iPhone 3G Problems – Solutions

Starting with a little "status report," I still didn't manage to get an iPhone. Probably I'll wait for the next model, because I really hate the plastic back of the iPhone 3G. Anyway, apart from this little issue, it seems most iPhone 3G problems can be easily solved with firmware updates...or at least that's what they say! Who says that? For now, not the guys at Apple, but a bunch of analysts outside the company. If they are to be trusted or not, that's what remains to be seen, but for now, I think it would be a good idea to check what they have to say.

As you probably noticed already, if you looked for "iPhone 3G problems" on the Internet and checked at least one page containing user feedback, a lot of iPhone 3G owners claim they are facing a lot of problems with the 3G service. Usually, it's about fluctuating signal strength bars, as well as 3G use leading to extremely fast battery drain. While I don't think the battery life problems can be solved by a firmware update, the 3G signal problems are going deeper than just "an issue that Apple can solve."

From what I heard, it seems it's more about the provider, than the iPhone itself. Also, if I think well, this may also lead to faster battery drain - when the signal is weaker, phones usually drain their batteries faster, but I can't bet on that. Anyway, if you know more about the battery drain part, please feel free to drop a message below, we'll all be grateful for that! Now, let's get back to the provider, and to be more precise, we'll talk about the AT&T 3G service in the US, since they are the exclusive carrier for the iPhone 3G there, for now.

The problem seems to be that AT&T primarily uses the 1900MHz band in the US, and currently working on expanding its 850MHz band use, a frequency allowing radio signals to spread farther and penetrate walls easier. This will probably improve 3G signal for iPhone 3G users, but it can't happen over night...

Another iPhone 3G problem seems to be the dropped calls by provider, and according to unnamed sources, "the problem is affecting 2% to 3% of iPhone traffic, the people say. That compares with a dropped-call rate of around 1% for all traffic for AT&T." Anyway, these are not official numbers, and since conducting studies to get the real percentage is pretty difficult, we'll have to wait and see what happens in the future. While I am not expecting any real numbers coming from AT&T or Apple, all I want to see is happy iPhone 3G users, with as few dropped calls as possible.

At last, the analysts I mentioned in first place seem to blame everything - the components used, the production process, and the firmware, but if you ask me, it's first the carrier, and then, the firmware. Since I can't bet on this for now, I guess we'll have to wait and see what iPhone 2.1 will bring in about a month, if everything works as planned...