Apple, AT&T mum on iPhone 3G issues

Note: CNET News' Tom Krazit and Marguerite Reardon co-wrote this article.

After his third iPhone 3G continued to cut him off in the middle of his conversations, Ryan Shaw had seen enough.

"The phone was a disappointment from the standpoint that it couldn't maintain a consistent connection with the 3G network...All the other features were fantastic," said Shaw, a sales professional living in a Cleveland suburb. But those other features weren't enough to prevent him from returning to Verizon and the BlackBerry after deciding the hassle just wasn't worth it.

Widespread complaints about the iPhone 3G's reception have spread across the Internet in the month since Apple and AT&T released the successor to the original iPhone. The companies insist that nothing is wrong, but the complaints have been mounting through e-mails, water-cooler discussions, and message boards on Apple's own Web site: iPhone 3G users are having trouble connecting, and staying connected, to the 3G networks in their areas.

A month after the release of the iPhone 3G, users are still reporting widespread issues with call reception and networking stability.

(Credit: Apple)

Users say the iPhone 3G will switch between 3G networks and EDGE networks even when the device is sitting still. They'll lose reception in the middle of a call while traveling through a 3G-rich environment. Friends with other 3G phones on AT&T's network are not reporting similar problems. And the issues don't appear to be confined to AT&T's network: iPhone 3G users in other countries report similar problems with their new phones.

As you can imagine, this doesn't sit well with many who eagerly bought the iPhone 3G to take advantage of 3G networks, which Apple promises are "twice as fast" as the EDGE networks in its advertising material. "Frankly, if I knew it was going to be like this, I wouldn't have paid the extra $10 a month," said iPhone 3G owner David Howard of Provo, Utah.

Repeated attempts over the past week to get Apple and AT&T to even acknowledge the uproar--if not the issues specifically--proved pointless. Apple didn't even attempt to answer the questions, deferring inquiries to AT&T, which declared that there were absolutely no widespread problems with the iPhone 3G on its network.

"What we're seeing is that the iPhone 3G is performing very well," said Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T. "I'm not denying that people are having problems. But we have to deal with these on a case-by-case basis."

It's always difficult to determine the scope of an issue posted on Internet message boards--whether or not a loud minority is blowing up a relatively minor problem into something more. But this time, lots of different people are crowding the Internet to vent their frustrations and search for answers to the reception issues, and they are finding a lot of sympathizers.

Without detailed testing, it's also difficult to say for sure what is causing the dropped calls or limited access to the network. Most likely, the cause of the problem is not solely an AT&T network issue nor is it an Apple device issue: It's a combination of both.

The network
AT&T's 3G network is not ubiquitous. Currently, AT&T offers 3G service in only 300 major metropolitan areas. It expects to get to 350 metro areas by the end of the year. By contrast, AT&T's 2.5G EDGE network, which is what the first-generation iPhone uses, is deployed throughout AT&T's entire nationwide footprint.

For iPhone 3G users this means they should be able to get 3G coverage in the areas marked by AT&T's coverage map. Many of the problems, however, are being reported in just those places. Some residents of San Francisco, Chicago, and New York--among the first destinations for AT&T's 3G network technology--report spotty 3G availability on their iPhone 3Gs, but excellent EDGE performance.

That suggests either a hand-off issue or a capacity issue. The hand-off between the two networks is supposed to be seamless: 3G calls should automatically switch to EDGE when the 3G signal gets too weak. But the iPhone 3G seems to be hanging when it switches from the 3G network to the EDGE network, dropping service altogether in some cases. Apple technicians who examined Shaw's phone found that 36 percent of his calls had been dropped.

AT&T's 3G coverage map--shown in blue--for the Bay Area, where reception problems have been reported. Click the image for a larger view.

Ideally, a wireless operator would want to minimize the number of handoffs it's forced to do. For AT&T this means having a wider 3G footprint. Just because an area of the country is marked in blue on AT&T's Web site, indicating that it's covered by a 3G signal, apparently doesn't mean that area is receiving a strong signal.

"My belief is that because AT&T's network is not built out to every cell site, people are getting frustrated because they're finding places where the 3G signal isn't available or is weak," said Andrew Seybold, an independent industry analyst.

AT&T's Siegel said the company is working to expand the portion of its 3G network that runs on the 850MHz band, which allows signals to spread farther and penetrate walls more easily than signals on the 1900MHz band, the other main frequency used by AT&T's 3G network. Still, he said, "that doesn't mean you can't get a good experience on 1900MHz."

But network coverage isn't the only possible cause of all these problems. Users of other mobile phones on AT&T's 3G network are not reporting the same kinds of issues, and iPhone 3G users in the U.K. and Australia, among other places, are reporting similar issues.

Some users who have exchanged their iPhone 3Gs for new units report stronger reception with the new phones, while others, like Shaw, weren't so lucky. Doug Clements of Sacramento, who started a mammoth thread on Apple's site regarding the reception issues, reported success after restoring his iPhone 3G and obtaining a new SIM card from AT&T.

That means we have to consider whether there are problems with the iPhone 3G itself. Apple's silence on the issue makes it difficult to determine whether a software or hardware bug is to blame.

The iPhone
Given the number of bugs reported in the iPhone 2.0 software released, and the quick firmware update issued last week, it's possible that a software problem is responsible for some of the issues. If true, that would actually be good news for iPhone 3G owners, since Apple would be able to correct the issue in a subsequent update.

But at this stage, while it's easy to theorize, it's almost impossible to know for sure what might be causing the problems from Apple's side. Hardware issues are certainly a possibility, because a device is really only as good as the parts used to build it. And how those parts are assembled and integrated is crucial to ensuring optimal performance.

The circuit board for the iPhone 3G could have a hardware defect that's potentially reponsible for the reception problems.

(Credit: Bill Detwiler/CNET Networks)

One of the most important components of any cell phone is the antenna. The iPhone 3G supports several different cellular radio technologies and antennae in a single device: the 3G UMTS/HSDPA technology that uses three major frequencies (850MHz, 1900MHz, 2100MHz) 2G and 2.5G GSM/EDGE technology that uses four frequencies (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz), as well as other radios for things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Assisted-GPS.

In short, that's a lot of radio frequency technologies to pack into a little device. Even though lots of modern mobile phones come with similar technologies, it's certainly not easy, says Seybold. In fact, he believes that Apple's decision to use a plastic back on the new iPhone 3G instead of a metal back, as the previous generation, is a good indication that Apple needed a different material to accommodate all the radios.

"These are complicated devices supporting several different radio technologies," he said. "Typically the more you pack into a phone the tougher it is to build a really good one."

Indeed, it's possible that the components themselves could be perfectly fine, but the way in which they've been assembled could cause interference inside the device.

Just as important as how the components of the device are integrated is how well that device communicates to the network. While the iPhone 3G was built to a set of standard specifications, and AT&T has also built its network to support those same specifications, there are still nuances between devices and networks that need to be worked out to make sure that they work well together.

This is the main reason that carriers, such as Verizon Wireless, say they have such strict testing requirements for devices used on their networks.

"Sometimes customers may want to pin a problem on the device," said David McCarley, executive director of service performance and device evaluation for Verizon Wireless. "Or they want to pin it on the operator. But really it doesn't matter how well they work separately. They need to work together."

The fallout
It's fairly safe to say that Apple is not going to look back on July 2008 as one of its finer months. Despite selling more than 1 million iPhone 3Gs since July 11, the company has taken a few hits on the customer service front with its inability to get its MobileMe service running properly for weeks as well as its determined silence regarding the iPhone 3G networking issues.

Monday marks the 30-day anniversary of the iPhone 3G's launch, which is also the deadline to cancel a new AT&T subscription without incurring the early termination fee. Most iPhone 3G owners are happy with the device itself; they just want to use it in the fast lane.

"I think the biggest disappointment was the service of both AT&T and Apple. I expected a lot more from both organizations," Shaw said. "They should admit that there is an issue and that they are working through it."

Please let us know if you are still having problems with the reception of your iPhone 3G, and whether or not your handset was fixed after intervention from Apple, AT&T, or both.

[inachu]

new ITUNES has a defect. My pc does not see my iphone at all.
I uninstalled the new itunes and installed the older one and now I can sync.

[imaginenews]

I have been dropping signals left and right. It's not uncommon to loose a signal during a call. On top of that it happens about 3-4 times a day and I'm in a heavily saturated Dallas 3G area.

[joetesta70]

I've heard nothing but nightmares about the new iPhone. This will never replace the Blackberry as a reliable business tool.

[dsstroud]

Never is a long time, brother.

[stickyd]

There have been some bugs with the iPhone, but they have and are being addressed by Apple. It's not like Blackberry and Treo hasn't had their fair share of bugs, issues, or server-crashings. Why can't people just admit that Apple has a special product that's only going to get better with time. RIM should be scared.

[aMUSICsite]

Get the same problem here in the UK too..

I hope it's something they can fix with a software update or there could be a huge number of replacement phones coming out of the factroies soon. Especially as mine seems to be getting worse every week...

[rplat_1]

It's possible that I missed something but I saw no stats to support or prove your contention that the 3G problem is widespread. Personally, I am finding 3G to be very reliable.

[aztec92154]

I'm having an EXCELLENT experience with my iPhone 3G. In fact, I recently went to the top of Garnet Peak in California and had EDGE access!!! Full internet access from the top of the peak. So my iPhone experience has gone above an beyond what I expect from the phone.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jensenl/visuals/album/2005/garnet/

[andycohen]

Live in an area, malibu, ca. that shows coverage on the 3G map, and work in beverly hills, ca which also shows 3G coverage. The 3G network signal is so bad that at my office I get five bars on edge and one or no bars on 3G. And many, many dropped calls and calls that go right to voicemail without ringing. So I just switched off the 3G and just use the Edge. Kind of defeats the purpose of the new iPhone. And it sure is a battery hog! The old phone was bad, and the new phone is much worse, even on Edge with no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi on. I am a fairly heavy phone user, and find that I need to have the phone charging nearly all day either in my car or at my desk to avoid that dreaded dead battery icon. So traveling for even half a day where there is no charging availabillty means a certain dead battery. Sure makes me miss my old Blackberry with its
incredible battery life and ability to carry an extra battery. Tried a few battery chargers, both rechargeable and aaa battery powered ones, but none work well enough to get me through the day without wall or car charging. This is a serious flaw which will make me consider going back to blackberry when its new iPhone killer phone comes out soon.
Had the 2G I phone from the day it came out, and got the 3G i Phone the third day it was available, and love the i tunes, internet access, phone operting system, 3G apps store, camera, maps, operating system, look and feel of the phone, etc. but the low battery life and no replaceable battery is a definite design flaw that could make me become a Blackberry user once again.

[Dann1burk]

i guarantee you have at least one ofn the following things wrong that it is wasting your battery
1. you never turn wifi off
2. you never turn bluetooth off
3. your email checks more then once an hour
4. you have disabled auto backlight features
5. your phone takes longer then 5 minutes to auto lock

if not one of these problems then most likely a combination of them.
i know a guy who had the same issue and it was a few of the above mentioned. after the fact, BAM! the battery lasts for at least 11 hours, more then enough time to get it back on a charger

[pol;0987]

own one, can speak from experience, I HAVE EXPERIENCED NO ISSUES WHEN IT COMES TO SERVICE HANDOFFS, driven from jacksonville fl, to fort lauderdale florida and had reason to be on the phone the entire time, yes a 4.5 hour convo plugged into the car charger and the calls didnt waver once all the down I-95 while connected to 3G in JAX. There are times when 3G is off, and im in my office building, i'll see Edge disappear and be replaced by blue square icon, thats no signal, but thats due to my building, i walk outside and bam!!! 4 bars.

I guess what makes this story a tad bit biased is the comment, " This is the main reason that carriers, such as Verizon Wireless, say they have such strict testing " and Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T dont? This also may be a case of vocal minority, but the main thing that stands out to me, if you are having a problem with your carrier and reception wouldnt you go to the carrier? whats a message board or CNET gonna do for you? Half the previous posts are from people that dont have iPhones, just throwing their $.02 in.

Im not perfect or maybe I dont get the Interweb but if I have a problem with a service, product, or vendor, I'd contact them to fix it first, then if not resolved, go gripe on the web, but when people that dont have or havent personally experienced the product, good, or service, but they are still "reporting" on the issue, something is truly wrong...wait that wouldnt happen with Verizon would it?

[tile00]

if you were in or followed the wireless industry, you would know that verizon is NOTORIOUS for their hardware/service testing...to a fault. verizon has crippled features that phone manufacturers put in in the past all in the name of 'quality'. you conveniently overlook that statement that other iPhone users on different networks in the world have voiced the same complaints and issues. from a logical standpoint, that generally makes you focus on the hardware. network reception quality varies from place to place thats for sure...and that's great that you get great reception...but to dismiss other's bad experience just because you have a great one is dumb. do i think that they are a majority of users? no, but what is an acceptable minority? 10%? that would make 100k pissed off users.

[David01110]

So...people should only comment here if they don't have any problems? Personally, I'm glad that I saw this article, and these responses, before I ran out and got an iPhone. As far as the mention of Verizon, it seems that the reason it was written that way is because the next paragraph quoted a Verizon executive. His comment certainly wasn't biased, either.

I don't think that anyone can argue the fact that the rollout of the iPhone 3G was a mess verging on fiasco. Now, rather than being able to iron the original problems out and move on, Apple is faced with a whole new set of problems. I was really rooting for them...on paper, I think that the iPhone has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about our phones. In reality, it's starting to look like they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

[Mystigo]

I don't doubt that others are having problems, but here in the Northeast Atlanta area, 3G works well. It hasn't been perfect, but it is generally very reliable. I kind of wonder if increased traffic over 3G can affect overall performance of the network. I for one have dramatically increased the amount of data I download over the network since I got the 3G iPhone -by at least an order of magnitude (thanks to Pandora). If you extrapolate that out into far more tech savvy areas like New York and San Francisco, where the 3G iPhone is likely to be much more common, there could be unprecedented pressure on the network. This also could be one of the contributing factors to poor 3G performance.

[wratbatblue]

I continue to have some of the typical 3G-related issues: weak, inconsistent, or nonexistent signal in areas where users of other 3G phones have no problems, and where I myself had no problems with the Razr V3xx that I had prior to the iPhone. I might be having dropped call issues, too, I suppose, if I ever used the 3G network. I don't; between the drain on the battery and the horrible reception, I just leave 3G turned off. I don't know which company is to blame for these problems, or if it's a combination of both, but I know that I'm paying for an "iPhone 3G data plan" that is more expensive than a data plan for my older iPhone was, and in view of the difficulties with 3G, that seems like breach of contract to me. I've read more than one musing about the potential for a class action suit over it, and although I tend to despise people who want to jump into court at the drop of a hat, I wonder about THIS hat. That goes double in view of the absolute silence on the part of both AT&T and Apple.

[skooter64]

well. I'm in Australia on the Optus Network - not one known for it's great service. My old Sony was shocking on it. Full of black spots everywhere. The iPhone is a totally diffferent beast. Has been working flawlesssly, 3G, Gps, all great. So no complaints here. Much better than my last phone. Mail, GPS, everything very fast and no dropped calls.

[adamberberich]

Mine's fine (NYC/NJ). I can see how people can get frustrated but I'm sure it's hard on the network when millions of new 3G lines are added. I think v 2.1 will address EVERYTHING in one punch. It's already been seeded to developers, so look for it in the next few weeks. If it's SUCH a problem for people, note that you can turn 3G off if you're in an iffy 3G area i.e. a suburb of a city with prevalent 3G coverage. This saves battery too.

[vbhadrak]

I upgraded from the old iphone to the new 3G iphone. I have consistently seen that the 3G network is horrible! Unfortunately, I have to turn off the 3G network, else my calls keep dropping! This is not an isolated issue as all my friends who got the 3G phone (over 10 in number) have experienced the same issue.

[wratbatblue]

I forgot to add to my comments at 6:03 PDT that I'm in the Austin, TX area, and I'm by no means alone in experiencing 3G reception problems here. It's puzzling that many users in other areas are having few or no problems, yet so many of us here are having them, but only with the iPhone. That would at least suggest that the iPhone's 3G radio (or antenna? I'm sure no expert) is not as finely tuned as those in other phone makes/models. If that or something similar were true, and if AT&T 3G is "weak" in our area, pretty much everyone with an iPhone 3G would have this type of problem. Since I doubt that AT&T is going to accept me refusing to pay the extra $10 for a 3G data plan I can't use, somebody needs to fix the issues.

[Prince2k3]

I also have services problems. I live in the dallas area. my iphone keeps going between 3g and edge and its very annoying I finally just turned it off. I also noticed when it does that it really drains the battery. I wish someone knew a fix. its really sucks not to get the full experience of the 3g iphone.

[cdporterfield]

I also am in Dallas, and 3g is terrible, at least on my iphone that I just bought 3 weeks ago from a local At&t store. More often than not, my phone will not connect with mail or the internet. Called are frequently dropped, especially if the phone drops 3g and goes to edge. Plus, you can watch the 3g signal vary up and down from full bars to no bars, even while sitting still. Then, even when it has full signal on 3g, the phone often still will not connect to email or the net. To add insult to injury, Safari is just as crappy on the iphone as it is on my macbook pro. On the laptop, Safari will lock up and give a perpetual spinnig beachball. On the iphone, it just quits for no apparent reason. I want to like my iphone, but I am telling people who ask that I cannot recommend it unless the reception problems get better. I really wish Verizon had been given the exclusive contract for the iphone. Right now, i feel suckered into saying with At&t just because I wanted the iphone.

[jaguaraja]

I own a 16GB white iPhone. I've had it for about 2 weeks. I live and work in New York and in a heavily saturated 3G area (at least according to the AT&T map). I have had issues where inside a building I drop to EDGE. While I have not yet had dropped calls, I have an inconsistent browsing experience. There have been many occasions where I will be using Safari only to be randomly brought back to the home screen (and no, I didn't accidently press the button). It happens to me from using various apps. I will just simply drop the current app and return to the home screen.

Also, even after the 2.0.1 update, I still have slow texting issues. I have slow response to scrolling and delayed responses to contact selections. I'm quite sure there are a number of bugs here as I have not had any of these poor performance issues with the iPod Touch that I also own. I too would be happier knowing that Apple and AT&T acknowledged that there are issues and then dealt with it in a timely fashion.

[3Gadget]

This happened to me too! No matter what I'm doing. The iPhone will take me back to home screen randomly. Do you have a solution?

[scottcohen9]

I am having the same problem. This is quite a major and irritating issue. Does anybody know what APPLE is doing about this? Ughhhhhh. RC

[boychuk]

No problems with my iPhone 3G here in Canada on the Rogers network. No calls dropped, voice quality excellent.

[mpitogo]

I live in the NYC/NJ area and haven't had issues with dropping. 3G coverage is not the best in some areas but its still good on Edge. Its like the mountain of problems built out of a mole hill. One has to wonder exactly how many out of a million or so iPhone 3G users are affected.

[JP2stepR]

My 3G phone hasn't dropped a call when handing off from 3G to Edge networks. It's worked very well here in Atlanta, working with a less than perfect AT&T network. WIth regard to coverage maps...T-Mobile's shows every little nook and cranny that has weaker signals within the metro area (and accurately represented in my experience) while AT&T shows a solid high saturation throughout Atlanta. I think AT&T should acknowledge it's area isn't as built out as claimed. Including the very weak 3G area around my home, which is less than a mile from AT&T Wireless' national headquarters building. Heh.

[justnavigate]

I don't know about anyone else but, the only problem I'm having with the 3G is connecting with my bluetooth system in my car, I actually think it might have something to do with the last software update, 2.0.1. This is actually my second 3G and the first one worked fine, this one not so much. Anyone else have this problem?

[justnavigate]

Well, I also have a problem with it kicking me out of Safari and returning me to the home screen but 3G services seems to be working fine.

[etiahwhite]

Ugh...that happens to me too but not often and it also happened to my original iPhone if I notice it happen repeatedly in the course of the day I simply power down and power back up. I have the tendency to not power down for days but I notice that doing that fixes minor issues....but this did remind me of one issue I no longer have...with my original iPhone it would send calls straight to voicemail I don't have that problem now...at least so far.

[aztec92154]

@etiahwhite

If you're using the EDGE network, you cant sent or receive phone calls. With the new 3G network, you can both surf the net AND make a phone call at the same time. Neat, huh? So you're calls dont go to voicemail if you're surfing the net.