Infineon Chipset May Be Cause of IPhone 3G Issues

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.'"

Comments

Re:Blind brand devotion

[pandrijeczko]

So you're laughing at him because he chooses to stick with his older Nokia 6220 that entirely suits his needs, despite being an older product.

So that means you *do* consider a phone to be a fashion accessory then?

Re:No.

[tyrione]

Please cue random, ``If OS X were Open Sourced it would all disappear,'' comment.

Working with Linux and OS X on a daily basis the defense, ``Linux is free'' doesn't hold water anymore due to the billions invested by IBM and others to make it stable.

I love both Operating Systems, but drop the juvenile rant about first released products. You might as well bring back the Car analogy and all the recalls that occur in the auto-industry, even though that's over 100 years old.

Re:Firmware?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Suppose the way to test it would be to put the same sim in a different 3G phone when experiencing problems with the iPhone and see how it works?

In the comments section of an overseas article regarding this problem, one user writes:

I have an iPhone 3g with Optus. I have done comparisons using my new Optus sim card both in the iPhone and my previous Sony Ericsson 630i. At home with the iPhone I get 1 bar of 3g reception, and often no service. In the same spot, with the same sim card in the Sony Ericsson I get 4/5 bars of 3g reception. So obviously its not bad Optus reception alone.

This isn't an AT&T problem, it isn't an isolated problem, this is something being experienced by disappointed iphone users all over the world.

Oh well, its hard to feel much sympathy for early adopter suckers who fell for some bling & a slick marketing campaign.