@: Well we didn't have to wait long for a douche bag to post something completely asinine.

dMek

@accordionhero: oh, and edge works perfectly everywhere inside the building, even most of the time in elevators.

accordionhero

in manhattan, my 3g is great outdoors, and sucks indoors, even beyond what i would think is a reasonable expectation. my desk at work is about 10 feet from a window, and 3g works ok on the right side of my desk, but not at all on the left (no cellular data network found). my coworkers who sit 5 feet further in get none at all - i shit you not. and this is supposedly the city with the most aggressively implemented 3g network by at&t...

accordionhero

I live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan and mine switches from 3g to Edge constantly...Even outside on a boat on the Hudson with no apparant skyscraper obstructions.

I said that it should be fixable in software in an earlier thread (based on the analyst saying it was due to an immature protocol stack), but no one ever listens to me! :p

LittleJon

I live in LA and yeah, mine constantly flips between Edge and 3G. Oh and dropped calls are my new BFF.

Bruhaha

maybe they can fix my piss yellow screen while they are at it.

arkowi

In Chicago, 3g reception is horrible. I went to Seattle for a family trip not too long ago and I had reception EVERYWHERE. From Seattle to Camano Island (an hour away from Canada.) I want this 3g crap thing fixed in Chicago.

@:
"," is pause.
I need it for conference bridges, they require a couple pauses in the dial string and a passcode ending in #.

s017jrs

No problems here with 3G. Wonder if its a geographical issue.

I only got the 3g because my 1st gen got smashed. Overall I think the 3G works as well as the first one, but not better. In fact, voice reception on the 3g has been worse. I used to be able to use the iPhone as my primary line, but have had to consider getting a landline now, as calls always cut out if Im inside.

Overall though, the data speed is just as pokey as EDGE, in my experience, except now I get to pay more for it. I hope they fix it.

pir8matt

@s017jrs:
can't you use "#" ? That is pause.

how about fixing the issue that won't let me dial any numbers with a pause in the dial string...
bah

s017jrs

As I've mentioned before, the Seattle Are 3G reception appears to be solid, it's just the strength that is lacking. A simple hand over the antenna cuts 5 bars down to 1 or 2.

kenoyer

San Diego has poor reception. I drop calls on major highways 3 or 4 times day. In my office near Sorrento Valley, home to Qualcomm, Nokia, Motorola and some others I barely get a bar. Fix please!

cbb

Just be glad that it's a software and not a hardware issue.

Gotta love those software fixes!!

Hang in there 3G owners.

yoshi

I earned my money pretty easily, so I don't mind jumping in early...

BEERxTaco

I'm starting to think I lucked out getting an iPhone in Saskatoon, SK. We have full 3G coverage here in the city but barely any 3G phones. I just did that testmyiphone.com speedtest on 3G and got 1.9 Mbps - WiFi was off! Really!

I do notice at peak times (6 and after) that it slows dramatically.

I hope the fix does.. something.

2.1 better stabilize this phone or I'm going to throw it against a wall. I want 1.1.4 stability back NOW!

I constantly get dropped calls, 3g networks is always switching to edge...its crazy...and i live in a central area in Houston, the 4th largest city!

And thus the reason we kept our Gen 1 iPhones. For some reason, they have become quite fast on EDGE since the 2.0.1 update, maybe because no one is on EDGE anymore? Worth keeping it seems until this is ironed out. Lessons learned...WAIT for things to work before spending hard earned $!!

juliusa

i was in Long Island last night, and the iPhone really really struggled to get a meaningful 3G connection. i'm sitting in midtown Manhattan now and it's flip flopping between EDGE and 3G.

digitalhen

I've not noticed any issues with reception but I also haven't had my iPhone long enough (just a couple weeks) to really notice any issues with calls. However I am in one of the areas they've said might be problematic in another article (Boston) and it does seem that my phone switches quite a bit between 3G & Edge.

IphtashuFitz

My iphone 3g's been working pretty well for me. However, I think it's because I live in an area that is absolutely saturated w/ 3g. (arlington, va). When outside of the metro DC area, i've found that it's been less reliable - notably, when in fairfax, where the 3g maps shows coverage, i am without such coverage. (then again, this could just be AT&T doing a little fibbing.)

Overall, i've been pretty satisfied.

Still, if this improves the connection and down speeds, all the better! I really hope they can fix this problem through software; if they aren't lying, the chipsets should be fine (apparently, infeneon 3g chips are used in samsungs, and my blackjack worked just peachy). All the better for everyone if this gets fixed so easily.

Aristeia

aaahhh the placebo effect....

And will ask 50$ for the 'upgrade'.

eismcsquare2

Can't wait until the fanboys chime in and say that it's an AT&T problem and not Apple's problem since Apple is so perfect.

I don't know what the complaints are about. I almost always have perfect 3G reception. I live in Northern VA and get perfection reception at work, almost perfect reception at home, and perfect reception throughout DC, except in the metro.

I spent the last 10 days around Southern Florida and had perfect reception all over, even in the Keys.

I could have been, but it just happened to be located int he office that burned.

Git Em SteveDave displays attention-grabbing vanity

Not really having any issues with mine.

ustna

in nyc the 3g works fine, no dropped calls with it switched on or turned off using edge. fewer bars in some areas (like my bedroom :( when on 3g but that doesn't seem to have an effect on call quality.

spent a few days with it in the middle of central ohio, driving from country to city and looking at the AT&T coverage map. 3G logo would pop on the minute we drove into what looked like an area marked as covered by the 3G network, and pop right back to EDGE the minute we crossed out of it. Must've gotten one of the good batches.

furrina

I live in Austin, TX and my 3G is very bad. I am in 3G only 20% of the time, 1-2 bars at best. My friends and coworkers with LG, SE and Nokia phones on the same network are in 3G almost all of the time, right next to my phone which is barely hanging on to 3G or more often in 2G (EDGE).

For those of you that claim great service: in San Antonio, 3G on my phone was perfect. This just shows how picky the phone is, not how bad the network is. In SA, AT&T's world headquarters, the reception is fine because of a super-saturated network (look at AT&T's tower saturation compared to Austin's, and SA is flat). Maybe those with 'no problems' live in an area with super-saturated 3G. I know that 3G was originally deployed on the 2G network's towers, yet 3G doesn't propagate as far as a 2G signal.

This is my second iPhone 3G, both with the same problems.

I don't know if recent reports of only 3% of people hare having this issue with the phone, or 3% of calls are affected by this issue (much higher than AT&T's 1% normal call-drop rate, as reported).

I would venture to say that quite a bit of people are having this problem, as all phones I've seen in the AT&T and Apple stores have horrible signals compared to other 3G phones. Additionally, all of my friends and coworkers have hardly any 3G on their phone, either in or next to Downtown Austin....

Shame, Apple. Announce something!

weird that edge would work in the building but no 3G. It's probably not shielded if edge makes it in.

s017jrs

@accordionhero:
Lots of callcenters or corporate type environments are deliberately shielded from cellphone signals. Giant faraday cages.
The building I'm in is mostly glass, but still doesn't let a cell signal in or out.

s017jrs

If I hadn't given my first generation iPhone to my wife. I would probably be taking it back. I have never had as many dropped calls and poor connections as I have with my 3G iPhone. I really hope the software update helps. I'm in the Oklahoma City area.

IrritatedJones

@ab3: worst part is, on the side of my desk where there is no 3g data, it still shows 3 or 4 bars of 3g and doesn't switch to EDGE. and i miss calls when it's placed there, sending things straight to vmail. some improvement, whether to the software or the network, can't come soon enough.

accordionhero

@: Trust me, it is not due to people living "in the sticks".

I work in the middle of Times Square and live on the NJ side of the Hudson River (I walk out of my building and look across the water at 105th St, NYC.)

This is the most craptastic phone experience that I've had in close to 10 years.

davebg5

Mine has been working fine, since the day I got it (11 days back).

Nishi

@: Keyboard? on iphone? Since when?

eismcsquare2

@accordionhero: Same thing in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, outside I get 4-5 bars 3G but inside (barely inside as in by a window) it drops to 1 bar or right to edge

ab3

Funny if this turns out to be a coverage thing. People that are complaining prolly live in the sticks. Maybe they should fix the non-3G version. It crashes, it's slow as hell, and the keyboard always lags/locks, etc.

I live in the Bay Area and commute to Napa from Walnut Creek on the weekdays. I talk pretty much the whole way and I drop an average of two calls each trip. Matter of fact I was talking on my phone yesterday on the 580 with "No Reception" in the corner of the screen. I am not impressed by the phones reception coverage.

@: Chicago service does blow. I've switched to Edge only to try to get better reception. I've totally become an iPhone fanboy, but AT&T service is second to two cans attached with a string. Verizon service was perfect :(

remps

You know, things like this have me starting to see Apple less as the evil overlord and more like my personal bitch. Now that's more like it!

And fetch me a beer when you're done!

*Mr. Tard wishes to express his sincere apologies to any lady-types offended by the above comment. He further wishes to explain that he is a wounded and sensitive soul who was not breast-fed by his mother. He is available for sexual healing sessions at any time.

mildretard

It's kind of appropriate that they call this the Jesus phone since organized religion is as much of a lie as Apple's "twice as fast" claims.

davebg5

@jkr's bold comment: Jesus fix for a Jesus phone

jkr's bold comment

This just in, Nvidia is working closely w/ Apple on firmware updates. Apparently the same update is supposed to fix the Nvidia over heating issues, the iPhone poor 3G issues, and when installed on either windows or Mac machines, it fixes a whole other set of issues by installing Linux :P . The government is hoping to adopt this firmware in physical form in hopes that it will delete all the politicians :PP .

jkr's bold comment

There's nothing wrong with 3G. In fact, using it with TestMyiPhone, my iPhone runs .98 times faster on 3G than EDGE.

24th floor of the NY Life Building right by Madison Square in the middle of Manhattan. In a corner room with two large windows (one in front of me and one to my left), and with 5 bars, I get almost the speed of EDGE with 3G.

Someone needs to fix something.

OMG! Ponies! Deservs It

You should prbly put a Question Mark after that headline... unless Apple has said for sure.

DW

I went to the genius bar for another issue, but brought up my lack of bars on the 3G -- the solution was to turn off 3G when you need better reception (settings, general, network). Defeats the purpose of 3G, but works!

Yawn

For a couple of weeks my phone was dropping 5 or 6 times during my commute of 20 miles one way. I heard AT&T was changing the frequency of their towers to better penetrate buildings. I don't know if they did this in OC CA but I went from 5 or 6 drops to no drops. I have not checked to see if I am switching between 2G and 3G but it seems to be working.

MorganRW

@:

Ditto man, and it really blows.

@: Spotty at best. And my iphone goes from 2 bars to none and back when sitting still on my desk. In short, 3g is not usable here. I had a Motorola razr that ran on 3g here just fine, so I am very disappointed.

dfl

@accordionhero: That sucks that you have to miss calls, mine just switches to edge and ive got wifi so slow data isn't really an issue

ab3

Bay Area coverage is spotty. Outside reception is far better than indoors, but even then it's spotty. I work in the Bank of America building in the Financial District. The California Street side of the building get's 2 bars outside and no bars inside. On the Pine Street side of the building, five bars outside and three bars inside.

FYI here's a tip:

One thing I've been doing to improve my iPhone's use of 3G is if I'm away from a reliable WiFi source I turn WiFi OFF. I've found that leaving it on causes problems as I drive through residential areas that may have WiFi because the phone has trouble switching between using WiFi and using 3G.

When you're driving around, it's constantly searching for WiFi hot spots and grabbing onto them only to drop them seconds later as you continue driving past them.

Turning WiFi off has VASTLY improved my 3G experience and is most noticeable when streaming music or video on the road.

dna

@: You like the word "Perfect" don't you.

Gregnog

@: I like it!

Just have them all take the iPhones to the Genius bar and they can wave a magic wand over the iPhone and say, "There, all fixed!"

I used to have fun as a tech support guy. I could make the person on the other end of the phone do anything I told them as long as they thought their printer would work afterwards.

"Yes ma'am this is part of the solution. Is your bra completely unfastened? Great. Now slowly twist..."

codemagic

I'm in Melbourne (Australia) where the 3G coverage is pretty good. I changed providers to get an iPhone, and because it didn't arrive for two weeks I used the new sim card in my existing HTC handset. The 3G worked fine, both at home and at work for calls and internet.
When the iPhone finally arrived, I switched the sim over, made calls & sms without a problem, but data just wouldn't load, even though it was showing 5 bars and the 3G icon.
My fiance has the exact same problem with her iPhone after using her new sim card in her old Nokia phone for a week without a hitch.
I'm happy for you guys who say there's nothing wrong because you aren't having problems.

reckless_inoz

Hopefully this is a true story. Though, I would like a new ipone with NEW gooDER hardware're!

End of month - I can wait for that. And I hope it has other fixed, too. Damn speaker is not loud enough either. CHrist.

Stacky Botrus

I too am a victim of lousy reception. I can't get 3G at all at my home office where I use the phone most. Dropped calls are frequent. Apple even replaced my phone with a different one and I have the same problems. They better be fixing this!!!

CampSteve

@: no, instead we'll just say that good companies make mistakes. great companies fix them. MS blames their customers and partners.

my favorite car is a motorcycle

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, this bug deceives the user into thinking there is less of a signal when you could have a normal signal with normal demands from the chip. I get it now. A little over the top? For the people with perfect reception, maybe your phone just doesn't have enough "competition" in your area to make it go to edge. I believe that this software fix will fix the issue. If not, RECALL TIME!!!

If any of you are planning to get rid of your iphone. You can always give it to me instead. I would gladly accept any offer of a free iphone.

ggggggg

I hope there is a solution to this already. I just don't really like people talking bad about the iphone because it is one piece of art and I really like its design, and I don't think the other companies are not even close to bypass its greatness and I just want to say that Apple made a bad choice using AT&T as the carrier.

JuanX

Here in Charlotte, 3G on the iPhone is very inconsistent. (edge also) The whole county is deep blue for 3G coverage (max strength) but at my house both edge an 3G are having trouble -I am 4 miles from the AT&T building. So far about 50% of calls from home are dropped!

sqp

Blasphemy! Apple products are divinely created and flawless
-El Frijole

El Frijole

I have been having these issues. I have a Blackberry for work on ATT with only EDGE and my iPhone 3G for personal. While at work my Blackberry will have 4-5 bars and my iPhone will go from 3G to EDGE to no service and back all day. I'm near my limit with this phone but I will hold out to see "IF" a firmware update could possibly (doubt it) fix this issue.

ErasmusGauzer

@LittleJon:

Hate to burst your bubble, a software fix will not do it. There is a major issue with the iphone that Apple is not letting out. There will ultimately be a worldwide recall, In the mean-time Apple needs to say something (anything) that is why they're going with the so-called "software fix".

peerless4u