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Infineon Chipset May Be Cause of IPhone 3G Issues

Posted by kdawson on from the can-you-hear-me-now dept.

JagsLive sends along a CNet blog piece about a plausible theory to explain the iPhone 3G connection problems many users have experienced. Apple has not acknowledged any such problems. "Richard Windsor of Nomura published a research note... Tuesday singling out the iPhone 3G's chipset, made by Infineon, as the probable culprit for the reception problems we reported on Monday. The dropped calls, service interruptions, and abrupt network switches experienced by iPhone 3G users reminded Windsor of similar complaints five years ago, when 3G phones were first launched in Europe. 'We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain that Infineon is the 3G supplier,' Windsor wrote. 'This is not surprising as the Infineon 3G chipset solution has never really been tested in the hands of users. Some people will not experience these problems as it is only in areas where the radio signal weakens that the immaturity of the stack really shows.'"

11 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Crap testing is the cause of iPhone 3G issues. There are always issues before a product is released. The testing is supposed to find them. Something as obvious as this issue indicates that Apple didn't give a shit about testing.

    1. Re:No. by peragrin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      actually having used my iphone, half of the problem is with at&T's shitty 3G coverage. I literally traveled 3 miles in a straight line along a mostly flat plain. at each end of the line I had a full signal, in the middle of the line I couldn't get anything in 3G or edge.

      I have 3G coverage at home and at work, but since I work in a metal building I have to go near the walls to get any kind of decent signal(that doesn't matter which phone I am using) So my battery life on 3G drains massively limiting me to a day with light cell use and occasional web browsing. if I switch to edge I can go 2 days, as it stops trying to reconnect every 10 minutes.

      i am just i the habit if I am not using web browsing to turn off 3G. I get better battery life, and all I can do is wait to see if AT&T improves their spotty service.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    2. Re:No. by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 5, Interesting
      I worked for Apple in Cupertino during the Apple ][ / Apple /// days. The transition happened then.

      Woz was a genuine engineer, and in his spec all Apple ]['s were burned in over 4 days in a hot room (50 degrees C) before they were packaged and shipped to the stores. The ]['s were very well known for reliability, which along with excellent packaging (yep, not all Jobs' competence is Reality Distortion Field) very few were returned for any sort of quality issue.

      The Apple /// was a slightly different issue -- there was a problem with a clock chip supplier that worked as an object lesson that you can outsource a lot of things, but responsibilty (if not actual testing) can't be one of them.

      And due to pressures of IBM's release of the flawed but powerfully marketed brand-new 8086 based PCat that point, the first real competition in the business world put pressures on Apple that it hadn't encountered before, thus a decision to release what they had in bulk to gain market share and risk returns overrode the impulse to limit supply by running them through that hot room first. This was the first disjunct and marketing lesson (see Apple and "Black Friday" and "duck quack synthesizer" if you can find the reference) for a company that was learning about how to go from company to corporation in one huge lump. Apple grew from $0.5M to $0.5B in gross sales that year, in their defense, and that's a huge amount of change to absorb.

      Money wasn't really a problem, learning to land the fish was.

      Imagine -- if you have a job that moves dirt 1/2 ton at a time, you're fine buying a half-ton pickup to move it. You can even scale that up a few times. But if you're suddenly faced with moving a million tons of dirt, you have to find a more complex solution than simply buying a half-million trucks. Everything Apple suffered during that phase was a result of the huge success of the Apple ][. That kind of scale didn't bother IBM, but we had trouble finding places to put people and other concerns of gearing up.

      --
      Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    3. Re:No. by Yer+Mum · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If you already know the filename (as in your example), you just scroll down anyway until you find the file/folder.

      The one that can really trip you up is if you overwrite a folder with another folder. In Windows the files in the overwritten folder remain. In MacOS they get deleted.

      In both cases nobody's right or wrong but the user can get confused. It might be nice to have options to configure folder sorting or overwriting, but there are more pressing issues that need sorting out in Finder first. And Apple try to avoid putting in lots of tweaky options so don't hold your breath waiting for it.

    4. Re:No. by YeeHaW_Jelte · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "If I buy a $10k Toyota Yaris and the tires fall off, I pretty much figured that was bound to happen.

      I buy a $600k Ferrari Enzo and there's a fingerprint on my rear-view mirror, you're damn right I'm driving that thing back to the dealer and demanding he fix it. "

      Funny you chose this comparison.

      Toyota is know for its absolute dependability, it has the lowest failure rate of all car makes, while Ferrari probably has one of the higher failure rates, because their cars are made to be pretty and fast, not dependable.

      --

      ---
      "The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
  2. Firmware? by cleatsupkeep · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Can this be fixed by a firmware update? It said something about the stack which made me think firmware, or is it just shoddy hardware?

    1. Re:Firmware? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It it's a problem in the UMTS stack - yes. If it's a problem with the chipset itself...maybe. If it's a problem with a channel being desensed...maybe. There are alot of reasons for dropped calls and TFA has no real info other than guessing.

  3. Re:Shit by maynard · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My TiBook 800 has lasted a good six years and is still ... sorta running. I use it primarily to display streamed music and video. And it's still useful as a backup laptop in case the new one gets borked.

    And I have to say that in Boston I've had no trouble getting good 3G reception on my iPhone. However, I've had plenty of other bad things to say about that purchase. Jailbroken, the iPhone is just yummy. But out of the box, it's pretty worthless. And the App store is just pathetic. Good luck returning an app that doesn't work. Hell, good luck figuring out which apps work without first buying the damn thing. And don't talk to me about reviews - most of them read like they were written by the application software sales staff.

    Until Apple gets some quality control in there, I'm not buying another iPhone app.

  4. Re:Who the hell is Richard Windsor... by girasquid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Windows 7?

  5. It's an AT&T Network problem. Fido was similar by aristotle-dude · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Looking at the thread on the Apple discussion boards, this seems to be an issue with the popularity of the new 3G phone and the inability of the AT&T 3G network to be able to handle the extra data load with such an internet enabled device.

    I experienced a similar issue for a few days in Canada with the Fido and others with the Rogers 3G networks shortly after the July 11th launch. Within a few days, the problems mostly went away where I live and now I get great reception even at work.

    There may be a few faulty 3G iPhones but this is mostly caused by a combination of faulty AT&T sims and problems with their network stability and capacity.

    --
    Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
  6. Sorry Charlie by ez151 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Living in same spot 10 years, always spotty reception on att ( also had for 10 years, first att, then cingular, then bellsouth, then att) and always spotty reception.

    My last 3 Sony-Ericksons had the same bad reception, but at least I was ALWAYS able to make calls, staticy, but i cold make and receive them. Had maybe 5 -10 dropped calls ever. ALWAYS able to make calls whenever, wherever.

    Now fast forward to the present iphone 3g and I go sometimes 5 minutes with that frackin Call Failed.... crap. Already had at least 20 dropped calls.

    I want to throw the iphone through the iwall.

    But I wont cuz the internet and stuff is like so cool on it, so I will put up with it. Just like every other person who is experiencing this drop call issue.

    NO ONE will return the iphone to go back to their blackberry or whatever.

    OVERALL the best personal tech experience I have EVER had and I know a lot of other peeps who feel the same way. ( and REAL peeps, not internet chat room forum, wow clan peeps. real flesh and blood peeps.)