What I would really like to know is what percentage of the users experience 3G connectivity issues have actually compared their iPhone 3G performance to that of at least one other 3G phone, preferably in multiple areas? It appears fairly obvious that there may indeed be some real issues, but I certainly don't have a lot of confidence in your average cellphone user to understand the intricacies of cellphone connections.
- * How many users that are complaining are just living/working in an area with poor (or non-existent) AT&T 3G coverage?
- * More generally, how many users are experiencing connection issues, call dropouts, poor reception, etc that is a natural results of the carrier network and not the iPhone hardware itself? How many users are actually comparing the iPhone 3G's 3G connection to that of another AT&T 3G phone in order to determine this?
- * How many users are possibly incorrectly 'comparing' the iPhone 3G UMTS coverage to a 3G phone running on Verizon's/Sprint's 3G EV-DO network?
Can someone point me to knowledgeable users who have done at least quasi-empirical tests with the iPhone's 3G performance and found legitimate issues?
Assuming there are real problems, I imagine they would be related to the GSM/UMTS hand-off. Potentially an algorithm is too aggressive in switching to GSM when there may otherwise be sufficient UMTS signal.
Or perhaps in the attempt to extend battery life, the firmware is too conservative in boosting the radio's UMTS power output in low-signal conditions, and instead just shifts it to GSM coverage. With the uproar over 3G battery life from users that don't understand the technology, not to mention the lack of replaceable batteries, it certainly wouldn't be surprising to me.
Funny, I almost always use Wifi so I've never even noticed if I have 3G reception or not.
However, at the moment I can't connect to my Wifi network (hopefully a problem with the router not the iPhone!) so I've noticed it's always on Edge. Turned 3G off and on again, and it comes up with 3G, but only 1 bar. Looks like I might be part of that "2%".
Are you being serious? That is the sole observation from which you then deduce that your iPhone must be faulty? Are you even in a decent 3G coverage area? Have you even compared the reception to another UMTS Phone running on AT&T's 3G network? In more than one location? I hope that this is more a case of leaving information out of your post than the alternative..
Try telling that to all the people who have had hosed iPhones because of that.
Adding features, at the price of reliability and stability is a Microsoft style move. The do it to drum up interest in the product, at the same time adding these features sacrifices quality where it should matter. If Microsoft wanted to they could make an outstanding OS but the way thier ecosystem works and their perceived value to the consumer of fluff features is what drives them into the ground.
Sadly this seems to be what has happened to iPhone 2.0 in my opinion.
I disagree. Yes, they do indeed have some issues to work through with the iPhone's firmware, much as any brand new product has with immature software. I don't believe however that the iPhone project is a zero sum system, where if you add features then you are taking away resources from fixing other issues. The 3G reception problem, if there really is one that is the fault of the handset itself and not the network, could be caused by many things. If it's an issue of the firmware being too aggressive in switching to GSM, or too conservative in boosting output power in poor signal conditions, or one of any number of possible things, then obviously more resources would have had no effect whatsoever. The same principle applies if the problem lies in the UMTS chipsets. Perhaps there is a small percentage of defective chipsets sourced from Infineon or a contract manufacturer --- again, more resources (diverted from feature development) wouldn't have had an impact on this.
I do agree that they are rushing releases out a bit, without enough troubleshooting and debugging. And that type of problem may or may not be responsive to deploying more resources. Sure, you can possibly add manpower to do more testing, but software development is not a assembly line. You don't get a linear increase in output from adding manpower and other resources. Developers in the room will know exactly what I'm talking about.. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month).
it is embarrassing when the teenagers and preteen nieces and nephews at family gatherings can place/receive/sustain phone calls on their "free"-with-contract phones, and my iPhone is so disfunctional (as a phone) i don't even bother trying it. I'm about to pick up a cheap phone to carry for phone calls, just use the iPhone as an iPod Touch. But boy, it's frustrating to be forced into considering that. I'm holding out hope against hope that a new software update might improve reception.
Wow is it really that bad for you? Nearly all the problems I have heard of have involved UMTS/3G reception issues, nothing with GSM itself. You actually aren't able to make or receive phone calls? Can you describe the problem in more detail?
