Today, CNet.com's Tom Krazit penned a story about the experiences of iPhone users around the country. According to the article, iPhone 3G users are seeing dropped connections and slow speeds due to a problem with the Infineon chipset inside the phone. Krazit quotes a Businessweek story claiming the Apple and Infineon are working on a software "fix" for the problem. I may of course be wrong, but I wouldn't think weak signal reception could be repaired in software. Krazit says:
CNET News readers across the country report that many Apple and AT&T customer service representatives are indeed aware of their problems. The iPhone 3G is having trouble connecting and staying connected to 3G networks even in areas that appear to be located within a strong pocket of AT&T's network, as well as on carrier networks around the world. Business Week's sources said that the problems are affecting "2 percent to 3 percent" of iPhone 3G traffic, but there's no official word on just how widespread a problem this is.
The unscientific survey done by CNet indicated that "257 iPhone 3G owners, or 82 percent of all respondents, reported a variety of reception problems, from inconsistent data connections to 3G networks in their area to multiple dropped calls. The problems were reported in 32 states, but seemed to get slightly worse as they traveled west".
I suspect the number of affected users is, in reality, less than CNet's unscientific poll would indicate, but it certainly sounds more common than the "2 to 3 percent" Apple appears to think it is.
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