What is a 3G iPhone

Sorry for the dumb question, but been searching all over the place for info about it and can't find anything.

I'm getting ready to buy the iPhone as soon as my Verizon contract expires in September and want to know if I should wait for the arrival of the 3G iPhone.

thanks,

3G technologies enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephony and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment. Typically, they provide service at 5-10 Mb per second.

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3G actually refers to the network, the phone, if it is 3G, just means it works fully on the new network. Basically much higher bandwidth capabilities.

Stands for 3rd Generation, btw.

Typically, they provide service at 5-10 Mb per second.

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Thanks for the response. What is the transfer rate on the current iPhone? Do you have a link that provides more info on the 3G iPhone?

In your opinion, is it going to be worth waiting for the 3G or is it just a lot of talk?

I have no info on the new iPhone, I was just commenting on what 3G networks are. The current phone works on the EDGE network, which is not fast at all. I have a blackberry for work, and I don't get over 50kbs.

I, personally, would wait, but thats me.

Lots of rumors but that is it. I myself think it will be a long time before we see 3G but that is just my thoughts.

I personally get somewhere in the vicinity of 200kbps, so it's certainly useable. However, this depends on region. When I was in Las Vegas, it was so slow as to be useless.

I wouldn't expect a 3G phone till the Christmas shopping season.

thanks for the info.

I lived just outside the city limits and achieved 200kbps or higher, downtown I receive like 80kbps so it really depends when it comes to EDGE speeds. I think the average for iPhone users is around 160kbps which is acceptable to me.
According to Wikipedia, data rates for EDGE are around 236kbps and 3G will be 384kbps. I could be reading the data wrong though; there are a lot of #'s that I don't understand. Just go to Wikipedia and search EDGE and 3G.

When I was using 3G on my 8525, I was speed testing it somewhere in the 1MB range, sometimes a bit higher. It was pretty quick, especially when I had it tethered to my Macbook.

That to me is where the big advantage of the 3G networks come in. It would be great to tether in areas that didn't have a readily available wifi connection.

Personally, I think the 3G iPhone will come out in June. I'm waiting until June to get one myself.

I'm starting to struggle with the urge to buy an iPhone as well. I've got my tax refund coming and that alone will pay for an iPhone and the data plan difference added to my monthly cell phone bill. I'll probably wait until early fall when I head back to grad school to see what happens with it even though it's extremely tempting now but hey, if it comes out in June I'll be buying right then and there.

Note that the iPhone is a 2.5G phone (or that's what they claim). So those who are used to using EDGE on their old phones find the iPhone EDGE to be much faster (not as fast as 3G though).

Its coming out in third or fourth quarter.
i have the 8gb phone, its worth it no matter what networking its capable of. Especially when you hack em

jbreyfogle said:

Its coming out in third or fourth quarter.
i have the 8gb phone, its worth it no matter what networking its capable of. Especially when you hack em

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really? how do you know that?

airwalk331 said:

really? how do you know that?

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an apple genius told me, as well as an iPhone tech on the apple team. I also know that in June there will be a firmware update featuring real time email

^^ You mean MS Exchange support? That is pretty much official that the iPhone software version 2.0 is going to be out along with the proper SDK and app store. Whether the 3G iPhone debuts there is yet to be known...

That's exactly what I was gunna say Goobi.
Apple will not announce to the sales people when the iPhone will be released. It is still 100% speculation. I mean, AT&T won't be done setting up the 3G network till the end of the year.