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iPhone 3G Connectivity

It's OK. It' s not OK. It's OK. It's not OK. No comment.


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iPhone 3G users are experiencing severe outages when connecting to their networks and Apple are typically denying anyone has an issue.

All the while the furor grows. Three threads have been opened at the Apple discussion forums; two have been closed, it being claimed they were too bulky for browsers - there have namely been over 1600 posts and 80000 views.

The issues discussed so far are the following.

  • Flaky signals;
  • Dropped calls;
  • Weak reception;
  • Reception drops when entering a building;
  • Reception varies according to how device is held; and
  • These issues are reported in the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, et al.

Apple design and quality control rear their heads again. But as per usual there's always the other shoe: Apple's well known tactic of just ignoring everything. It's what makes people feel so warm and fuzzy when they contemplate 'Apple support' and purchasing new Apple 'products'.

CNET Can't Get Through

Tom Krazit and Marguerite Reardon of CNET tried repeatedly this past week to raise Apple on these issues.

'Repeated attempts over the past week to get Apple and AT&T to even acknowledge the uproar - if not the issues specifically - proved pointless. Apple didn't even attempt to answer the questions, deferring inquiries to AT&T who declared that there were absolutely no widespread problems with the iPhone 3G on its network.'

But it's not the network. Users of other devices on the same network have no issues whatsoever. And iPhone 3G users in other countries who thankfully do not have to use AT&T networks are experiencing the same issues.

Apple! It's the iPhone, stupid.

Fix My 3G iPhone!

The people behind the hastily assembled website 'Fix My 3G iPhone' are conducting polls to better determine the extent of these issues. At time of writing over three quarters of respondents are reporting issues; over one quarter experience them on networks other than AT&T.

T-Mobile NL Blame Apple

Carrier T-Mobile of the Netherlands have now come out and officially laid the blame in the corridors of Cupertino.

'T-Mobile 3G support is as good as the competition so that should not be an issue. We suspect it's a hardware or software specific issue in the iPhone itself.'

Obviously.

It's Worldwide, It's Apple

CNET reporter Tom Krazit says he's never experienced such a reaction to flawed technology as with this device.

'It's unclear how widespread the iPhone 3G reception problems are, but they are being reported all over the globe, and I've never received as much mail from Apple customers about a single product issue (even before asking for submissions) as I have over this one.'

And again Tom tried to raise Apple - but the same result as before. Nothing.

Perhaps Arnie's got the only sensible way out for Steve.

The Apple moderators are deleting my posts within about 5-10 seconds now!
 - Doug Clements
I can't wait for the iPhone to reach Japan so I can start ignoring it.
 - Dali Rău

See Also
Fix My 3G iPhone
T-Mobile iPhone Blog: iPhone en 3G
CNET: Apple, AT&T mum on iPhone 3G issues
Apple Forums: iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You're Not Alone
Apple Forums: iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You're Not Alone - Continued
Apple Forums: iPhone 3G Reception Problems? You're Not Alone - Continued (2)

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