From these types of lawsuits, iPhone owners seem to be a picky bunch... very high maintenance...

I do seem to bounce around a bit between 3G and EDGE every once in a while but it's really no big deal. I don't notice ANY "wear and tear". I am notoriously tough on phones but my iPhone seems to be a tank. Not a scratch anywhere...after about 6 months of constant use...and a few drops. This is after having a RAZR that was loaded with scratches, internal dust and missing paint after a few months.

Greedy people are greedy.

@meske: Spend $200+ on a premium electronics gadget, and you'd expect it to live up to the hype. Which, after all, is mostly what Apple sells*. When you cater to the upper echelon of consumers, you have to be prepared for their pickiness; if you're going to go for the 'discerning buyer,' you better have a product that delivers as advertised.

(*Apple Fanbois out there--don't get me wrong. I think Apple puts out some darn fine products. I also think they have an excellent marketing team that does a great job of generating hype beyond the actual usefulness of their products.)

I never felt the 3G iPhone was supposed to always be on the 3G network. I just thought it was named 3G to differentiate the new models with the older phones that weren't 3G capable.

I work in an area that is very dense with commercial activity. During working hours the local tower cripples under the weight of all the 3G users. I am frequently booted off of calls and relegated to EDGE access.

I live in the Cincinnati area and have absolutely no problems with my 3G...
I am however finding what looks like dead pixels on my screen but is actually very little nicks, dispite having a case and a screen protector since day one.

@plyhard13: Me too. My iphone is probably the sturdiest phone I've ever had. I get 3G pretty consistently where I live. Sometimes it drops to Edge, but that's mostly when I'm inside certain buildings.
I also had a Razr in the past...it was very prone to scratching, even with a case.

I have an iPhone 3G here in the Phoenix, AZ area and it works great. I rarely if ever have problems. Sure 3G is slower than wifi but I don't expect great speeds. I at least have web and email access on a nice device. I have no issues with wear and tear either. I think some people are just babies or don't understand technology.

"You iPhone owners out there-is 3G still a problem? The last we heard, AT&T was (allegedly) yanking power from the EDGE network and turning its back on old-school data users like me in order to bulk up the 3G access."

I just had a meeting with my AT&T rep last week who told me that they were not going to spend money on 2G. They are currently adding new 3G towers. I have a BB Bold on AT&T and have no issues with it at all. Yet a few miles away I have a user who we have to switch to Verizon for the same reason as the article, moving her to a 3G phone didn't resolve the crappy service, so who knows. Maybe we can file a lawsuit?

@meske: Uhhhh hello.... Apple customers....

I have the original iPhone so, no I don't have 3G problems :)

My iPhone doesn't have a case or screen protector and it has held up as well or better than I could have expected.

3G around here doesn't seem to be markedly faster than when I fall back to EDGE.

Good for those users taking the company to task for consistently failing to fulfill what the advertising promises.

My 3G is without a doubt the best piece of electronic equipment I've ever owned. Would that everything else worked so well. In my area, I haven't had any problems with getting booted off of the 3G network although AT&T has its occasional problems in providing the phone part of its service.

I don't get much of the promised 3G coverage here in Delaware, but EDGE isn't that much slower.

The phone itself is holding up well after five months - no screen scratches or display problems.

God I hate the iPhone hype. I just want to smack some sense into iPhone fanboy sitting at a restaurant/bar all by himself and then pulls out his iPhone and plays with it while waiting for that imaginary person that never shows up. You know the kind of guy I'm talking about. These law suits are definitely warranted and I hope Apple and AT&T lose because they didn't devote enough time and money into R&D before making these broad claims. Their priority was to get these units out the door fast and worry about technical issues later.

I dropped my iPhone down a flight of concrete stairs once and I was surprised there was absolutely no damage to it.

But then again, my phone sports a sturdy case and protective screen...but still!

While I don't have an iPhone, I do have an ATT 3G-capable smartphone. I bought it knowing that my own area is still on the EDGE system. On the few occasions I've been out of town and on 3G, it was markedly more speedy than my hometown EDGE service. I'm hoping that the rise of the iPhone will mean that the 3G network will grow to my area!

Love my iPhone 3G and never have any problems with getting kicked off the 3G network to the Edge network. I'm in the Tampa/Clearwater, FL area.

However, AT&T customer service is still crappy, but we all know that anyway. Can I bill them for the time I've spent on the phone with them?

AT&T should be sued for not allowing the manual selection of towers (so you can choose 3g or edge) like EVERY OTHER GSM CARRIER IN THE WORLD allows.

@meske:

Call me crazy, but I dont consider "getting what you are paying for" being picky. I should note I do not have an iPhone.

@sleze69: The lady who sold me my iPhone put me under the impression that I can manually switch back to the Edge network so that my battery won't die as quickly. But I haven't had any issues with battery life...and for the life of me I cant recall how to switch to Edge manually on my phone. I'll have to ask when I go back to the store on Saturday to dispute my bill, .....again.

@mefinney: Now, when you say "cripples," does that mean you have problems downloading data? Because the most frustrating thing for me is to have all bars, but then not be able to download anything.

I commute to and from Chicago on Metra every day. Going in to the city at 6:00am, I get great download speeds on both my iPhone and my 3G wireless card for my laptop.

Going home while waiting at Ogilvie Station, I have a strong signal but download speeds are very slow on the iPhone. I can't get *anything* to download on the laptop. The only thing I can think of is that there are so many people waiting for their trains browsing on the 3G network that it causes very little data to get through teh tubes.

My iPhone 3G has been great. I've been carrying it around in my pants pocket for the better part of six months and it looks nearly new. The metal edge around the screen has a few scratches at the corners, and I've got one stuck pixel, but it works great. I live in Utah County (about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City) and 3G service here has been great. I've had it drop down to Edge a few times, but It's never been an issue. 99% of the time I need it, it's running on 3G and it's nearly as fast as it is on the wireless network at the University where I work.

I still have my original iPhone which will turn 2 this summer and it's still working great.

My partner has the 3G iPhone and he does lose 3G connectivity for no reason whatsoever at random times and gets bumped to EDGE.

@sleze69: @Lin. Jose: As Lin. Jose says, with my phone, choice of network is an option on my phone (a smartphone with 3G capability, though not an iPhone). It may simply be that ATT sells some phones which do allow for manual selection of 3G or Edge, while others of their phones do not.

@the dodo, the cuckoo, and the nene: I am in the same camp here, I went from razr to iphone. I mean i got the screen cover the day of purchase and just got a case, mostly to make mine distinctive from my roomates. At home i am on wifi, and i don't really notice or care too much when i switch from edge or 3g. Mostly i am browsing a page that has already loaded, so the switch doesn't make a difference.

@wgrune: Network is never guaranteed, just like broadband at home.

And the other two suits, "wear and tear" and "usability" are all relative. If you don't like the phone, AT&T has a return policy. A software manufacturer can never be held accountable for a non-existent or unreleased usability patch.

@acousticdank: Um... nope.

@Cogito Ergo Bibo: I'm with you on this one. I also have a 3G capable phone, but live in an EDGE world. It's somewhat frustrating to know that my city houses an AT&T call center, but we can't even get decent 3G in this area. Closest places for 3G for me? Springfield, MO, Bentonville AR, and Tulsa OK. Kinda sad, in my opinion. What's up with that AT&T?

@Cogito Ergo Bibo: Same here. We live in Vermont, where we just recently got AT&T service. They sure as hell haven't put up any 3G towers yet, but it's only been about 3 weeks.

That said, EDGE is normally fine. I'd love to have some 3G access, though. At the least, if this suit helps bring about more towers, I'd be happy. ;)

@Lin. Jose: If only. It seems the only way to get competent service is to call Executive Support.

@Shadowfire: I was told at the AT&T store in Essex Junction that 2-3 years until they had 3G coverage in Vermont. Wasn't impressed with EDGE speed at the store, so we stayed with Verizon.

@meske: Too bad there isn't an app for that.

Wear and tear is not their responsibility. Network availability and speed is not their responsibility. Apple promises, they don't have to live up to them as long as they claim they are trying.

On Super Bowl sunday, I was unable to get internet access at all... I found that really weird (on my iphone 3g)...
Also, my connection is normally excruciatingly slow despite it being in "3G"

No issues with mine; I am a bit scared of AT&T though. But if I can survive Sprint for 3 years. . .

Maybee its my area, but in Central California AT&T has great coverage. I constantly hear people complain about AT&T's coverage(online) but anyone i see regularly and speak to cant say enough about AT&T, around here Verizon is the butt of all bad coverage jokes.

As far as my iPhone 3G coverage, using services like PDANet i've downloaded items on my laptop at a very steady 100kbps during peak hours too. so i couldn't be happier, i havn't had my iPhone for a long time so i dont know if this was an issue 4-6 months ago though. however service in general through at&t has been solid for years around here

@IT-Chick: that just seems like good sense. EDGE is an aging technology which is being displaced by 3G. It seems only natural that 3G should get the prime spot on the spectrum, too, as AT&T moves away from EDGE.

@IT-Chick:

May be a nitpick, but edge is 2.5G, not 2G

Well, it sure seems like they're cranking down EDGE. I keep having problems getting data.

Even without stories like this, screwing me on my current contract is hardly going to get me to "upgrade" for my next phone. I mean, it's not like I could start dropping my payment by $1 or $2 every month.

and there's still no keyboard.

I've never had such problems with my iPhone's 3G connection.

@sleze69:

You can disable 3g by going to settings -> general -> network -> "enable 3g" off

3g battery issue was solved via firmware a while back.

@TheRedSeven: Agreed, Apple does make some great products, but they always seem to have some nagging issues.

Note: I own both a macbook and a 1st generation iPhone.

@Alex Duzik: Just because edge is an aging technology, doesn't mean that there arn't plenty of GSM based phones still in use. There are far more GSM phones used than ones that support 3G (correct me if I'm wrong).

@mad3air: Same here :D

@Above commenters:
What the hell are you doing with your Razrs?

I've had mine for close to 4 years now, have never used a case and it hardly has a scratch on it.

With SBSettings, I usually have all the services off except EDGE. This saves me a ton of battery but when I need 3G, I just turn it on quickly and I don't have problems.

But, it isn't as fast as advertised.

@narq: I'm a happy iPhone user. 3G in Montreal and Toronto has been more than acceptable... so much so I rarely switch on WiFi outside of my office or home.

It's a phone. It works well. Best I've owned. Compared to the $260 piece of junk Nokia (fair warning, purchased unlocked at Nokia's NYC Flagship store) 6300 I bought last (after being a staunch Nokia supporter for years), the $199 iPhone 3G (three year contract), was an acceptable pricepoint for a product I've enjoyed using and has been relatively trouble free.

I think 3G network-related complaints should fall to the carrier first. There's often a big difference between what phone hardware can do (in many cases other than the stupid iPhone) and what carriers let it do. That's not to say, however, that Apple didn't stretch the truth to new, irresponsible heights. For that, they should take some of the blame.

These are all issues with companies who, last time I checked, were out to make more than a few bucks. I do wish people would stop imagining them as benevolent forces for good. You don't buy things for that.

@Sir Winston Thriller: Honestly, we came to AT&T as former Unicel customers. We were pissed at the way Verizon was treating us (they instructed stores in New Hampshire to not answer any questions from Vermont customers, and basically just forced the stores to treat us like dirt), and since Sprint's coverage was terrible, it was off to AT&T.

Interesting, you mention Essex Jct, by the way... I graduated from Essex High back in 96. ;)