My IPhone 3G reception fixed, a new problem - AT&T *real* data speeds

Question

I've read quite a few topics on this forum regarding the poor IPhone 3G reception, and unfortunately 99% of them are emotions, making it very laborious to distill useful info out of them.
Therefore I'd like to post my personal experience so far with IPhone 3g, listing more facts, than emotions. *I hope this will help some of you, and also hope that others will follow a more structured approach to reporting IPhone 3g problems*.
*IPhone 3G Model MB046LL, 2.0.1 firmware*
I got my IPhone 3g black 16gb version in NJ on August 2nd, model MB046LL. I work in IT, and I was overall very impressed with all of its features. However, the device had 2 major problems - 3g reception was highly unstable, and the actual 3g data speeds were far lower than advertised, 200kb on average for download and 30kb on average for upload.
I called AT&T, they said I was in the zone with "the best 3g coverage". I went to an AT&T store, and had my SIM card swapped from #3022 to a newer one, #4022. Swapping the SIM card drastically improved both 3g reception and the data speeds.
Unfortunately, I noticed that my IPhone 3g was picking up not as many bars of 3g as other Iphone 3g sitting next to me. The actual dbm numbers for 3g were also smaller. I would continue having dropped calls. I also noticed that my battery would fully recharge very fast (within 1.3 hours), and would fully discharge much faster than it was advertised. The GPS was acting weird, and the voice quality would sometimes be horrible even with 5 bars of 3g. There were more anomalies with that phone, e.g. download speed of 20-30kb with 5 bars of 3g, among other things. I would diligently take screenshots of every anomaly I saw, and store them on the phone. Restoring the phone to its factory state did not help.
After some time, I concluded there was still something wrong my IPhone, scheduled a Genius Bar appointment, and had it replaced with a brand new IPhone 3g. Having numerous screenshots of different problems minimized the explanations to a minimum.
*IPhone 3G Model MB048LL, 2.0.1 firmware*
I had a chance to compare the new model with the previous one I had - the build felt a bit different. The screen on this new model has a slightly better contrast, too (compared default factory settings).
*The new model, however, has GREAT 3g reception*. Where with the previous model I had 2-3 bars of 3g, I now have 5 bars. The dbm numbers are also somewhat improved. I had a couple of small issues with apps, etc., but I figured them out - found which apps were crashing the system, and deleted them, cleaned up the old backups and the crash diagnostic crash reports from the previous model, etc. Finally all other problems I was having with the previous model are now gone, too, except the quirkiness of the GPS, but I suspect it's the new firmware, and not much I can do about it. I have yet to see a dropped call on this new model.
However this new model identified a new problem, something that I'd suspected for some time: it appears that the problems people are having could indeed be the combination of IPhone hardware/software and AT&T network.
I noticed the data speeds vary significantly throughout the day, even when you sit at the same desk. I noticed the speed drops significantly approximately during lunch time to ~90-300kb for download, would be ok during the day (~200-350kb for download), and would be AWESOME after 10pm - ~0.9 - 1.4Mbs.
One can make a conclusion here that AT&T simply does not have enough network capacity to handle the peak data load, when many people connect on the network. It could be that IPhone's software does not manage very well under such conditions, but I'd would place more blame on AT&T in this case, considering how exceptionally well IPhone performs during other times.
I'd like to point out that although both Apple and AT&T reps were genuinely trying to be helpful, I could clearly see that not one person I talked to on both sides did not have a clear solution how to resolve the problems I was having. Basically, I had to figure out what the problem could be, and use the resources available to try to solve it - be that replacing the phone, restoring from backups, monitoring the crash logs for problematic apps, etc.
Message was edited by: rndip077
Message was edited by: rndip077
Message was edited by: rndip077

Answer 1

I would constructively suggest that you edit your post pretty quickly if you want to avoid a highly deserved, verbal battering from every unemotional, highly rational and intelligent poster on this forum who might take offence to your demeaning attitude. I think to assume that because people who have posted on here have posted at all because they are emotional basket-cases, or in some way out of control of their emotions merely because they have aired their disappointment/disgust/anger with their sub-functioning iPhones is pretty insulting and undeserved. Whatever YOU have written here, or have experienced elsewhere, still only has the value of 1 (ONE). It is a poll of 1. It is an opinion of 1. No more valid than that, no more authority than that.