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IPhone 3G: Not So 3G

  • Wired, Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:15 AM
IPhone 3G users are lining up to complain about how not-so-fast the device downloads data over AT&T's wireless network. Without warning, the phone will sometimes switch between AT&T's faster 3G network and its older, slower EDGE network. Sometimes it just drops the signal altogether. Twice as fast as the old iPhone? Hardly, says Wired's Brian X. Chen.

While Apple and AT&T remain mum on the issue, iPhone unrest is growing in forums across the Web. Their denial of the issue has led publications like Cnet to crowdsource (link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10014633-37.html?tag=cnetfd.mt) the issue; other activist users have started blogs to collect comments.

Still, nobody knows why the speeds aren't as fast as advertised. "Is it a bad 3G chipset in the iPhone?" Chen asks. "Problems in AT&T's network?" Wireless experts seem to think so. David Nowicki, vice president of product development at Airvana, pointed out that AT&T's 3G network is new and will take several years to optimize. This may be frustrating, but it's normal, he says. Others agreed, adding that AT&T and Apple probably weren't ready for the surge in users. Meanwhile, the surge is probably only going to get worse.

Read the whole story at Wired »

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