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VERY spotty 3G coverage in U.S?

C

CardinalRule

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 9, 2008
7
0
New Orleans, LA
Just browsing around looking at different iPhone articles and came across this one.

http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/06/09/att-3g-wireless-network-are-you-covered/?tag=cnetfd.mt

While the map probably isn't 100% accurate it does seem to magnify how weak AT&T's 3G coverage is in the U.S. Does this bother you guys? Even their regular coverage looks meek in a huge chunk of the country. Do most of you guys live in the "major metropolitan areas" and don't care? Or are you still upgrading to 3G even though you may not be able to take full advantage of the speed?

I'm from Cincinnati and even though on AT&T's website it shows Cincinnati having 3G coverage, it's really spotty.

This isn't meant to incite a riot or any kind of fighting, I'm just curious what you all think.
 
The main fix they have is augmenting their 2G towers with 2.5G technology that makes up for most of the speed issues (theoretically).

Personally The lack of coverage is why I have never fully understood the demand for a 3G edition of the iPhone.
 
I live near NYC, so it's a non-issue for me. But I do wonder how the sales will go since 3G coverage seems to only be in major cities (it is indeed VERY spotty). Apple and AT&T are relying quite heavily on 3G to bring in sales (it's arguably 50% of the new features), and I'm sure Apple realizes AT&T is the roadblock here with their weak 3G coverage.
 
CardinalRule said:
Just browsing around looking at different iPhone articles and came across this one.

http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/06/09/att-3g-wireless-network-are-you-covered/?tag=cnetfd.mt

While the map probably isn't 100% accurate it does seem to magnify how weak AT&T's 3G coverage is in the U.S. Does this bother you guys? Even their regular coverage looks meek in a huge chunk of the country. Do most of you guys live in the "major metropolitan areas" and don't care? Or are you still upgrading to 3G even though you may not be able to take full advantage of the speed?

I'm from Cincinnati and even though on AT&T's website it shows Cincinnati having 3G coverage, it's really spotty.

This isn't meant to incite a riot or any kind of fighting, I'm just curious what you all think.
Click to expand...

i'm in nassau county NY (on long island) and they *did* upgrade their 3G coverage to include us. about 2 months ago it was only NYC and a little of western nassau, then the illustrious east end of suffolk (including the hamptons.) now almost all of nassau county in included in 3G.

at&t (and all companies that provide similar services) deploy new services to where the bulk of their customers are...larger metro areas. if they can get 1000 customers added with a single tower in a densely populated area, then they'll do it before they add a tower to get 5 customers. it's all supply and demand...

sorry that the speed benefits of 3G won't be felt by you, but there are more cool features of the new iPhone that you can benefit from.
 
Yea, I mean, I tried out the 1st gen iPhone for a while and then returned it before 30 days once I heard this one was coming out, but now I'm questioning whether I really need the upgrade. I certainly would love 3G if I could take advantage of it, but if I can't then I don't see the point in paying slightly more each month to get basically the same product (for me bc of lack of 3G and not much need for GPS) AND bailing out of my existing contract with another provider.

Sad :( Oh well, I guess there's always the next version or waiting for AT&T to improve their coverage a bit.
 
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