iPhone Original Works 3G … Anywhere But America
Here’s a headline for you — the original iPhone works on 3G data networks, and works just as fast as the new iPhone 3G. In fact, the iPhone original is a quad-band cell phone, and capable of operating on 3G networks.
But in America, however, original iPhones are throttled back by Apple’s software and forced to operate only on AT&T’s aged, outdated and antiquated Edge data network where the data stream runs at about 80k or at dial-up speeds, even though users pay a premium for the service. If you take an original iPhone anywhere else in the world, it will rock along at blazing speeds on the latest 3G networks. I have personally experienced the fast service while using my older iPhone in Europe on the Vodaphone and Orange mobile networks.
According to my sources inside AT&T, when Apple collaborated with AT&T on the original iPhone last year, the old Edge network (which AT&T acquired from Cingular) was the only data network available; the 3G network had yet to be built. AT&T’s 3G data network, in fact, is still under construction and only available in major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
But, it’s a different story in Europe, Asia, Russia, the Middle East and many so-called “third world” countries which all have state-of-the-art high speed 3G+ data networks. Use an older original iPhone there, and it will rocket along. That’s why original iPhones are today in such great demand – because they are 3G-capable and can be hacked to run on those networks.
In most parts of the world, mobile phone companies have been smart and have collaborated to build one universal high-speed wireless phone system. Except here in America, we have a hodgepodge of aging cell phone networks. Not one standard but many. And, that results in uniformily poor service for customers of nearly any cell phone company, except perhaps Verizon, which has invested in building a strong network.
Incidentally, the reason the new iPhone 3Gs are dropping so many calls at the aggravation of customers is simply because AT&T’s 3G network lacks the high speed capacity. When an individual cell phone tower, for example, in a city gets overloaded with iPhone 3G calls, it bumps them back to the slower Edge network, dropping the call. Apple’s upcoming software fix that we should see in a week or two will make the iPhone 3G transition smoother to the Edge network, like taking a giant step backwards for customers who had paid for faster, not slower, service.
We cell phone customers in America pay for the shortsightedness and quest for short-term greed of the mobile phone companies, which have stupidly invested in building multiple networks rather than one universal national network to serve customers. The poor cell phone service, my friends, is only in America.
About the Author: David is a veteran communications strategist ... writer ... blogger ... online publisher ... and Emmy Award winning former CBS Network News correspondent. He lives in the Washington, D. C., area, and works worldwide.
Henderson’s post is on the money in concept, and certainly defensible.
It’s amusing that all the know-it-all gamers who have posted today are simply helping to drive up the popularity of his blog through silly rants over what’s faster and what isn’t. That, clearly, is not the point of Henderson’s story which you have missed.
The concept of the US having a shoddy 2g service is no secret. However the reporting of this, and the comments defending it is both grossly misinformed and downright misleading. Any attempts to correct this is dismissed
ATT’s EDGE network has been shoddy for years and little has been done to upgrade it.
Maybe … just maybe … Henderson’s strategy was to go from the sublime to the ridiculous through his post in order to focus debate and attention on the issue in the U.S.
Dandy,
You are so full of it.
Wayne
This whole debate is totally nuts! Who cares except a bunch of wacko know-it-alls in the “UK”.
Gerald,
Write me directly – bouquetsh248@optima-online.de.
Betsy
Wayne – Because speaking the truth is being full of it? Give me a break.
Tracy – Anyone who owns an iphone should care . It’s completely misleading, and you don’t need to be from the uk from anywhere else to see it. The fact is that a noted journalist is claiming things that aren’t true, and refusing to change his stance. You don’t need to be a know it all to recognize this, just have some common sense. The original iPhone can not join 3g networks – this is FACT, a pretty common one at that. If it could, there would be a much bigger fuss about this.
Setting aside the technical details, it’s just bad reporting. I’d expect more from an award winning news correspondent.
I’m not sure whats worse, the reporting or the people trying to avoid the points raised
So, what makes you the expert and the judge of reporting accuracy?
The ability to seperate the facts and the “fiction”.
Yes the original iPhone will be faster on a network that supports faster speeds than whatever the typical US speed is. But by no means is it connecting to a 3g network – even if a network that supports 3g is handling the data. It’s simply connecting to the 2g network that runs side by side.
Anyone with minimal tech knowledge will know that something can’t connect to something else if it has no support. The 2g phone has NO 3g compliant equipment. There are various blogs that have dismantled both phones and researched the chips inside. I don’t have these to hand, but there is a link further up the page to the chip that is in the original iphone that will confirm, this.
The question over reporting accuracy comes from being familiar with the details in the first place. It’s easy to be inaccurate when you aren’t knowledgeable in a subject. At the very least, David Henderson has confused the issue (possibly due to his “sources”, possibly due to his own devices). It’s certainly possible that EDGE is new to Mr Henderson and that he is used to GPRS. Certainly that would explain the massive increase in speed, but not enough to suggest he is on 3g. I can’t answer that question, and hope he can clear the air.
You’ll be hard pressed to find a valid source suggesting the original iPhone can connect to 3g networks in any way. The simple reason is that it can’t and any arguing on the matter won’t make it true. There are more then enough sensible posts on this page to set the record straight, but for some that won’t be enough
There’s an easy way to tell if this is true.
Go somewhere where the original iPhone will supposedly work in 3G mode.
Use data heavily. Surf big web pages.
Have your headset on, and have someone phone you.
If you can actively talk on the phone and your data connection persists and continues to work, you’re on 3G. If you’re not, you’re on EDGE or GPRS.
I think the issue here is a technicality. EDGE at its fastest speeds *is* technically 3G, but we don’t typically call it 3G. Most people consider it to be a 2.75G technology.
UMTS is what most people consider to be 3G in the GSM world, and the original iPhone does not (as far as I know) support that. UMTS lets data and voice go simultaneously, and GPRS and EDGE (the 2.5G and 2.75G data systems) do not. Calls interrupt data. The connection remains active, but no data flows until the call is ended.
I’ve got an easier one – look at the icon to the right of the network name. While the icons for edge and gprs have changed over firmwares, it will only ever say 3G if it is on 3g.
The difference between Edge and 3g is a pretty big one even if you try to argue that edge is a 3g related radio system. At the end of the day Edge is a upgrade for 2g services, not an upgrade to 3g services as we know them.
Your right about technicality’s, however in layman terms edge is considered a 2g service.
I should note that I don’t have any personal issue with the author, I just find his article and replys to be unbecoming of his status.
Dandy,
I appreciate reading your comments and the display of technical expertise you have expressed. However, I take strong exception with you sitting in judgement of my journalistic expertise. I was reporting what I had experienced while in Europe, and what I had subsequently learned from senior level executives at the companies involved. Take it or leave it but you have absolutely no right in questioning my credentials. This is a blog in which I express opinion. If you don’t like my opinion, you are free and encouraged to write something. But, you have now made it personal, and I do not respect.
David Henderson
This article is ridiculous. To claim that the original iPhone has a 3G chip in it is ludicrous, and has been debated since the original iPhone came out on June 29th, 2007. It simply does not have a 3G chip. Read link above about infineon chip. However, Europe’s cell networks are considerably better than ours, hence the reason for the dramatic boost in speed. And I doubt you confirmed this with Apple. How bogus.
Mel,
Sigh … no one has claimed the original iPhone has a 3G chip. Just read the posting, please, before calling anything, “bogus.”
David
The Man never said the original iPhone had a 3G chip in it. He stated that a 1st Gen iPhone will work on European 3G networks. I could see that working if the European 3G networks worked on one of the 4 frequencies supported by the iPhone.
David,
I did read your article. And if you are implying that the quote below is referring to the backwards compatibility of 3G Networks, then you should clearly state that. “In fact, the iPhone original is a quad-band cell phone, and capable of operating on 3G networks.” If you mean, that all 3G networks support EDGE, then yes, I would agree with that statement. But you are clearly disillusioning readers with the ability of being able to connect to 3G Networks at 3G when it clearly isn’t possible. Again, next quote: “If you take an original iPhone anywhere else in the world, it will rock along at blazing speeds on the latest 3G networks.” It won’t blaze along at 3G speeds. Just the highest EDGE rate they can go, which is different between US and Europe networks.
Sorry David, you are simply wrong with this article.
Sincerely,
Mel
1. yes, the original iphone is capable of running at baselevel 3G speeds if the network allows
2. no, its not running on a specific 3G network. It is still running on Edge which happens to be faster in Europe opposed to North America
3. if you do a side by side test with iphone 3g and original iphone the 3g will be faster since it is actually running on 3g which is capable of over 3Mbps opposed to edge which will flop out at around 500Kbps
4. 400Kbps is about the lowest acceptable speed that 3G runs at…
5. this is where confusion lies…base level 3G speed compared to best ever Edge speed
6. Bottom line is that original iphone is NOT running on 3G, it is merely running at a 3G-esque speed since the network allows for it
7. Top executives are not a good source for relevant technical information as they only really know or care if they are making money, not how something works
8. Your article suggests the iphone has an equivalent of a 1080i up converter in it to run on 3G which is just ridiculous in itself.
thanks
I was going to stay away since I appreciate the technical detail is kind of irrelevant to the point you’re making about the service provided by AT&T (perhaps with Apple) but… you can’t say “the original iPhone… [is] capable of operating on 3G networks.” if you acknowledge it doesn’t have a 3G chip. It’s a technical impossibility.
By the way, the lack of a unified national network and insanity of divided mobile phone coverage isn’t unique to the US. My local college has no less than 10 transmitters irradiating the locals; 5 companies, 2G and 3G transmitter for each.
David, I was not taking issue with your expertise or credentials, just with the select article. I see how my comments may have been taken that way, so I apologise and have already stated that I have no personal issue with yourself. The fact you have an Emmy is recognized and appreciated and my comments were not meant to disrespect that. But because I have a reasonable grasp of the ins and outs of the way these things work, it’s easy for me to be critical and passionate about it
However without knowing your sources which I obviously can’t speak for, I have trouble seeing that they would suggest the original iPhone connects to a 3g network. I do understand that our edge speeds in europe may be quick in comparison to your edge or 3g speeds (hence my request for clarification over your use of edge and gprs), but this is seperate from connecting to a 3g network at 3g speeds on an original iphone when abroad – which is what has been implied. Stating faster speeds on 2g networks would have been hard to argue. Bringing 3g into it has caused the misunderstandings, criticism and rants of people including myself
Following up to the replys while I types the last one, they may be being referred to as 3g networks, but really they are only networks that support 3g. Thats the main point of contention, as using the term 3g networks is easily misinterpreted.
The phone isn’t connecting to the 3g networks, it’s connecting to the 2g networks owned by companies providing 3g services
“Here’s a headline for you — the original iPhone works on 3G data networks, and works just as fast as the new iPhone 3G.”
I’m afraid this isn’t true. I understand your point about US cellular 2G networks not being as fast 2G networks in Europe, and I don’t disagree with that. But the 2G iPhone does, definitively, not work “just as fast as the new iPhone 3G” on a 3G network. The 3G picks up a 3G signal, and the 2G only picks up a GPRS/EDGE signal (depending on which is available). Neither is anywhere near as fast as the 3G network speeds.
If you’d like me to provide you with some connection speed results from the iPhone which demonstrate this, I can.
I see your point, but your original post is badly worded and, as a result, misleading: on a network that supports 3G, the 2G iPhone isn’t “just as fast” as the 3G iPhone. It can’t be, because it can’t connect to the 3G network (just the alternative, lower-speed EDGE at best – and if you can’t accept that EDGE (even in Europe) is slower than 3G, you should look it up somewhere). And that’s because it doesn’t have the chip it needs to connect to a 3G network.
So I take your point about US network speeds being a bit poor, and being able to get better speeds in Europe, but you’re going to have to rethink way the original article is worded.
You, sir, are an idiot.
And if you’d simply listened to the first few commenters who knew what they were talking about – I wouldn’t have been able to say that. But you seem intent on resisting facts like plague …
You can backpedal all you want – but the point has been made pretty clear by all of your commenters. The 1st gen iPhone operates on EDGE networks, and only EDGE networks.
Do EDGE networks and 3G networks sometimes overlap in the same areas? Of course. Do they also sometimes utilize the same frequencies? Yes, that too. However, they are still NOT THE SAME THING.
Does EU have far better EDGE networks than the US? Heck yeah. Consider how fewer towers that it takes to give wall-to-wall 5-bars coverage in the UK versus the US. EDGE has a theoretical limit of about 384kbps if memory serves me correctly (see that, I’m admitting when I’m not certain) so it would be no surprise to see dramatically better performance in Europe. 3G? No. Better? Yes.
Here, go Google this — WCDMA. That should give you a quick primer on 3G. Although I will admit, this is a step I would have expected a journalist with your credentials to have done *before* writing an article like this.
Here’s another mind-blower for you, that you would have had to walk any further than Wikipedia to discover … EDGE is, believe it or not, considered “3G” by the ITU!
“EDGE can be considered a 3G radio technology and is part of ITU’s 3G definition”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDGE
D’oh! I just blew your mind, didn’t I? It’s ok, you can admit it…
David -
Moving on to your second paragraph:
“But in America, however, original iPhones are throttled back by Apple’s software and forced to operate only on AT&T’s aged, outdated and antiquated Edge data network where the data stream runs at about 80k or at dial-up speeds, even though users pay a premium for the service. ”
Could you tell us whether it was your AT&T or Apple source that informed you that Apple has software built into the original iPhone that throttles their speed?
How is this throttling controlled on a geographic basis? Does the iPhone check the location of the cell tower, and then introduce the throttling based on that location?
I only ask because of course AT&T have now rolled out their 3G network in the US. What you are clearly implying is that the original iPhone is more than capable of operating on AT&T’s 3G network at the same speed that the 3G iPhone does (your first sentence). If this is indeed the case, and Apple have software built into the iPhone that only allows the original iPhone to take advantage of 3G networks outside the US, then clearly we have moved on from a relatively harmless debate, and I think it might be more appropriate get some lawyers to the table.
U Have Been PWNED!!
Hahaha
I want to be a journalist one day, it looks easy.
I’ll just write catchy headlines about something that’s in the new, pretend to understand it, and write some gobbledegook that hopefully non-techies won’t understand and therefore think I got the scoop of the year/decade/century.
You could have disproved your hypothesis by doing some very basic research.
How is it you are a communications strategist if this is the kind of thing you come up with?………
either it was a sarcastic commentary piece aimed at how crappy at&t service is (it so bad that when you use an outside side network you finally realize what your handset is capable of and feels like 3g in comparison, the throttle by at&t is their crappy network, and the throttle by Apple is the fact that it is locked into at&t’s network) or he is a total morron. Since he’s an award winning journalist, i hope its the former.
Here is a good one, The iPhone can be unlocked yes???
In the UK there is a network called 3. It is a 3g ONLY network, and your device HAS TO SUPPORT 3g TO RUN ON IT.
Suprisingly enough, that is the only network the iPhone WILL NOT WORK ON.
Explain that Mr I get 3g on my 2g phone.
[...] blog posting I have ever written before has sparked as much controversy as “iPhone Original Works 3G … Anywhere But America.” As you can see, there have been comments posted in response that explain everything [...]
Fernando,
The former, of course. You nailed it. Thanks!
Please see my latest post.
David