Sitting within sight of the large cell phone tower at Lee Highway and North George Mason Drive in Arlington, I ran the test three times – 14.2kbps, 31.3kbps and 15.7kbps. Wow, smoke signals are faster! In West Falls Church, I got my fastest reading of 131.4kbps. In Fairfax County, the test readings varied between 34kbps and 61kbps.

In all, I ran the test approximately 20 times with nothing over 131.4kbps. The average, however, was about 30 percent of that or around 40 to 43kbps. So, yes, I suppose I overstated when I wrote, “The EDGE data stream runs at about 80k or at dial-up speeds, even though iPhone users pay a premium for the service.” In northern Virginia, EDGE is slower than that. It’s a heck of a lot worse than I thought!

Beyond that, it’s interesting to evaluate the fervency of some commenters who overlook the very clear point of my postings to dispute irrelevant minutia, such as defending the EDGE network with passion, using corporate PR talking points as, “The lifetime ‘average’ speed for users that have used that test site via EDGE is 207kbps.”

Here’s a reality: AT&T’s EDGE data network in America is indefensibly aged, outdated and antiquated.

By the way … thanks, Doug. I will continue testing EDGE and report back here.

Couple of updates on EDGE’s awful data speeds in the Washington, D.C. area today:

• Tests at 13.724KBPS at 4:12 p.m.
  
• Tests at 30.256kbps at 6:43 p.m. (akin to 1994 dialup speed)

I think it’s pretty clear that AT&T’s EDGE data network is nothing to brag about.

Today’s New York Times has a terrific story about how Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee, is giving away iPhones and iPods to students. Why? For everything from campus-wide communications to teaching tools.  Apple’s dominance is growing at colleges across the country, showcasing its terrific and high quality products to today’s and tomorrow’s consumers.

My issue is not with Apple but with AT&T Wireless, service provider for the iPhone in the U.S. Even before the iPhone came along, AT&T Wireless was delivering mediocre cell phone service, and it hasn’t gotten better.

I have an older iPhone that uses AT&T’s Edge data network, which is agonizingly slow. Edge’s speed is similar to old-fashioned dial-up Internet access. Actually, the Edge data network is as slow as sending smoke signals. Yet, during a recent vacation in Europe, I found that the European equivalency of Edge that is offered by mobile phone companies, like Vodafone, is astonishingly fast on my older iPhone! It’s night and day faster than AT&T’s Edge. Heck, if we had that speed here in the U.S., there would be no need for 3G.

Incidentally, if you have an iPhone and are thinking of using it abroad, my advice is to use a Blackberry. The problem is not Apple but AT&T – AT&T’s international data roaming plans are expensive for a tiny amount of data transfer. Heck, you could exchange a few dozen photos and get socked with a big bill because you exceeded AT&T’s puny data allocation. You are better off using a Blackberry which has international data included.

Bummer that Apple got tied up with AT&T. But it was the only option here in America, where cell phone service is third-world quality compared with much of the rest of the world.

If you own an earlier iPhone and have not upgraded to the new software, my strong advice is not to … not yet.  An iPhone with version 2 of the software operates slower … in fact, sluggish; experiences weird behavior, like flashing on and off when you are trying to turn it on; and is prone to freezes.

But the real problem has been with Apple’s new MobileMe wireless sync/email service.  It is being called “MobileMess” in this story by David Pogue in the New York Times.  

What I find really odd is the astonishingly poor handling of communications on this issue by a company that normally sets the standard for clarity and transparency in corporate communications.  It’s almost as if Apple’s legendary ability to communicate has either become tongue-tied or reverted to old-fashioned crisis communications … stonewall and say, no comment.  There seems to be a lack of leadership within Apple over handling communications.

Apple, this is a real crisis that mandates timely and open communications.  Who is minding the message?  It’s one of those challenging times when the reputation of the company could be impacted.  Stop saying that you have no comment because that, in itself, is a shocking comment.

Despite Apple’s enormous customer loyalty, poor communications can quickly tarnish that reputation equity and will be costly to repair.

The AT&T announcement said:

“AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and free Wi-Fi even hotter, which is why we are proud to offer iPhone customers free access to the nation’s largest Wi-Fi hot-spot network with more than 17,000 hot spots, including Starbucks. Now users can relax and access music, e-mail, and Web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their favorite location.”

It was not true … not a word of it … even though the announcement stayed on the company’s Web site for weeks. What’s more, no one at AT&T is accepting responsibility for the lie.

The lie was compounded when an AT&T spokesman told CNET News, “We have not made any announcement regarding free Wi-Fi and iPhone. The webpage was posted in error and is being removed.”

Who vets the content on the AT&T website? Clearly, AT&T is a company where no one is accountable.

A few months ago, Apple made its development software available at a reasonable price to anyone who wished to develop a useful application for the iPhone.  That move, in and of itself, has been significant and unprecedented in the technology industry and enormously successful.  It has resulted in countless applications for iPhone users which are distributed through iTunes, either free or for a nominal charge.

Among the new and free iPhone applications are news resources from The New York Times and Associated Press to keep you up to date.  There’s an app called, “NowLocal,” that delivers local news and events.  There is a new Facebook app that’s simply terrific and another one called, “BoxOffice,” where you can find what’s playing at the local movies and reviews of flicks.  My favorite so far is “Dial Zero” that provides the phone numbers of hundreds of businesses and services and how to hack past voicemail hell to reach a live person.

The list of neat iPhone apps just goes on and on.

I had no problems when I synced my first generation iPhone to update with the new software from Apple. My wife’s iPhone was a different story – the backup had gotten corrupted, causing her iPhone to lose configurations on email. But … and this is a BIG difference between Apple and most other companies on the planet … an Apple tech provided her with professional guidance to solve the issues within a few minutes. Tell me another company that has such incredibly good customer technical support!!

Such solutions-focused interface with customers is how Apple has earned the respect of a loyal base of fans who are … well, almost cult-like … in their enthusiasm for Apple and products, like the brilliant new iPhone. It’s really sort of like … a love affair with Apple.

Not sure what’s going on because this is highly unusual for Apple. All I can guess is that consumer demand for the new iPhone 3G and its services is much greater than anticipated.

Apple has intentionally kept the iPhone off the market for the last month, both to build near-hysterical customer demand and media frenzy, and to eliminate the previous problem of people taking advantage of the company’s liberal 30 day money back refund to trade-in an older model.  Smart and gutsy corporate move by Apple on both counts.

As a typical Apple enthusiast, I was online earlier this morning to download the iPhone 2.0 software update, which gives my earlier generation iPhone just about all the bells and whistles as the new 3G model … except better wireless speed.  My iPhone uses ATT’s ancient EDGE network that delivers about 70k, akin to old-fashioned dial-up speed.  The new iPhone 3G is supposed to be about three times faster but even that doesn’t set the world on fire.  At the risk of sounding less than “WOWed,” I am less than WOWed by the new software features.  I will leave reviews to the professionals but I thought … (yawn) it was considerably less than what I had expected.  

Sorry, Apple … but I still love you.

Here’s the story – the price of the entry level iPhone 3G is $200, one-half the price of the original iPhone that debuted a year ago. Why the lower price? Because AT&T Wireless, the service provider in the U.S. is subsidizing each iPhone. But you, the user, will ultimately pay the difference, and then some.

For the iPhone 3G, the data plan costs $10 more each month than the data plan for the original iPhone, and that does not include any text messages.  Texting will cost another $5 a month. My six-month-old iPhone has 200 text messages included. So, right off the bat, you will be paying an additional $360 for the joy of playing with an iPhone 3G over the term of a 24 month AT&T contract.  

But then, is it worth it?  Absolutely if you are someone who needs to stay connected and informed.