iPhone 3G reception woes unfixable? Maybe, maybe not

Support forum threads on Apple's site and a number of ramblings across these great interwebs are starting to complain at great length about the iPhone 3G's headlining new feature -- 3G reception, that is -- and pretty much every aspect of it: signal strength, call dropping, connecting to EDGE when 3G is present, the list goes on. Some smartypants analyst from financial firm Nomura thinks he has it all figured out, saying that the issues are "typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack" and suggesting that a firmware update pushed out to existing handsets is unlikely to ease the pain. We've been hearing that Cupertino could actually be working on just such an update at this very second, though, so this cat better get ready for the possibility that he could be eating his own words down the road. For what it's worth, intermittent issues have been reported the world over, so this doesn't seem to be anything to do with AT&T's (or anyone else's) infrastructure -- and needless to say, not everyone is having issues to start. And for anyone whose iPhone 3G we just jinxed by writing this post... well, our bad.

[Jeremy @ Aug 14th 2008 2:41PM]

I have had AT&T in the past, hands down worst service, most dropped calls.

[who? @ Aug 14th 2008 3:06PM]

Ha! Me too! I live in the middle of town with no service, so I went to their service map and it showed my house in the middle of a small no service bubble no more than an eighth of a block wide... T-mobile/Verizon only.

[Andy @ Aug 14th 2008 4:50PM]

Tmobile is worse. Globally though the iPhone is exposing various carriers lack of 3G technology. For example Australia is having a tough time handling the 3G phones on it's carriers networks.

Also, is it a correlation that apple stock is down in an upmarket. As a stock holder who bought stock prior to the launch (http://www.savingtoinvest.com/2008/06/oh-noi-just-bought-16k-worth-of-apple.html), perhaps this is a sign for some upcoming pain. Still, Apple will fix these problems and sell even more 4g future models.

[kjb434 @ Aug 14th 2008 3:09PM]

That's an opinion right? There 3g service on my Tilt is wonderful.

[Bob @ Aug 14th 2008 3:20PM]

I had two AT&T Tilts and the ropped calls, sudden loss of service and reception problems were just as bad with those phones.

[Tim @ Aug 14th 2008 3:31PM]

My tilt's and cu500's 3G reception has been flawless...both where I live and everywhere I travel too...

[Fatima @ Aug 14th 2008 3:34PM]

I've had ATT for the past 4yrs and have had great reception and service. T-mobile doesnt even have 3g, as thats my only other option. I need GSM phones b/c I travel abroad a lot and Sprint Verizon are using technology from the stone age.

[Trent @ Aug 14th 2008 4:11PM]

With so many issues being plagued with the new iPhone, I am soooooo glad my Verizon contract is not up until December. And it looks like I will not be jumping ship to ATT but rather looking forward to the BB Thunder that should be out during the 4th quarter. I live in Dover, DE and we have had EVDO for over 2 years. ATT still does not have 3G here.

[TheNetAvenger @ Aug 14th 2008 4:17PM]

ATT service does suck, it takes a strong phone to hold on in area that are just unacceptable.

For example in San Diego there are major areas that calls go dead for a few blocks, everyone knows it, and when talking to a friend they will warn ya the call is ending cause they are heading through that area.

In constrast, Verizon from LA to Imperial Beach, Full Bars and full 3G, and no call drops.

(When 3G first was deployed from Verizon in 2004 era, would play an MMO on laptop when spouse was driving without worrying about dying because of a connection loss.)

There are a few phones that work a little harder, and will not drop calls 'as much', but apparently Apple didn't plan for this with the iPhone, not only using a non-known chipset, but not picking one that gets the most out of ATT's crap coverage.

The irony is ATT bought Cingular with their saying, "The fewest dropped calls", and both Cingular and ATT are the worest I have ever seen for dropped calls in major cities.

I feel sorry for average non-tech joes that are buying into the marketing and getting iPhones. Not only at Apple's mercy, but ATTs as well, two of the worest companies for lock in and monopoly practices, and bad service on top of it.

[Vanillacide @ Aug 14th 2008 4:48PM]

US mobile telecoms infrastructure is worse than much of the third-world, let alone Europe or Japan. I don't think a lot of people outside the country appreciate how dire it truly is.

[Izzy @ Aug 14th 2008 5:03PM]

@Andy... This is an upmarket? Only if you invested in oil a few years ago. It sucks for the rest of us.

[Ellianth @ Aug 14th 2008 7:56PM]

In my country we don't have dead zones :-).

[nDee @ Aug 14th 2008 10:03PM]

Instead of
"Raise the bar"
the now have
"where's the bar?"

[Brad @ Aug 15th 2008 4:26AM]

@Fatima

I'm sorry, but this quote: "and Sprint Verizon are using technology from the stone age" has to be one of the more uninformed things I've read lately. And I read comments on YouTube.

GSM was designed in 1982 and ratified in 1987 as a global standard . It is slower and has lower bandwidth than CDMA, which came about in 1995, more than a decade after GSM. CDMA is vastly more advanced and has significantly smaller broadcast footprint. Rather than blocking off a "cell" for each side of the conversation, CDMA frees up transmitting cell as soon as you stop speaking, and grabs a new one when you start again. This allows CDMA to have a much higher call volume per-tower (around 40% higher in most cases). On top of that, by using a subtractive algorithm for the audio source, actually transmit measurably less data, thus each tower can process the data at a higher quality. Less compression -> clearer voice.

All that aside, Sprint and Verizon's EvDO (now mostly onto RevA) absolutely blows ATT's HSDPA network out of the water, both in terms of speed and coverage. Because EvDO r0 and rA can both be run from much of the same equipment as CDMA towers, and have the same broadcast footprint, rolling out 3G networks is significantly cheaper, as you don't have to bring in a whole new series of signal shapers and specialists to figure out where your signal will hit. To put it in perspective: I can drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, up the more than 400 miles of coast line (taking the 101), weaving in and out of hills, all the while streaming 128kbps MP3s from my home server, and I only lose signal in two locations: the town of Nimpomo for about 30 seconds, and in Prunedale as I pass through a thickly wooded area in a narrow pass. That's right, EvDO for 400 miles, averaging above 2mbps the whole way. The isolated pockets of ATT's 3g network MIGHT hit 1.5mbps for brief periods before the signal is lost, in one of the 24 cities they've rolled it out to. And ATT still feeds their towers with T1s, while the rest of the country (Verizon, Sprint, Alltel) run 1gig or 10gig fiber to theirs.

[iEye @ Aug 14th 2008 2:43PM]

Ha Ha, a Hoo, He Ha!

Early adopters get screwed yet again!

[Kyle @ Aug 14th 2008 2:58PM]

and I thought my jokes were bad.....

[Hold McGroin @ Aug 14th 2008 3:30PM]

"saying that the issues are 'typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack'"

Haha, Apple burned itself. They could have used a proven chipset, but they went bargain bin to up their already high profit margins and it burned them badly this time.

What's really funny is 3mbps on HSDPA was cool and new a few years ago so there are good, proven chipsets already available. If they had gone with a 7mbps HSDPA radio (you know, something up-to-date), then I might be able to excuse some connection problems or immature chipsets, but they dropped the ball out of greed.

[Frankenstein Black @ Aug 14th 2008 3:49PM]

Ah yes, Apple’s mobile device n00bishness rears its ugly heady, chuckles Nokia, SE, Samsung and LG (Motorola aint laughing at anyone these days).

[kccboy2004 @ Aug 14th 2008 5:08PM]

Hey iEye,

Lets face it, iPhone users just simply got what they deserved.

My phone is definately better than an iPhone. My PC is definately better than a Mac.

I do feel really sorry for the iPhone people; but sorry in this sense in more like the sorry for the Pigs who were killed for me to eat my bacon this morning.

[Philster @ Aug 14th 2008 6:29PM]

Yes. I did NOT "... like paying half the price for twice the speed" one tenth of the time.

Oh, and the GPS still sucks, too!

[Timmah! @ Aug 14th 2008 8:44PM]

Class action suit iyo?

[Marc @ Aug 14th 2008 2:44PM]

Don't worry Chris, my iPhone 3G's reception was jinxed well before this issue was uncovered

[waiownsyou @ Aug 14th 2008 2:45PM]

ATT sucks. I used to have Verizon, and I've only had one dropped call in 2 years.

ATT drops me every other call and the audio quality of GSM is horrible compared to CDMA (but maybe because that's EDGE voice compared to EVDO) but still, DAMN APPLE!

[Jason @ Aug 14th 2008 2:53PM]

Sadly, I agree, I'm in the same boat. I'm still trying to decide if having an iPhone and unreliable service is better than having reliable service and no iPhone.

Funny though, even though this post absolves AT&T of blame we still slather it on.

[nerdtalker @ Aug 14th 2008 4:57PM]

I love how, yet again, AT&T has been the source of criticism for the iPhone. AT&T really _is_ killing the thing from a business point of view, reliability point of view, coverage point of view, plan/cost point of view, everything.

If only they had made the damned thing CDMA (or just a CDMA version for the US) and signed with Sprint/Verizon. Between the two of them (since they roam freely on each others' networks) EV-DO Rev. A is almost everywhere and 1X RTT coverage is flawless. Literally.

Instead, apple opted for GSM + an infineon (more like inferi-or-on) chipset. Combine completely lacking coverage (poor when there even IS 3G coverage) and this chipset, and they've got a perfect storm of clusterfuckery. I almost feel sorry for 'em.

And to think I actually considered getting one. Thank goodness I waited.

[drathos @ Aug 14th 2008 5:05PM]

Consider yourself lucky on Verizon, then. I get at least 2 dropped calls a week on Verizon. I've tried ATT and T-Mobile, but had to cancel both because I got no service at all at home despite both having service maps that indicated I was in a prime coverage area.

[Dan Halen @ Aug 14th 2008 2:45PM]

I don't think I have seen any newly released phone plagued with this many issues. It's one thing to just grill Apple for the hell of it, but in this case, they really are a bunch of total screwups. They finally bit off a little more than they can chew.

Here's hoping the iPhone 3rd Generation isn't a glitchy pile.

[Juxterium @ Aug 14th 2008 2:50PM]

Well we only have a few months to wait if Apple sticks their policy of rehashing a product and selling it at full price every half a year. I admire Apple for trying something different, but the fact is they haven't done a good job and I'm waiting for the decent phone designers to get their weight into the touchscreen and mobile web browsing idea for it to really start to take off. As always Apple get a nice idea, but simply can't follow it through and then someone more accomplished does it for them.

[Sincere7745 @ Aug 14th 2008 2:58PM]

Well Dan, how many phones have you seen sell 3 million in it's first month. The fact would be that many people are out there buying the phone and could be having issues. I for one haven't had any issues with my iPhone. A lot of phones out there have the same problems, but not as many complaints because they don't have as many units in consumers hands.

[Kris @ Aug 14th 2008 3:16PM]

@Sincere7745, Actually quite a few phones have accomplish and surpassed this feat. Remember, the iPhone is part of the Smartphone group which isn't anywhere near as popular as simply, regular phones.

[Frankie @ Aug 14th 2008 3:31PM]

@Sincere7745 you are sincerely STUPID! At one point the whole world pretty much thought the world was flat, but it ain't. And if you're indeed to stupid to understand that analogy, what it means is this: no matter how many people adopt something, it dosen't mean that it's right. I mean Look at Christianity (Oooooh Snap!)

[doubleyewdee @ Aug 14th 2008 3:32PM]

The RAZR probably sold >3m in it's first month and it didn't malfunction like this. It's a question of quality, not quantity. Quantity doesn't drive pervasive issues or cause my iPhone to lock up on a semi-daily basis, low quality is what does that.

[Juxterium @ Aug 14th 2008 3:42PM]

@Sincere7745

Nokia sells 1.34 million handsets per day, and around 122 million in one quarter (3 months). Apple makes up less of the market then a small fish in the sea (speaking metaphorically). So the idea that more people are reporting problems simply because there are more handsets around has to be the one of the most ill advised ideas ever.

[Kennyb123 @ Aug 14th 2008 6:00PM]

Frankie,

You'll be saying "Oh SNAAAP" for an eternity.

Not that I would wish it on anyone.

[Brad @ Aug 15th 2008 4:35AM]

@Kennyb123

But you just did.

Actually, you effectively damned him, by stating that YOU know where HE will end up in the afterlife. Now, that's not very Christ-like of you, is it?

[Frankie @ Aug 15th 2008 11:35AM]

Thanks Brad! (particularly for your openmidedness and sense of humor), you rock!

[psilver @ Aug 14th 2008 2:48PM]

Oddest thing, my first gen iPhone has been getting weaker signals after this 3G iPhone arrived....

[phinnvr6 @ Aug 14th 2008 3:25PM]

Hmm, I could swear I've been noticing the same thing. I've been blaming the crappy 2.x firmwares. I still haven't jailbroken then new firmware either. Maybe that's to blame, jailbreaking just makes everything better.

[Mycroft @ Aug 14th 2008 2:48PM]

Some claim the hardware is to blame. Massive recall only fix then. Ouch.

http://www.mobile-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=032001C6WBMO

[Tom @ Aug 14th 2008 2:59PM]

Mycroft, you realize that the post is talking about that very analyst that you reference in your link.

[Boarderwoot @ Aug 14th 2008 2:59PM]

yet other people claim that there's a woman to blame. But its probably Apple's own damn fault.

I've got a Sprint Centro and my buddys got a 3g, more often then not hes the one asking if everyone can here him now...and then looks down at his phone in disgust at yet another dropped call. Though it may have something to do with him living in his parent's cellar....

[totoro @ Aug 14th 2008 3:21PM]

And the same analyst who claimed the first iPhone touch screen would degrade within 4-6 months due to its faulty "chemical deposition" coating, which, of course, the iPhone doesn't have.

Still waiting for Windsor to give his clients the all clear on that issue :p

[Mycroft @ Aug 14th 2008 3:27PM]

@ Tom

Yes, and then it goes on further with an analysis by someone named Charles King that says if it is a chipset problem, and not a firmware problem, as many speculate, Apple is in for a huge problem.

The above is not included in the Engadget link.

[Jeff @ Aug 16th 2008 11:35AM]

Richard Windsor, the "smartypants analyst from financial firm Nomura" is the same jackass who issued a report a year ago about the supposedly faulty “film” on the iPhone touchscreen, when in fact there was no such film.

(courtesy, DF)

I'm not sure i'd put any weight behind his assumptions.

[Blue @ Aug 14th 2008 2:51PM]

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 possible (doubt it) fix this issue.

[Kevin @ Aug 14th 2008 5:30PM]

I have the exact same issue. I used my Blackberry as a phone until I bought my iPhone and I get less bars side by side with the Blackberry. Practically speaking though, I don't care about getting 3G service at work, since most of the stuff I'd be looking up on my phone I can readily look up on my computer. I've had some dropped calls, but no more than usual, but I live downtown in a major city. The one gripe I do have so far is that when going from an area of service (say for example, an elevator, or an underground parking garage) to an area with service, the iPhone takes forever to reconnect. It's just annoying if you're waiting for a call or text, but I'll get over it. For all other practical purposes I'm fairly happy with the purchase and I sold my iPod touch for $150.

[ShadowKain @ Aug 14th 2008 2:51PM]

"some smarty pants analyst"

I love it. Who would of thought such "perfect" hardware would have such problems. Apple is usually spot on with hardware.

[Nick @ Aug 14th 2008 2:52PM]

Epic failure.

Poor sheep

[Boarderwoot @ Aug 14th 2008 3:19PM]

Nick, You could post "First!" on every article on Engadget and i'll still vote you up simply based on your avatar....

[Jeff Lewis @ Aug 14th 2008 2:54PM]

No disrepect, but why is the author of this post acting like he *personally* has been challenged by the analyst's post?

"We've been hearing that Cupertino could actually be working on just such an update at this very second, though, so this cat better get ready for the possibility that he could be eating his own words down the road."

Why would that be important enough to the author to actually say and to phrase in that way? I'm sure any analyst is always prepared to be proven wrong. Similarly, the author's rumours that Apple is working on fixing the problem may well turn out to be false too (Apple Tablet anyone?)

A less confrontational way would have been simply to note that "There are rumours that Apple may be working on a fix to this problem. If that pans out, contrary to the analyst's report, it would turn out that it's not a hardware problem at all, just a firmware issue and immature firmware from Apple."

Of course, that would require admitting that Apple made a mistake. Can't have that. So let's slam the people who are pointing it out instead. :)