Like many others I procured an iPhone 3G this weekend. I won’t go into overall comments here as I’m just addressing a single issue. I’ve been having trouble with dropping down to EDGE fairly often while right in the middle of a 3G-enabled area. If you’re having this problem here’s a possible work-around, which seems to have helped me.
You can attain a much higher chance of attaining, and remaining on, 3G by enabling Data Roaming from within the settings.
Settings -> General -> Network
This has especially been an issue when emerging from an area with no coverage, such as my apartment, which is located in something of a canyon. Essentially, when I turn on my radio, i.e. disable Airplane Mode, I immediately connect at EDGE speeds — even though there is 3G available in the area.
NOTE: I would caution you that I don’t know the full details yet of what Data Roaming does. I don’t think it will affect your charges as long as you’re within primary coverage areas in the U.S., but I can’t be sure about that. I’m also not sure if it adds any additional load on the battery.
Anyway, the trick seems to have helped me stay connected more consistently to 3G, so I thought I’d pass it on. Leave a comment or send me an email if you have anything to add.:
