Possibly silly question on simultaneous data and voice

dangleheart · Jul 1, 2007

This may be a silly question. I read elsewhere that EDGE does not support simultaneous Voice and Data. Does this mean that while I am waiting for a minute and a half for a web site to load, I can not receive phone calls? Or phone calls get priority and I get an alert put on top of Safari and once I accept the call, the web request is terminated? What is the user experience in that case?

The other way round, if I am talking on my headset, what all can I do with the phone? Can I browse ( probably not ), can I look up contact lists ( it better allow that ). can I look at cover flow, list of songs, watch youtube..??

poppe · Jul 1, 2007

dangleheart said:
This may be a silly question. I read elsewhere that EDGE does not support simultaneous Voice and Data. Does this mean that while I am waiting for a minute and a half for a web site to load, I can not receive phone calls? Or phone calls get priority and I get an alert put on top of Safari and once I accept the call, the web request is terminated? What is the user experience in that case?

The other way round, if I am talking on my headset, what all can I do with the phone? Can I browse ( probably not ), can I look up contact lists ( it better allow that ). can I look at cover flow, list of songs, watch youtube..??

Oh man I hope not... Though to be fair my Sprint 3g Ev-Do phone does this once and awhile...

HawaiiMacAddict · Jul 1, 2007

Yes, that's exactly how it works. EDGE is used for voice, so if you're already on the phone, you can't use EDGE to surf the web. The obverse is also true. However, and I know this from first-hand experience, you CAN use WiFi to surf the web and concurrently use EDGE to send/receive phone calls

Also, to answer the rest of your questions, it's a big resounding YES!!! You can do everything you asked, with the exception of the iPod functions (I've done it already

)

HawaiiMacAddict

dangleheart · Jul 1, 2007

I am still a bit concerned about the user experience wrt to receiving calls while it is downloading a web page. Can you clarify? Mainly, I do not want to miss a phone call during that minute or so while waiting for the page to show up in Safari.

RG129 · Jul 1, 2007

I've tried this out, and unfortunately while EDGE data is being transferred, voice calls won't be able to come in.

The best way to verify this is to load up a YouTube video over EDGE and try to call yourself from another phone. The weird thing is that the caller will hear a few rings and then it will go to voicemail. I'm not sure why it doesn't go straight to voicemail or why voice calls can't temporarily disable data transfer (like how incoming calls can temporarily stop syncing).

This major drawback is definitely going to limit my browsing while out and about, otherwise nobody would be able to get a hold of me!

dangleheart · Jul 2, 2007

OOUCH!!! Thanks for the test RG129. That sounds bad. It will be interesting to see if the voice call gets through if the web download finishes within those two or three ring times.

How about AJAX programs that may be downloading data in the background? I may think the web page is done but the EDGE may be busy with data. No voice calls then?

Something about this does not sound right....

badtzmaru · Jul 2, 2007

if you make a call and try to surf on EDGE, the iphone pops up a message that surfing it not available.

if you're on wifi, it works fine

in comparison, my sprint service on my LG Fusic will not accept incoming calls during data calls. However, it will accept a call during "lulls" in browsing, so if i'm not actively surfing a site or searching on google maps, the call comes through.

badtzmaru · Jul 2, 2007

upon further testing, if you are browsing a site via EDGE, no calls come through.

if you are browsing a site via EDGE and then quit safari as someone is making a call to you, the call will still not come through .

i think this would be a major negative for most people.

mrtune · Jul 2, 2007

You guys are right. I just tried to call myself from a landline while a youtube video was downloading, and it went into voicemail after a few rings.

That sucks, but oh well, my philosophy is, if it's important, they'll leave a message.

aristobrat · Jul 2, 2007

badtzmaru said:
upon further testing, if you are browsing a site via EDGE, no calls come through.

if you are browsing a site via EDGE and then quit safari as someone is making a call to you, the call will still not come through .

i think this would be a major negative for most people.

To be a little more specific, anytime that your iPhone is sending or receiving EDGE data, calls to your iPhone will go straight to voicemail.

If you're poking around in Safari reading a page that's finished loading (i.e. your iPhone isn't sending or receiving data), you should be able to receive phone calls.

This is how it's always worked on US GPRS/EDGE and CDMA 1X data networks, so a lot of folks are probably already used to it.

jshbckr · Jul 2, 2007

mrtune said:
my philosophy is, if it's important, they'll leave a message.

Exactly how I feel. Also, if what I'm doing is so important that I have to be using internet on EDGE, I can afford to miss a phone call or two. If you're just watching YouTube, then consider whether or not watching YouTube is worth missing a few calls (potentially). Or wait until you're in a Wifi area to do it.

DanB91 · Jul 2, 2007

wait, if ur not actively loading a site the call wont come through? that doesnt make sense

aristobrat · Jul 2, 2007

DanB91 said:
wait, if ur not actively loading a site the call wont come through? that doesnt make sense

If your iPhone is not sending or transmitting data, the call should come through.

rayward · Jul 2, 2007

Seems to me that the voice call should at least be reported during the download with a pop-up that let's you choose whether to interrupt the download and take the call or decline it and carry on surfing.

A minor issue that seems like it should be an easy software fix.

jwon · Jul 2, 2007

rayward said:
Seems to me that the voice call should at least be reported during the download with a pop-up that let's you choose whether to interrupt the download and take the call or decline it and carry on surfing.

A minor issue that seems like it should be an easy software fix.

You need 3G for this functionality and no software update is going to do that.

JonboyDC · Jul 2, 2007

If your iPhone is not sending or transmitting data, the call should come through.

I just tested this, and with a fully-loaded page (NYTimes.com), the call came through. Your phone is actively receiving or sending data when the little circular icon next to the 'E' in the upper left-hand corner is active. When the icon is not there, your phone is available for calls.

And I agree, the ideal situation would be that your browsing gets interrupted by the call, or at least by an alert that a call is coming in. And I'm not convinced that a software upgrade can't make that happen.

maverick808 · Jul 2, 2007

JonboyDC said:
I just tested this, and with a fully-loaded page (NYTimes.com), the call came through. Your phone is actively receiving or sending data when the little circular icon next to the 'E' in the upper left-hand corner is active. When the icon is not there, your phone is available for calls.

And I agree, the ideal situation would be that your browsing gets interrupted by the call, or at least by an alert that a call is coming in. And I'm not convinced that a software upgrade can't make that happen.

The ideal situation would be for the iPhone to have 3G. I'm in the UK, and I really hope that the Euro version of the phone is 3G... I don't see any European customers accepting it otherwise.

badtzmaru · Jul 2, 2007

aristobrat said:
If your iPhone is not sending or transmitting data, the call should come through.

thank you for the clarification! When i tested it while using safari, the call did not come through.

dangleheart · Jul 2, 2007

Think about AJAX type web pages. You may think it is done downloading the page but in the backend it is transmitting and receiving data. What the heck, my voice calls would not come through in those cases? That sucks big time. The unpredictability of it is what bothers me.

Folks, this is not a minor issue.

aristobrat · Jul 2, 2007

dangleheart said:
Folks, this is not a minor issue.

It's not a minor issue, but it's also not an iPhone issue. Every AT&T/T-Mobile device that uses GPRS/EDGE data (and Sprint/Verizon devices that use the 1X data network) have this situation apply to them. It's how the data networks work. At least the iPhone isn't a Class C device.

The GPRS capability classes

Class A
Can be connected to GPRS service and GSM service (voice, SMS), using both at the same time. Such devices are known to be available today.

Class B
Can be connected to GPRS service and GSM service (voice, SMS), but using only one or the other at a given time. During GSM service (voice call or SMS), GPRS service is suspended, and then resumed automatically after the GSM service (voice call or SMS) has concluded. Most GPRS mobile devices are Class B.

Class C
Are connected to either GPRS service or GSM service (voice, SMS). Must be switched manually between one or the other service.

A true Class A device may be required to transmit on two different frequencies at the same time, and thus will need two radios. To get around this expensive requirement, a GPRS mobile may implement the dual transfer mode (DTM) feature. A DTM-capable mobile may use simultaneous voice and packet data, with the network coordinating to ensure that it is not required to transmit on two different frequencies at the same time. Such mobiles are considered to be pseudo Class A. Some networks are expected to support DTM in 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Packet_Radio_Service

dangleheart · Jul 3, 2007

dangleheart said:
Think about AJAX type web pages. You may think it is done downloading the page but in the backend it is transmitting and receiving data. What the heck, my voice calls would not come through in those cases? That sucks big time. The unpredictability of it is what bothers me.

Folks, this is not a minor issue.

From the iPhone manual:
===========
Note: While iPhone is actively transferring data over EDGEdownloading a webpage, for exampleyou may not be able to receive calls. Incoming calls may go to voicemail.
===========

This does not sound good to me. This applies to not just downloading a web page, I would think it will include IMing, any background activity of active web pages etc. I will be always nervous that I am missing some voice calls when I am using EDGE for data. That is not a comfortable feeling. Isn't this a phone first and then an internet device. Can't they figure out a way to give voice call a priority over data? May be this is a limitation of the EDGE network. I do not like this.

maverick808 · Jul 3, 2007

dangleheart said:
From the iPhone manual:
===========
Note: While iPhone is actively transferring data over EDGEdownloading a webpage, for exampleyou may not be able to receive calls. Incoming calls may go to voicemail.
===========

This does not sound good to me. This applies to not just downloading a web page, I would think it will include IMing, any background activity of active web pages etc. I will be always nervous that I am missing some voice calls when I am using EDGE for data. That is not a comfortable feeling. Isn't this a phone first and then an internet device. Can't they figure out a way to give voice call a priority over data? May be this is a limitation of the EDGE network. I do not like this.

Well, there is no IM'ing on the iPhone, and this is probably why. IM'ing requires a constant connection to be kept open, so you'd never get calls if you wanted to be online on iChat. And yes I agree, it utterly sucks.

dangleheart · Jul 3, 2007

Meebo like web site based IM systems over EDGE will keep voice calls away, won't it?

aristobrat · Jul 3, 2007

dangleheart said:
Meebo like web site based IM systems over EDGE will keep voice calls away, won't it?

An EDGE phone can be connected to the EDGE network and receive calls so long as the phones modem isn't transmitting or receiving data at the time the call comes in.

So if you're doing IMs in quick bursts, you're less likely to miss a call than if you're watching a 3 minute YouTube video.

This is a limitation of the network, not the iPhone.

TheScappian · Jul 3, 2007

I for one could care less. The fact that it has a phone built in is convienient but I hate talking on the phone. I wonder will visual voicemail notifications still come in if you are actively using edge.

Possibly silly question on simultaneous data and voice

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