensitivity.

2. Leopard (OT for this part of the forum) is quite stable. The early problems were all down to people performing "Upgrades" to Leopard while having installed various OS accelerators and suchlike. These hook into specific parts of the OS and in changing the OS to Leopard there was no chance that they would work. A clean install of Leopard solved the issues.

Its not about "not giving a damn" - more it is simply **** happens. But inevitably the solution is delivered by Apple.

[HyperZboy]

BEST ADVICE FOR IPHONE 3G OWNERS...

Return your phone to the Apple or ATT store for immediate replacement.

Even if Apple fixes the problem through software, most likely Apple's software solution is probably going to slow down the phone slightly to compensate for Infineon's bad chipsets and memory that fails to meet spec.

I would not under any circumstances settle for a software quick fix for what is obviously a hardware problem.

By the way, no, I don't have an iPhone 3G, but I do have an iPhone 2.5G and don't have this problem nor would I accept a quick fix software update for such a problem.

My opinion is that Apple should recall the affected phones and probably already knows the affected serial#s already. For a phone this expensive, I think Apple's response is quite poor and I say that as a lifelong Apple fan & Mac user.

PS: And to the person above, nope, Leopard is still not nearly as stable as Tiger, especially on PowerPC machines, not even close by a long shot. I could name at least 10 unresolved issues in Leopard and still have kernel panics on my PowerPC Macs that run Tiger just fine.
If you doubt this, try running some PowerPC games with upgrade graphics cards like a Radeon 9800.
My Radeon 9800s runs just fine in Tiger for Doom3 and Halo, yet artifacts in Leopard, go figure.
Since I have a variety of PowerPC Macs I've seen this problem multiple times with multiple graphics cards, some 3rd party, some from Apple. If you doubt me, go to Apple Discussions forums for a plethora of Leopard issues.

[plunar]

Why is no one here considering the fact that 3G reception is fine when there is no 2G network (ie: JAPAN)?

Nearly everyone posting on this board is having issues in countries with 2G/3G dual networks. Browsing the Japanese websites about iPhone, I find no grumbling about iPhone reception on Softbank. And Softbank is the WORST provider in Japan as far as coverage is concerned (Like Verizon here, their #1 provider AU operates on CDMA)

Some mentioned this Cydia program can turn off EDGE. Can it turn off 2G entirely??? For me, living in manhattan, this would be ideal. My wife has a Japanese phone that's doesn't have ANY 2G, and her service is solid. It's obvious whatever the 3G chipset issue is, it pertains to handoffs - that is, it's only an issue when the phone sees a 2G network and gets confused thinking it should switch to 2G or not.

[vandozza]

Nearly everyone posting on this board is having issues in countries with 2G/3G dual networks. Browsing the Japanese websites about iPhone, I find no grumbling about iPhone reception on Softbank. And Softbank is the WORST provider in Japan as far as coverage is concerned (Like Verizon here, their #1 provider AU operates on CDMA)

I have seen quite a few posts from Japan in the 3 x forum threads over at the Apple discussions. I don't think this claim is accurate.

[plunar]

Can you link? I've read/heard complaints from people who switched over from DoCoMo or AU to Softbank, but that's Softbank in general (their equivalent of T-Mobile). I'd be interested in knowing whether people in Japan complaining about reception on iPhone are complaining relative to the performance of the other 2 carriers.

Regardless, taking some perception in here, the fact seems that if the iPhone was dropping 3G like it seems to do here, there would be a **** storm of complaints and mass returns in Japan. I get 3G maybe 10% of the time here, smack in the urban core of NYC. And it NEVER works at that moment when I'm trying to show my buddies a quick youtube. Completely unreliable as anything other than a toy gimmick. Imagine if there was no 2G to drop to - the phone would be a paper weight. This is not what is being reported in Japan though. It's being reported as a phone with decent, (not outstanding, but decent) reception. Basically, it's fair to say that it's reported that their 3G reliability is comparable to our 2G reliability.

So it's not a network issue (other 3G phones on ATT are solid) and it seems highly unlikely it's a 3G exclusive issue (the level of performance in Japan does not cross over here). I'm convinced it's a handoff flaw.



I have seen quite a few posts from Japan in the 3 x forum threads over at the Apple discussions. I don't think this claim is accurate.

[vandozza]

Can you link?

I don't think you can direct link to specific posts in the apple discussions. (Or I've never worked out how to do it.)

But they posts are within the "iPhone 3g reception problems... you're not alone" threads x 3

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1602608&tstart=0

If you just search these threads for "japan" I'm sure you will find reports from Japan of similar problems. (Not saying the quantity of reports is as high, just that they do exist.)


In Australia the Vodafone/Optus networks report twice as many problems (~85% of users with issues) when compared to the Telstra network (~38%.) (This was an informal/unscientific survey at mactalk.com.au however!)

Telstra has a much better network, thicker and wider coverage. But the other difference is that Telstra is 850mhz, while Optus and Vodafone are 2100mhz.

I'm not sure if Telstra's network masks the iPhone reception problems, due to the excellent strength of the network, or if the 850mhz band just has less issues.

Maybe this might be a similar reason as to why Japan does not report as many issues? I don't know! :confused:

[mkwilson68]

Grrrrrr! Etc.

I'm in the UK, on O2. I bought my iphone 3G on day one, as did my partner, and about 15 other colleagues and friends bought them then or since.

Every single one of them has this issue. Everyone. Not 2%, not even 20%. 100%. I know this is anecdotal, but this group of people live in London, Manchester and Birmingham - i.e. 3 of the UK's largest and most 3G-friendly cities.

I suspect that the 2% figure is a PR-friendly way of kinda sorta admitting there's a problem without making it sound too serious. But from our experience here, this is a fundamental flaw in the phone, affecting everyone I know using one. And all but one of those people had 3g phones before the iphone - none of which had the same issues. Most were on O2.

The device is flawed. I *seriously* hope it can be fixed with a firmware update, but I suspect that someone buying the iphone in a month or two will be getting subtly different hardware than those of us who bought early. And frankly, given that many early purchasers are the most loyal to the brand, that just sucks. Apple's behaviour here is staggeringly shoddy.

Seriously - ignore this 2% figure: it has no bearing on the reality of the situation whatsoever.

[megfilmworks]

I know five people with the iPhone, and all six of us have issues. Thats a heck of a lot more than 2%.
Well, I have 5 iPhones in my family with no 3g issues at all,
sooo, using your logic,
I assume the number is 0%.
That's a heck of a lot less than 2%.

[Pginsburg2004]

I have been experiencing the same exact problems that everyone here is describing. Dead sporadic 3G coverage. There is an app available to those of us who have Jailbroken our iPhones called BossPrefs. This is a 1 icon shortcut to many of the iPhone settings and then some. One of the neat options avaialable is the ability to shut off Edge reception. This forces the iPhone to only be able to pull a 3G signal. I have been testing this for the last 12 hours and can say that it has resolved all of my reception problems. The phone can no longer switch to the Edge network. I strongly beleive that this is the root of the problem. The iPhone is too sensitive when moving out of range of 3G towers and therefore flips to quickly or tries to flip to an Edge network asd soon as it sees one. By forcing the iPhone to only be able to aqquire a 3G signal the problem has all but vanished. I think that even if a 3G signal ia avalable but getting weak, the iPhone prematurely flips to the nearest edge network. Perhaps this flip hangs the reception to make it appear as if the reception is dead. The iPhone cant make up its mind what to do???? I am just guessing. This is a feature I remember from some old cell phones I have had where you could tell the phone to only aqquire your carriers tower. Unfortunately the iPhone only allows you to turn off 3G coverage when what is really needed is the ability to turn off EDGE!!!!

In closing I feel the problem is indeed the chipset in the phone in combination with the chipsets firmware being to fast and thus causing the premature flips from 3G to EDGE. :)

Hope this helps!!

[himalayas.fien]

im not in that 2%. hope 2% ppl to get solved soon.

[plunar]

well i downloaded boss prefs, and disabled edge.

now i have NO data access. open safari, "cannot connect to the internet."

if boss prefs really has disabled edge and 3g is active like it says, then either my phone's 3g chip is useless or ATT has NO 3g service in east manhattan.

what do you think???

phone is going back tomorrow.