In past week, complains about iPhone 3G reception and network speed are growing. iPhone customers are reporting that the phone keeps dropping calls, data speed is very slow and call quality is below average. Many tech analysts, journalists and company spokespersons have blamed it on number of issue.
First 3G networks were blamed and few analysts said, as 3G network have shorter reach and requires more bandwidth, the cellphone carriers are not able to meet the demand, put on their networks by sudden jump in 3G devices, because of higher iPhone sales. T-mobile in the Netherlands posted on it blog that the problem is not network related but a hardware / software specific issue of the iPhone itself. Also a Vodafone’s spokeswoman told Sidney Morning Herald that the problems were specific to the iPhone and not their network.
Next, Infineon’s 3G chip that Apple uses in the iPhone was blamed. Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura Securities said, “We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain Infineon is the 3G supplier.” This didn’t please Infineon and a company spokesman told Business Week “our 3G chips are for example, used in Samsung handsets and we are not aware of such problems there.”
According to Ny Teknik, an analysis for Sweden engineering weekly the test reports, which he obtained from unknown sources, shows adjustments between the antenna and an amplifier, which capture the faint signals received by the antenna, are defective. This makes the phone likely to drop calls and have slower than hoped data speeds.
It was also suggested by an analyst that Apple programmed the Infineon chip to demand a more powerful 3G signal than the iPhone really requires. So if too many people try to make a call or go on the Internet in a given area, some of the devices will decide there’s insufficient power and switch to slower network – even if there is enough 3G bandwidth available. This shows that it a software problem and Apple can resolve it.
There is no information about how widespread the problem is or what is causing the problem. Apple as always has kept quiet about the problem. Analysts have estimated that about 5 percent of the iPhone customers are affected by the problem and according to reports the problem is more widespread in areas with higher number of iPhone users like in San Francisco or New York.
Business Week’s Peter Burrows cites two of his well-placed sources as saying that the problem is related to Infineon chip and it can be solved by software update. Apple will address it via an upcoming software update rather than through a more disruptive step, such as a product recall. Both Apple and Infineon are currently testing the fix, which Apple will issue via a software update by September – if not by end of this month.