AT&T’s network is notorious for the connectivity issues surrounding the iPhone, and Silicon Alley Insider thinks that the iPhone 4 is only going to compound them. Steve Jobs’ assurances that AT&T has assured him the network is going to get better by the end of the summer won’t be enough, because of specific changes Apple made to the phone itself.

It’s called “signaling” and smartphones use it for status and control updates and polling. iPhone 4’s new multitasking features are only going to make it worse.

Also, the iPhone 4, to squeeze out more battery life, continually drops connections and goes into an idle state and then keepalives within the app establish a new connection. The networks were never designed to anticipate devices that do this.

Yeeks! Sounds like even turning off 3G and switching to Edge won’t even be enough for this one. Sorry folks, that’s the price the vanguard pays.

Why iPhone 4 Will Crush AT&T’s Network [Silicon Alley Insider] (Thanks to Hilary!)

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