My Experience.... iPhone 3G #2

[MMMII]

Yes, I'm an Apple Fanboy. I admit it...

This whole iPhone 3G thing is starting to make me a little crazy..

Yes I owned the first gen iPhone.. Yes, I bought a white iPhone 3G on 7/12...

About a week ago, I dropped my new Jawbone for the last (of many) time and it stopped working. This forced me to use my iPhone headphones. About 2 days of use later, I noticed that I was victim of "iCrack". A hairline crack appeared between the headphone port and the silver bezel. Not a big deal in terms of functionality but coupled all the posts I saw about cracking, I thought I would hit up my local Apple Store Genius for a replacement.. By the way it was produced at factory 878 on week 28..

No problems with the replacement (other than I had to pay for a new Invisashield). Or so I thought...

NOW, my replacement iPhone (factory 868 week 31) while sitting on my desk decides that it should switch from 3G to Edge every now and then. Keep in mind that A: my first 3G iPhone never did this, B: the phone is not in motion, C: weather conditions are sunny with light 0-5mph wind outside and D: I have 5 bars on 3G.

Since I'm seeing more and more posts about this issue, I'm starting to get a little ticked and missing the days of my old iPhone that worked just fine (although much slower than 3G speeds).

As of right now if someone asked me if they should replace their original iPhone with a new one I would say NO. Wait for another 2 months and then make the jump...

As for me, I'm going to wait a couple of months and then try my luck at getting a replacement hoping that they figure these issues out.

This whole experience is draining me and my commitment to Uncle Steve.

 

[Mark W]

It's unfortunate to hear that, however I do feel these issues are isolated as I have nothing but good to say about my iPhone.

The only issue I have had is with a bug that stopped GPS working which someone then pointed out how to fix.

I have seen many posts about poor signal - mine is as expected, mid-full 3G signal in the town centre, full GPRS or low EDGE at home (which is expected, I don't live in a major city, and isn't an issue either as I have wifi at home and it is enough to keep checking my emails when I go for a walk)
I have seen many posts about poor battery life - mine has not dropped below about 80% during a days use.
I have seen many posts about hairline cracks - mine is fine.

My friends that have iPhones are also having no issues.

I would agree that if you already have an iPhone maybe wait to upgrade as some people are having issues, but if you're looking to get your first iPhone - these issues aren't as widespread as they appear.

 

[JuanGuapo]

AT&T's 3G network is a Wideband CDMA network (versus GSM of their standard network), and is succeptable to the same issues that CDMA carriers like Spring and VZW have--"shrinkage". When a CDMA network becomes saturated, it will start to shrink in coverage. The best example i can give is to watch your bars in the same area during peak hours and during off-peak hours. I notice that in my apartment, I get 2-3 bars (3G) during peak hours and 4-5 bars in the middle of the night. I leave the phone in the exact same place each night (near a window), charging...

A good site to read is wirelessadvisor.com, there's plenty of knowledgeable people on that site who can tell you about wireless phone technology (esp. w/ reception questions).

Lastly, I've had "6" (yes, six) exchanges (4 new, 2 refurb) since launch. Most of the issues I've had were cosmetic (no cracks, though), but my last phone was exchanged b/c it wouldn't detect the SIM card. The build quality of the iPhone is generally good, but most of the issues people are having is w/ the manufacturing. When you're churning out 800,000 phones a week, if a mistake is made, it is made over and over and over until it is found. It's Apple's job to fix that, and to make sure you get a working iPhone. If you're not happy w/ your iPhone, bring it back to the store and they should take care of it. If you happen to get an apathetic or ambivalent Genius, then ask for the manager and go from there.

 

[baggss]

As the above post said, it's not the phone, it's the 3G network. Verizon seems to have dealt with this issue by flooding antennas and repeaters everywhere they can stuff one and their service is quite good. AT&T needs to invest in a much better infrastructure to give their customers what they promised.

 

[JuanGuapo]

Agreed w/ baggss. I can't speak for the rest of the US, but the 3G network here in Los Angeles has been pretty good. My fiance and I both travel quite a bit throughout the southland and I've noticed 3G-only coverage in about 80% of the places we go. The coverage has been getting marginally better week by week, too. I've noticed 3G coverage coming alive in some spots, and better coverage in others so if SoCal is any indicator they are indeed working on it.

My phone sits in 3G about 75% of the time, and Edge the rest--I rarely see the GPRS [0] symbol. Edge speeds are relatively fast as Edge speeds go. I had T-Mobile for 6 years and did my fair share of surfing on their Edge network, and I notice a lot better burst speed than I did on the T-Mobile network. It's all relative to the phone/location/etc. of course.