worth waiting for 3g iphone in the uk?

[MacScho]

so i havent got a the current iphone but i want one, but dont know if to wait. ive heard o2's 3g coverage is crap anyway, plus it could be even next year before the uk gets the 3g phone, or it could even be june....

if your in the same situation as me, what are you doing about it?

 

[Saladinos]

I've already got a 1st gen iPhone, and I'm in London. O2's entire network sucks - it's not limited to EDGE or 3G. I can get no signal in places inside my flat in Central London. Then I can swap the SIM for a T-Mobile one and get full signal (unlocked phone).

I think the speed issues are overhyped. I'm often on EDGE once outside, and the speed is fine. No, it's not broadband speed, but seriously - you're on a phone. Probably just checking sports results or the news. You're not downloading torrents. You don't need much more than EDGE for a mobile. And then you have WiFi access for when you do need something faster.

The current iPhone is fine. I don't see the lack of 3G as an issue. Of course, you'll probably get a good deal on eBay if you do wait for the 3G model to be announced, and then you can see what else, apart from 3G, is being added to the new model (GPS looks likely, looking at iPhone OS 2.0).

 

[zainjetha]

Yes definitely wait for 3G... the smartest thing to do would be to get a Three Mobile (3) SIM and enjoy fast browsing speeds. I find myself browsing a lot, to sync my mail folders etc etc.

wait and your patience will be rewarded.

 

[MyJelleo]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

if you plan on using the Internet a lot than wait. If there is no announcement in June get an iPhone. Its less than 2 months away anyway.

 

[MacScho]

some of the rumored features flying around right now are soooo tempting. camera under the touch screen, gps etc.

i cant afford the first one just yet anyway, just wish theyd announce somat -.-

 

[0098386]

I'm waiting for a 3G iPhone. According to the o2 webmap and my various friends 3G phones we get a good signal out in the rural Pennines. Plus 3G can fall back to EDGE when needed.

Or if 3G coverage isn't great in your area then when the new phone hits the 2.5G iPhones will drop in price.

It's win/win all round. Just gotta wait is all! And you won't be waiting alone

 

[Snips]

I'm waiting for the 3G version, it's imminent (surely), and will no doubt include some surprises (surely).

O2 will be under some pressure to have good 3G coverage once the 3G iPhone is out, so that will likely improve (I don't have experience with O2, but Vodafone's 3G coverage seems pretty reasonable).

 

[Saladinos]

Do not underestimate how bad O2's network is. The map is more of a wishlist than a graph of actual coverage. And then when you call O2's service people up, they can't tell you where you nearest station is, you can't ask them to check it, and they say there's nothing they can do. They are unlike any other operator.

I thought the EDGE network was being phased out and that their best coverage would be on 3G, but then I don't even get GPRS most of the time in central london.

I bet Apple will be working a lot harder to make this new model unhackable as well. The current gen iPhone is cracked open about as much as it could be right now with iPwned. That said, it's very likely to include a GPS radio (newest firmware has live location tracking feature, which is almost useless without GPS).