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AppleInsider | Apple: iPhone 2.0.2 update targets 3G issues

The 2.0.2 update apparently addresses complex issues that control how quickly the iPhone 3G will drop a weak 3G signal in order to use a stronger EDGE signal when it is available. In the US, much of AT&T’s cellular network is built out using cell towers optimized to deliver “2.75 G” GSM/EDGE service. Sources familiar with the matter say 3G networks require closer tower spacing to provide the same level of coverage with the more modern 3G UMTS.

There is nothing Apple can do in software to fill in spotty coverage in AT&T’s 3G network, but software updates can adjust how the phone hardware works to allow it find and maintain a link with a less than optimal 3G signal. Independent tests have suggested that at least some versions of the iPhone 3G are too quick to drop a marginal 3G signal that other UMTS phones can use without problems.

A CNet report on iPhone 3G issues cited Andrew Seybold, an independent industry analyst, as saying, “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.”

The dizzying array of complexity exposed in the iPhone’s Field Test mode (below), entered by dialing 3001#12345# and exited by hitting the home key, illustrates that signal reception is not a simple matter.

Just did for my iPhone and got 1.3Mbps download and 200Kbps on 3G which is pretty good. Most folks now think the reason iPhones are slow is that the network is slow. Makes sense, my one iPhone sucked down an entire T-1 doing this.