Monday, August 25, 2008 -- 12:23 p.m. -- on my couch

If you haven't seen the report over at wired.com about 3G coverage and strength around the world, you should. I'm quite impressed with the job these guys have done.

Basically, the survey indicates that the problems with 3G may not be all hardware based. They may have something to do with the network we're on after all, whether it's AT&T or Rogers or Optus or O2 or T-Mobile or any of the countless other carriers now associated with the iPhone.

I strongly urge you to check it out ... it's a great read.

As you can see from the photo accompanying this post, that's my homescreen and my measly 2 bars of 3G coverage in the center of downtown Chicago.

Whatever the problem is -- hardware, software, carrier, etc., I think I speak for the many iPTIB callers and millions of iPhone owners out there that we just want it fixed. We don't really care where the problem is, we just want to know when we can expect it to be gone.

Right?

Thanks for calling.

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451600969e200e5545552788833

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Unscientific 3G survey is really nicely done:

I live in Providence, RI and my 3G service is great. I haven't been below 2 bars since I got the iPhone 3G about 3 weeks ago. Maybe cause Rhode Island is so small and it shouldn't be hard to cover it with 3G. In any event, no problems in RI.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Awesome! See that's the kind of news I love getting here.

Quick question:

My original phone works great as a phone, both downtown and suburban home, as well as my business travels. That said, I also use my phone much, much more for web-browsing than to talk. When my contract expires in 10 months or so, I'll downgrade my minutes. So here's the question:

What's the big deal about 3G? I know it means faster downloads, but my 2.5G is just fine on the web. For example, while at the Will County Fair yesterday, I was at MLB's mobile site watching pitch by pitch of the Sox game with no lag on a 15 second refresh. I could also see MLB's video highlights over 2.5G with no problems. Not as great a quality vid as over WIFI, but it still worked. So...

I imagine 3G would be better for YouTube, MLB vids, or perhaps downloading multiple pictures or documents, but why not keep 3G disabled unless you need it? Longer battery life, no difference in call quality (i'm assuming, since I've never had a bad experience).

Why does 3G have to be on?

(BTW: NOTHING is better than WIFI! )

SCOTT'S REPLY: Greg, I agree. It doesn't have to be on. Now if you make calls, 3G sounds better than edge when it comes to voice quality. And e-mails will send faster and download faster with it on -- and the things you check often -- Twitter, Facebook, etc., will work faster. I even notice something strange ... text messages go through much faster on 3G than EDGE. Has anyone else noticed that? Other than that, I do agree ... nothing will happen with it off and you have proven, Greg, that that's the case.

And considering so many parts of the U.S. don't have 3G, well, then we know that nothing will happen if it's not on. It's just supposed to be a nice extra boost that isn't always.

First of all, congrats on the weight loss! Stay with it. Article/ study is terrific and confirms my uneducated, amateur observation I sent in last week. My guess has been it's about usage overload and I still think that because each day I check 3G in the morning and late evening it works well and is quite fast. Midday when I'm outside trying to connect to the net is when I have difficulties doing so etc. Also, Saturday I was on the near South side at Al's Beef(one of my favorites)and pulled out the phone just to check 3G and had no problem connecting with 3G at all. Assume the lower traffic and congestion there vs downtown had something to do with that. Means it's probably good old AT&T that we'll have to wait for- let's hope they get at this quicker than they've addressed the voicemail lag issue. 2.1 probably isn't going to help us here- just improve the battery, fix the software bugs and add whatever features you're planning to add is all I ask. Please give us a louder mail alert and a stronger/ variable vibrate alert. We've asked before for this-not holding my breath.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Plenty of stuff that I'm sure just gets moved down the list of things to fix in the software updates, and they probably move down faster when bigger problems like we have now emerge.

Nice survey, btw. Thx for the link. Also on that page is a link to this:
(Which I like because I've said all along I think it's an ATT problem!)

In an e-mail interview, David Nowicki, vice president of product development at femtocell developer Airvana, laid the blame at the network's feet. He pointed out that AT&T's 3G network is new and will take several years to optimize, which is normal -- problems crop up in new networks all the time. Also, when AT&T deployed its 3G equipment, the company put it on its existing transmission towers. Those towers were spaced based on the requirements of earlier, 2G technology, which has a longer effective range than 3G. That means that on the edges of any given cell, 3G reception is going to be much worse than comparable 2G or 2.5G (EDGE) reception. In short, EDGE has an edge over 3G in reaching your phone (pardon the pun).

Nowicki added that capacity constraints could be an issue: The network towers provide both data and voice services and they communicate with devices even when those devices are not in active use. That creates strain on the network. When a 3G tower gets overloaded with requests it dumps out data packets; some users' phones get no signal at all while others' default to the EDGE network on a less overloaded cell tower.

Sam Greenholtz, founder of Telecom Pragmatics, echoed Nowicki's explanation and added that AT&T and Apple simply were not prepared for this tremendous growth in the number of users. Apple was not even able to keep up with demand for iPhone 3G handsets, leaving many stores tapped dry. "AT&T may have had 10,000 users in downtown, and the cell site may have been engineered to handle that many calls, but with this phenomenal buying there are now 20,000 people out there that have AT&T service on the 3G iPhone," Greenholtz said in a phone interview. Greenholtz stressed that data traffic is the main cause of spotty reception -- especially in major metropolitan areas where 3G is being used the most, thus straining the network.

SCOTT's REPLY: Yes, I was going to post about that later. That was awesome information to see. Thanks for posting it here first, Greg. Appreciate that.

I tell you what.. I've been using AT&T's 3G network for about two years now on my Samsung Blackjack, and it's never been as bad as it's been since the iPhone came out. Specifically, about two weeks after it came out I started to see a significant degradation of signal strength all over Chicago.

I was going to get an iPhone to replace my Blackjack, but with AT&T's network problems, and all the iPhone problems... I might just make the jump back to T-Mobile when the HTC Dream comes out. I never had a problem with T-Mobile's service, and the only reason I switched to AT&T (Cingular) in the first place was for 3G.

SCOTT'S REPLY: That's what I'm always talking about here ... the fact that there are other AT&T phones that work solid on 3G in Chicago and then put an iPhone in the room and it's the odd guy out. It's one thing if all the phones work the same way. But when they don't, well, you've got to point the blame at the device. I mean, I can't think of another way to look at it.

yup. I agree. we just need it fixed, please!! I would have not given up my first gen iPhone if I had thought it would be this bad. I had expected 3G to be a bit spotty but I haven't had so many dropped calls on ATT since the late 90's when I eventually changed carriers.

N

SCOTT's REPLY: We'll see what the 2.1 software does. Hopefully it's magic.

Scott. the number of bars showing on your home-screen is not an accurate gauge; it varies from phone to phone, and manufacturer to manufacturer, so please stop using it as some kind of objective indicator. It isn't.

SCOTT'S REPLY: No, it is an objective indicator as far as I am concerned. If it's not, then get rid of the bars and give me something else. I'm not going to put the phone into field test mode to get the exact number of Db to determine my signal strength.

I live in an area which - according to AT&T's coverage map - has strong 3G coverage. At home, my iPhone shows 2 bars, my web pages load at least twice as fast as on EDGE, and I have no problems with dropped calls. Just a couple of miles down the road, however, my iPhone consistently shows 4-5 bars and load times are even quicker.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Then obviously, your phone with 2 bars isn't as fast as it is with 5 bars. I think you've proven that you are mistaken.

And no, you don't speak for the "millions of iPhone users out there who just want it fixed." I'm one and my iPhone is just fine, thanks very much.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Fantastic. I speak for the millions of iPhone users except for you, then.

I used to enjoy this blog, but lately I think you've been spending far too much time scouring the Apple support site for potential problems, and then splurging them all over this blog as if "millions" of people are experiencing them. They aren't.

SCOTT'S REPLY: It's called being objective, Trevor. It's about reporting the good and the bad, and if you can't see that for what it is, I suggest you take a look at the countless other blogs out there that suck up to Apple.

Here's another link you should check out: http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=444&a=440573 where an intrepid Swedish journalist puts her iPhone to the test in a bona fide laboratory, alongside phones from Sony Ericsson and Nokia. Turns out the iPhone performs just fine, despite doubts having been sown in the journalist's mind by various "reports" on the web.

SCOTT's REPLY: Saw this. Good stuff.

Here's an interesting passage from her story:

"In my opinion my iphone has worked perfectly. The only time a call has been disconnected was on the train to Stockholm, and that has happened with other mobiles as well. But when I on the evening before the test looked at the signal strength bars, and compared with a Nokia, the iphone looked pretty bad. Several bars less and often preferring to switch to edge.

SCOTT'S REPLY: Great. We know that the 3G network is mature in Sweden. I look forward to visiting and posting something about how great the 3G service is there.

I had already in my thoughts started to write the awkward article about how the mobile I think works so well failed the test. But after some rotations in the test chamber, where the mobile is rotating as in a microwave oven, I get the good news.

- The values are completely normal, says Magnus Franzén, an antenna engineer with an M.Sc. in Engineering Physics."

Now, I'm not saying that there aren't some people having connectivity issues, or that there isn't a dodgy batch of iPhone's out there somewhere, but I do wish the blogosphere and some sections of the mainstream media would calm down and start reporting facts instead of hearsay and speculation.

SCOTT's REPLY: I appreciate your thoughts, Trevor. But what you don't understand is that it's blogs like mine that actually paint the true picture of what's going on out there. Just because you are having no problems - - for the most part, Trevor, I don't have problems either. I hate the battery life and I think my 3G coverage could be much better, but overall, I've been very lucky. So I could be like all the other blogs out there that ignore all the people that have trouble, but as I've said time and time again, I'm going to be a voice for those people. There's a happy medium somewhere and I'm striving to achieve it to the best of my ability. The overall point is that many folks are having a good experience and many folks aren't. For me to ignore the folks that aren't having a good experience and not reporting those stories, well, then I haven't done my job as a journalist.

So what ... I should report on the supposed new features of iTunes 8.0 that Kevin Rose has uncovered? Why? I'd rather spend my time getting to the bottom of problems and helping folks as opposed to covering rumors that mean nothing.

Hope that gives you my perspective. I hope you'll continue to be a part of this blog. I really do. But if you can find better and more useful information elsewhere, well, at the end of the day, I want you to be happy.

Everyone I know with this phone in Chicago is having reception and battery problems with this phone- that's 5 different people. Was just outside and couldn't connect to the internet on 3G and this morning, no problem early- same thing every day. Nice that this guy isn't having trouble but so many folks are and you're doing an appropriate journalistic job of representing them while still focusing on positive things like new apps etc. Keep it up; you doing the right thing; when there's more positive things to discuss as these problems are addressed and hopefully solved, I'm quite sure you'll at that point have more positive things to say.

SCOTT's REPLY: Believe me, I love posting fun and positive things. And I will continue to do that. I just want to make sure that everyone is represented. Sure, 5 people isn't a lot of people in the case of your comment, Brad, but you know what, those 5 people are important enough for me to cover the issues plaguing them.

I have a 1st generation iPhone, and I have noticed increased fluctuation in signal strength over the last few months, I think the problem is both an iPhone issue and AT&T's (rapid growth and transition to 3G.) I have had so many problems after AT&T "upgraded" their towers in my area. It is effecting all iPhones - in my opinion.

I think you have been a great voice on the good and bad issues on the phone. Is your weight loss a result of "3G stress disorder?"

SCOTT'S REPLY: Excellent. 3G stress disorder? Actually, it might be. Sometimes I walk into walls -- I think I lose the signal.

Trevor, pffft!

SCOTT'S REPLY: Sorry, Trevor ... the callers are not agreeing with you.

You tell 'em, Scott!

I wish such negative people would just quit reading the blog if they dislike it so much. My Christmas wish would be for that fellow's iPhone to be all screwed up and everyone else's to work perfectlyKeep on keepin' on, Scott. You and your blog rock!

Jeff

SCOTT'S REPLY: Nice of you to say, Jeff. But I don't wish any harm on Trevor's iPhone. I hope, though, that if he ever has a problem that he'll still come here for help.

Somebody needs to do a side by side comparison of a 3G iPhone and another 3G phone running on AT&T's network. Would think that would tell us a lot about where the problem is- or isn't.

SCOTT'S REPLY: I know at least one person with another AT&T phone, but he's hard to get a hold of. If I can, I will, because that's a great idea.

The comments to this entry are closed.